adminWhile most people aren’t as direct as this, but when trying to persuade someone to see your point of view, people often fall back on simply telling you why their point is right. I’m sure you’ve seen this before, right?
Thinking back to the last time you were trying to sell someone a product, or convince a customer that your solution is still the right solution for them: the tendency of people is often to talk at you rather than to you when they’re trying to persuade you.
It may sound ironic to say I have to persuade someone to tell me what matters, but understanding someone’s goal takes trust and time. We’re all busy, and if my customer wants to cancel their service, they may question my good intentions to keep them on the phone as a way to talk to them out of cancelling.
This is why it is so critical to understand what matters to a customer and their business. Getting this understanding requires some persuasion because people rarely tell you how they really are feeling the first time you ask.
It’s no common secret that by listening first, any true leader understands the disagreements and concerns of others. This gives them the opportunity to either modify their proposal or at least empathise with the concerns of others. Similarly, the most persuasive people talk less and listen more.
An observation witnessed through customer feedback
If your customer has made it crystal-clear that they want to cancel a product subscription immediately, don’t waste time trying to talk them out of it. It might frustrate them and exhaust you. Hence our suggestions are purely for when you’re managing a longer-term customer relationship. The next four tips are meant to be a guideline to achieve meaningful persuasion.
- Focus on having a real conversation, instead of simply telling customers what you want them to do. Conversations are just talking to learn about the other person. Great conversationalists actively listen, often summarise what they are hearing, and then ask more questions to understand the issues at a deeper level. Everyone has experienced trying to cancel a service, say with an internet provider, and in order to cancel you have to answer what feels like 1 000 questions.
Instead, as a customer service consultant, you can ask your customer about their reasoning for cancelling in a thoughtful and respectful way. By having an empathetic conversation, you can prove that you care about the customer and their business even if they end up choosing to cancel.
Listen to customers instead
of saying your script
Ask questions to understand what is valuable to your customer. It doesn’t matter what you think is important, what is important to you should be your customer.
- Objections are opportunities to learn what the customer values, hence important to lean into objections with further questions.
Amazingly persuasive people are constantly listening to you and not themselves. They already know what they are saying. “You can’t persuade effectively if you don’t know the other side of the argument.”
Any objection is not a roadblock, but a fork in the road that leads to your better understanding of Mr Customer. If for instance, a customer says: “I haven’t seen ROI from a service,” it’s not helpful for you to counter with, “But I see you generated 50 new leads last month!”
Instead, it’s an opportunity for you to understand what ROI means to the customer in their eyes.
Using objections as opportunities to learn and probe further will allow you to better understand what success means to the customer, furthermore how they measure and track success. It is by viewing objections as opportunities through learning that they become less of a roadblock and become a path to move forward in a conversation. The focus of a call is to understand what the objection is and why it matters to your customer.
- Move the conversation forward by solving problems with the customer.
While questions help us understand what matters to a customer, how do we then keep moving the conversation forward?
A simple tool coined to better address the problem solving is by a serial sales trainer Sir King the Feel, Felt, and Found strategy: a sales tactic which demonstrates empathy and understanding, while also moving forward with possible solutions. It’s important to know that your solution needs the customer’s buy-in and you cannot just offer one up without seeing if it is a good fit.
Always ask empathetic questions to show your customers you care
- Tone and phrasing matter, so make sure your words are adopted to build trust. Applying all the above is good, however, it is critical to get the buy-in from customers.
The use of specific language to get buy-in from customers so as to provide value is better supported by the ability to use words and the right tone.
Words and tone
build trust levels
You can use language to provide value and inspire buy-in by:
Asking permission
Mr. Customer: I’d like to start our call today by asking you a few questions to better understand this situation? Does that sound alright?
Acknowledging the issue and show you’re on the same side
Ms. Customer: It sounds like this situation has been really stressful and you did the right thing by reaching out to me. I’m here to work through it with you.
Challenging politely
Mrs. Customer: It sounds like you still want to generate more leads, but you do not plan on doing any marketing. With that in mind, what is your plan for generating new leads?
The major takeaway is to be a human. Speak to your customers the way you would want someone speaking to you. Listen to understand, not to respond.
Listening is powerful, and asking questions will help you with any type of conversation you have. For your customers, questions allow you to fully understand their business, and their unique challenges and pain points. If you put yourself in your customer’s shoes, you’ll also be able to understand how to help them better.
When you ask questions and speak with empathy, you’re able to show that you genuinely care about your customer and just as importantly, that you care about what they care about. Trust the engagement series has been helpful to you and your teams.
The views given herein are solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions and are not guaranteed to work in any particular way.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected] twitter@robert_gonye
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