Sales Training : Salesmanship and Empathy
Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2007
by Jeff Blackwell
SalesPractice.com
One of the simplest ways to increase your productivity as a salesperson is to tune into your buyer's point of view. When you are in tune with your buyer you have empathy. This means that you can identify with and understand their situation, feelings, and motives.
When you are in tune with your buyer everything you say or do seems to be right on the mark. The buyer gets the feeling that you really understand them and the road to a successful sale lights up like an airport runway. The opposite is also true. When you are not in tune with your buyer nothing you can do or say will seem to be right. When you push they pull and vice versa.
This kind of selling requires a genuine desire on the part of the salesperson to try and be of service. It is pretty easy to spot the salesperson with this kind of desire. These salespeople take an interest in the buyer on a more personal level. The empathetic salesperson asks more questions and better questions. They ask the type of questions that get the buyer to open up and talk about their situation.
Buyers like salespeople that reach them on a personal level. Everyone likes to be listened to and understood. When you demonstrate to your buyer that you are interested and paying attention they will open up to you and tell you what it will take to make a sale. Here are a few reminders to help you focus on your buyers;
- Focus your attention on your buyer. Do not allow yourself to become distracted.
- Look for something you like in the other person. What do you think their friends like about them?
- Get your buyer to tell you their situation, hopes and fears with well prepared questions.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Jeff, excellent article. You touched on the most basic skill that a salesperson must learn to be effective.
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