eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
Influence and persuasion are critical skills for salespeople. However, they are also crucial for fostering customer-driven growth for your business. To understand what drives customers to buy, we need to discuss the key fundamental principles on how to influence people to make a decision especially post Covid-19 were buying patterns need to be resuscitated.
Most of the time, people are intentional about trying to make a sale or changing the behaviour of individuals within any organisation or business front. The sale is done strategically. Whether you are trying to strengthen a relationship, overcome uncertainty, or motivate people to action, there are different ways to apply the following principles:
#1: The principle of liking
If people like and trust you, it becomes a lot easier to go forward. Otherwise, you’re probably not going anywhere. People make a mistake by trying to get the other person to like them. However, it really should be about coming to like them. When people feel you like them, they are more open to your asks because, deep down, we believe friends do right by friends.
Another benefit of the principle of liking is the more the salesperson learns to like the prospect, the more the salesperson wants to do what is best for them. It creates a virtuous cycle. Moreover, when you genuinely like the people you interact with, those people will start sending more people your way down the road.
So, stop trying to get people to like you and focus on coming to like the people that you’re interacting with, including your co-workers, vendors and clients. However, it is crucial not to come across like a salesperson who will say or do anything to get that person to like you. Look for what you have in common.
Give them genuine compliments. You’ll be amazed at the difference it will make in how you view them, but then also how they respond to that.
Of course, we don’t always meet the people we are interacting with face-to-face. Much of our prospecting is getting someone to like you when you’ve never met. However, humour can help in these interactions.
#2: THE PRINCIPLE OF RECIPROCITY
Reciprocity is the feeling of obligation to do something for somebody after they’ve done something for us. When you are building a relationship, if you do something that helps the person, they will feel like doing something to help you. When people misuse reciprocity by only “giving to get” or trying to give things to people to get people to do something for them in return it loses meaning.
Research suggests that people are sensitive to insincere reciprocity attempts. Reciprocity must be sincere.
So if you’re faking your way through this, it’s ultimately not going to be successful. People don’t like to wrestle with feelings of obligation, especially when they feel that the person on the other side of the interaction is insincere.
Zig Ziglar put it best when he said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want.”
When we give something away, it’s not as if it’s a bill that’s paid, and it never comes back. Instead, it comes back in spades. Not every person will reciprocate, but most will, and now you’re multiplying your ability to get things accomplished because of the vast network.
#3: The principle of authority
We all feel more comfortable when an expert gives us information. This is why we turn to a certified accountant to do our accounting or hire an advocate for legal support. We feel better when that person who we look at as an expert gives us advice and, generally, it saves us a lot of time. When you speak to your team and customers as a trusted person of authority it almost solidifies the transaction because of the weight carried by your office.
#4: The principle of social proof
Social proofing is our tendency to follow the crowd. Influenced by human evolution, we feel safety in numbers. Showing how many other people are doing something — particularly those who are most like the person that we’re trying to persuade — indicates they should be doing the same thing. When you share numbers, statistics, and success rates of a product or a customer engagement it will provide that brick wall to a customer to send out the trigger of “it is safe, trusted and it works”.
#5: The principle of consistency
Consistency describes how we all feel internal psychological pressure and external social pressure to live up to our word. Most times the mistake that people make is always telling others what to do. Telling isn’t tapping into the principle. However, when you ask and gain agreement, people are more likely to take action.
For example, if you tell your kids to clean their room, they don’t always (or ever) do it. However, if you ask them to clean their room before lunchtime and they agree, they are far more likely to do it because they don’t want to feel bad about themselves for not keeping their word. There are times when the person you are asking has a legitimate excuse for why they can’t do what you asked.
However, it always suggests that being ready with another request helps in this situation. So, using the room example, if you ask your child to clean their room, but they tell you they have to submit online homework by 4pm, change your request from before lunchtime to before supper time, and you will likely get agreement. So, in conclusion, stop telling people what to do and start asking.
However, hold them accountable for their answers. People will be pleasantly surprised at how many more people do what they want them to do when framed in the right manner.
◆ Robert Gonye is a business growth expert and influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected]
