5 practical skills to be more influential
Well, of all places to discover something new, something that works, sitting in the entrance of the Rope Tackle building in Shoreham about to make a sales call on a great new potential client. Well, “he’s probably not that big!” I say to myself, but his reputation is that he learns by doing and doesn’t have time for “personal development stuff”. His favorite sayings are “I want to be effective” and “I learn by doing.” I feel like my stomach is a little tight and my palms are a little warm and clammy. I wonder, what can I do to influence him to become a customer…
Well, maybe these 5 practical skills can help:
Skill 1. Be nice and helpful to the people you meet to earn the right to influence them.
Skill 2. Use the language and behavior of influence to create a framework of agreement!
Skill 3. Give a great sales presentation.
Skill 4. Build a path to Yes and guide your prospects to make really good decisions.
Skill 5. Frame Objections as Resources and Negotiate to Close More Win-Win Deals.
So, as I wait in the reception area, the feeling of being in a state of shopping spree spins from the top of my head to the balls of my toes. It sounds a bit weird, I know, but it works, and I start to relax and prepare for our conversation.
Step 1: Be nice and helpful!
“Few people would be surprised to learn that, as a general rule, we prefer to say yes to requests from someone we know and like.” Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D.
We sit on a low leather sofa, and I smile, shake hands, and say, “I’m curious, how’s business?”
He tells me: “Business is very good. We are very busy.”
As our conversation progresses, gently nod your head and make gestures to show that I understand what you are saying. It turns out that he had a bad experience with Steve, at least I think that’s his name, someone else came in to talk to him about NLP …..
“Let’s get straight to the point. Does NLP work?” he asks “the other block told me that I believe
in pictures and I thought about it over the weekend and I actually think in words,” he says.
Step 2: Create an agreement framework.
“What makes NLP work so quickly is that we make very practical decisions about the order in which we do things…”Gather information!…Evolve the system…Consolidate change”” Richard Bandler and John Grinder
So I start from a point of agreement and keep asking questions to find out what we agree on and play back all the things we agree on.
“Do you want to know how NLP works?”
“If he responds.
“Well, I’m sure you think…
and when you think of Shoreham seafront how do you think?
“in photos”, he answers
And when you think about writing a proposal, how do you think?
“in words……”
and sometimes you think in feelings, sometimes you think in sounds… it depends on what you are doing…
and I’m curious, I’ve thought about what you can do with NLP…”
Step 3: Give a great sales presentation.
When they think, people tend to use their senses. So when you give your sales pitch, you can use a mix of see, hear, and feel words to match the way your prospect thinks.
“because we always ask the participants in our workshops, why do you want to learn how to use NLP to influence people? These are some of the answers we received:
Improve Negotiation Skills – Hit More Goals
Making the Initial Connection – Quick Rapport
Use language to encourage response
Match the client’s status and take them where they want to go
close and say yes
Yes Face-to-face, Email and Telephone”
“When you do the right thing for the right reason, you’ll enjoy influencing and persuading more, take the pressure off, and be more successful…
So can you see yourself using some of these skills, listen to the different responses you get, how you vary the pitch and tempo of your voice, and influence more people…and get the response you want?…”
Step 4: Guide your prospects to make really great decisions.
Your prospect has made decisions before, so you can help them make another big decision.
“easily, so you’re interested in…learning more…
since I’m sure you’ve made good decisions before…
So what else can I tell you and show you…”
Step 5: Negotiate to Close More Win-Win Deals!
Since you started from a point of agreement, the amount of conflict will be very low, thus reducing the amount of negotiation you need to do.
“…so you can see yourself in an NLP workshop and hear the sound of laughter…”
“Yeah”. He said. Come on….
You too can use these five steps to influence more people.