Neuro-Linguistic Programming for increased sales? Here, we find out.
Successful selling is all about communication, rapport building, and understanding your customer. Some sales professionals may have a certain amount of instinct for such things, but the savvy salesperson knows that this is something we all need to learn. That is where training that makes use of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) sales and related methods comes in, offering invaluable insights into customers and people in general.
In fact, with the use of NLP and associated techniques, you could see your sales soar and even improve your relationships with friends along the way.
NLP IS A GREAT AMPLIFIER FOR SALES SKILLS.
This section explores some of the ways to improve revenue and profit. While it’s aimed at coaches selling both to individuals and companies, the approaches apply to anyone selling a service.
I’ve taken some of the very best sales approaches currently available as a starting point and then show how you can use NLP to make them more effective.
Introduction to NLP Sales Section
NLP is particularly good for:
- Amplifying your skills (particularly related to attitude),
- Overcoming blocks, and
- Modeling great (and less great) performance to transfer what’s learned.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, but it does give you some key pointers.
How to Improve Your Sales, Revenue, And Profit
We’ve identified 5 key areas to improve your sales:
- Develop/refine your customer proposition
This includes being able to articulate what you offer, your ideal customers and their characteristics, how they benefit, how you reach them, how you contact them, and how you’re better than your competition.
Answer the questions we explored in the Going Solo section: Customer Proposition. You may also want to extend this by answering our questions on Value statements.
- Your attitude
This includes your beliefs and state throughout the sales process. NLP sales have a lot to offer in this area.
- Your sales strategy and process
This might include: Prospecting, qualifying potential clients, establishing value, handling objections, moving the sale forward (including closing), helping clients implement and achieve value, testimonials, case studies, and referrals.
- Your sales skills (particularly in implementing your sales strategy and process)
This might include state management, building inner resilience and persistence, mental rehearsal, framing, prospecting, developing your network, establishing trust, establishing value, presenting, negotiating, handling objections, closing. NLP has a lot to offer in this area. - Your activity
Sales is a contact sport. What are your key activities each day? What do you establish as essential habits? How do you review how you’re doing? How do you improve what you do?
NLP sales techniques can help in the highlighted areas.
It is not some new-age fad or flash in the pan practice, but a methodology which many top sales professionals have tapped into for years. To find out the full picture of how this can help you be more successful, you could sign up for an online course or two.
However, as a taster of what such a system can do for your sales and your life, the following five tips should set you on the path to success.
Active Listening
In modern life, and in sales, where everyone seems short of time, being really listened to can be rare – all too often, a conversation can be just a competition for airspace. However, really listening to your customers will build rapport and ensure you don’t waste their time or yours, as your sales pitch can be geared to their stated needs.
Likewise, listening to those around you a little better should strengthen your relationships in general. So, learning active listening skills, such as NLP sales techniques.
Can truly help you win sales and influence people! For example, before starting a sales conversation that could be outside your comfort zone, try relaxation exercises such as deep breathing, as nervousness can make you seem disinterested.
Also, watch out for non-verbal signals given out, such as tone of voice, gestures, and posture, which can increase your understanding of what’s being said. In this way, you can quickly master the art of active listening, and the benefits to your sales figures and your life may just surprise you.
Word Power
As communication is a two-way street, it’s also vital to choose your words carefully, and this is something NLP methodology and similar selling techniques can help with. Words that are variously referred to as ‘power words’ or ‘magic words’ can be used to elicit certain emotions and responses that may help overcome customer objections and close the sale.
No, we’re not talking abracadabra, or Harry Potter here, but a selection of words that are helpful and influence others. For example, to invoke positive emotions, words like believe, change, success and happiness may be effective, while words such as imagine, truth, secret, and exposure can trigger curiosity.
You could also try adding extra emphasis to these words to give them greater strength, turning them into action commands. Besides, repeating key phrases, like ‘You’ll love this product, in subtly different ways can also steer your customer in the desired direction and win the sale.
Mirroring
Building rapport with your customers is also vital if you want to succeed at sales, and techniques that help you do this quickly can be invaluable.
One such NLP sales technique is ‘mirroring’ – a method of imitating the behavior and language of others to rapidly establish rapport.
As research suggests that we are drawn to people who are like us, subtly mirroring a customer’s body language, tone of voice, speech rate, gestures, opinions, and choice of words, may make them feel more comfortable around you and build trust.
Also, one surefire way to create rapport fast is to identify the other person’s preferred communication style, which could be visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (tactile), and use the same style of language to communicate.
This preferred style should be evident from their turn of phrase. For example, Can you see what I mean for visual style, Can you hear what I’m saying for auditory, or Do you get a feel for this for kinesthetic? However, mirroring should only be used in moderation – overt mimicking may offend and is not the name of the game!
Get to Know Your Customer
Having learned whether your customer is a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic kind of person, you can now use this newfound knowledge to gear your selling strategy to their preferred way of buying.
For a visual person, show them pictures as part of your presentation; for an auditory customer, if possible, find ways to use sound in your sales pitch; and for the kinesthetic person, let them touch any products they can, even if just by handling a brochure.
Understanding your customers’ buying preferences can give you a head start when it comes to sealing the deal, and NLP sales techniques can help with this.
For example, find out how your customer bought products before – have they needed time to think about it, or to get someone else’s opinion? Repeating someone’s previous buying pattern could give you a better chance of closing the sale.
Besides, this methodology suggests that if you can discover your customer’s hopes and dreams and link your product to helping them achieve these, you should have one very happy customer and a signed, sealed, and delivered sale!
Stay Positive
Finally, to truly excel in sales you need to maintain a positive mindset, as negative thought patterns could scupper your chances of success. With a more positive frame of mind, you can boost your motivation and reprogrammed yourself to achieve your goals, and an NLP sales approach can also help with this.
A technique is known as ‘reframing’ could work wonders when it comes to overcoming any bad selling experiences you may have, as this is a tactic of choosing to focus on any benefits of such a situation you can find, rather than dwelling on the negatives.
Another such technique is to practice what is called a pattern interrupt – finding ways to step out of your routine to break unsuccessful patterns and increase your chance of success, which may be just what you need to improve your perspective.
Also, with a method known as ‘anchoring’, NLP methodology could help you instantly lift your mood, using a trigger such as a sound, smell, or taste, which can be an invaluable tool to get you in the right frame of mind to nail that sale!
So, although these handy techniques are just the tip of the NLP iceberg, perhaps they will whet your appetite for a different way of thinking and lead you on your road to sales success.
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