By Geoff Wade - Onirik

The good news is you can do quite a bit to increase sales effectiveness. Essentially you want to identify the steps of your sales process - then continuously work to improve each of them but focus on those that give the most leverage.

The Sales Process

So, you start with improvements that will leverage the biggest outcome. No matter where your sales process lies on the scale between complex and simple or transactional it can be represented in the six-step process - build rapport, find the need, build the value, create the desire, overcome objections, and close the sale.

Most companies focus on the backend activity in the sales process (objection handling and closing) but there is research from several sources that shows:

· Building rapport and trust take you 40% of the way to sales success.
· Finding the need takes you another 25% of the way.

So, apply your effort, interventions for change and skills improvement at the front end of your sales process (the part that is covered by build rapport and find the need and contribute 65% of your success) if you want the most leverage.

Build Rapport

Now you’ve all heard that it is important to build rapport. So, you may ask yourself “What is the author on about – this is old news?” My answer is that if you and your front line sales people are like the graduates of most sales training programmes in the last 80 years then you’ve been given a bunch of ‘content’ - scripts and strategies to build rapport that are obvious, are unnatural in an office, commercial, telemarketing or retail context, and often don’t work. Some of the strategies you may recognise in this content category include “Ask about their interests - look for something in common – then talk about it.” “Look at their office – the photos may show family or hobbies which you can ask about.” But, if you are in front of a key decision maker you have 30 seconds to get their attention – so idle chit chat does not fit. If you are cold calling a similar constraint applies.

If the content strategies are weak – then are there natural ‘patterns’ of behaviour that build rapport and apply in all sales situations? Yes there are! What often happens in sales is that sales people are so focussed on their strategies and outcomes that they cease using their natural rapport building behaviours. Yet if they’d relax for a minute, and attend to their prospect, they could employ these behaviours while asking questions to establish the needs. These communication patterns - behaviours - can be embedded in any face to face or telephone communication.

Pacing Your Prospect

There are two important things your prospect does that you can pace to build rapport naturally. First their physiology (specifically breathing, subtle elements of posture, and voice speed, volume and tone). Second their language (specifically sensory language – words linked to the see, hear, feel senses). I’ll cover language in the next article.

Matching posture or physical movements is often called "mirroring" but I suggest you drop that term and that approach. Mirroring implies that you mimic your prospect. Pacing is more subtle and is often grouped into four techniques; matching body postures, matching rhythms of movement, matching breathing, and matching voice speed and tone. Pacing is the fastest and easiest way to gain rapport with another person or with a group. But mirroring carries a risk of being obvious, and therefore, ineffective.

I find the most two most effective and most subtle are to pace your prospects breathing and pace their voice speed and tone.

You can usually detect breathing rate by observing the movement in shoulders, chest or stomach. Even those people who have shallow breathing will show movement at the edge of the shoulder that can be picked up when silhouetted against some fixed background reference point. On the telephone you can even use your hearing to track breathing. Once you have their rhythm, you can pace it yourself. Breathing is usually very easy to match subtly – yet builds powerful rapport.

Voice tone can be high or low. Volume can be loud or soft. Voice speed/tempo can be fast, slow, with pauses and without pauses. Most people are unaware of their voice tones and tempos and will not observe you pacing them. The pacing does not have to be exact (that would be obvious) just close enough to encourage rapport. Matching a person’s voice is particularly important for telephone conversation.

Remember – subtle pacing - you are not shooting all out for the “hot” state of rapport that characterises seduction.

This article covers the first simple improvements you can apply to improve your sales performance. Some of the articles you can look forward to include – Cold Calling, Strategy and Tactics, Building Rapport, Questioning, Time Management, Influencing and Closing, Maintaining Performance States, Sales Management & Coaching.

If you want to get some of this information before the next editions – you can use the contact details for the author at the foot of this article.

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Geoff Wade is the Sales & Marketing Director of Onirik Pty Ltd. Onirik is a team of professionals focus on business value and measurable outcomes, as the reason for our clients to listen to Onirik. Onirik, together with their partner Brava, helps their clients get fast and lasting quantum leap improvements in revenue and margins. Onirik conducts research in selling skills, management, coaching, motivational leadership, the psychology of persuasion, effective business processes, and negotiation. They help clients implement the practical applications of the research and of NLP in sales, service, and management.

Web: www.onirik.com.au
Email: geoff.wade@onirik.com.au
Phone: +61 (2) 9004 7810