Logic vs Emotion: The Salespersons Experience
We talked about the homebuyer’s experience as it relates to their logic and their emotion. Since turnabout is fair play. Let’s talk now about the ways in which logic and emotion affect the salesperson.
Now, look, you’re a real person, so you have real emotion. It’s no reason to apologize for that, it makes you human. While you do need a healthy dose of logic to be effective in the sales world, if you’re not invoking your human side, your customer is going to know it.
So here’s a question, is your reliance on emotion good or bad? And the answer is yes.
Your customer wants to be emotionally free. They want to have the freedom to be emotionally expressive. But oftentimes the salesperson will not allow them to do that.
If you want an example of this, think about the last time that you test drove a car. You were driving along and the salesperson was likely in the passenger seat next to you. What was going on in your emotional mind? You were likely appreciating the aroma of the new car scent, you were enjoying the creature comforts. You’re admiring the smooth ride.
In fact, you might have been downright excited. The salesperson didn’t see any of that. You may have been excited about the car, but you were asking a bunch of logic-based questions about miles per gallon and horsepower. Some would suggest that we do this so that we don’t tip our hand as to how much we’re enjoying the car.
I would contend that the main reason we don’t share our emotions as buyers is that we don’t feel that we have permission to do so from the salesperson. That is, if the salesperson is dry and logical, and analytical about the product that they’re selling, then the buyer is going to adopt that same emotional energy. I think customers want to be more emotionally engaged than we sometimes allow them to be.
I think that when a salesperson is emotionally free, when a salesperson is willing to demonstrate their own emotional altitude, that gets adopted. Now, I recognize that you don’t want to be emotionally reckless.
What does that look like? Well, that’s what happens when your emotions are based on your agenda. This is an example of this. I walk somebody to a home and I say, let me show you this great room, Is it not just gorgeous? The first thing you notice is the fireplace. The customer is like, Well, he’s right. It’s not gorgeous. And that’s not the first thing that I noticed. You’re disconnected right here. So what do we do? What do we do to make sure that we’re elevating our customer’s emotional experience, but still utilizing our own emotional pacing?
Outpace the customer’s emotional level, but only by a little bit.
Good salespeople are keenly aware of the emotional altitude at any given time in the sales process, and they understand that their job is to keep the emotional altitude strong. If you have an upbeat customer, raise your emotion a little bit higher.
If your customer is more stoic and professional, you will need to make sure that you are not over the top excited, but you still want to outpace that customer. Bottom line, you own the emotional altitude throughout the entire process.
Use a specific emotion called empathy.
Of all the emotions that we can share, perhaps the most important is an emotion called empathy. This is really about feeling what the customer feels.
The only way you can do this is to get out of your own way. If the sales presentation is all about you, you will never be able to find that depth of empathy that your customer needs from you. Great salespeople have very strong emotional intelligence.
They don’t need to be the star of the show. They understand that their role is to serve and to influence, but not to put the spotlight on themselves.
Be emotional about their emotion.
One of the best ways to utilize emotion is to use it as a confirmation tool. That is, when your customer is excited or pleased about something that they see you don’t want to waste that opportunity. Let that stretch out.
Ask them what it was about that particular opportunity or feature that struck them emotionally. In other words, capitalize on the buyer’s emotion. Your customer wants to have a positive emotional experience. That is what you provide.
Do it intentionally. Do it consistently, and you can change their world.
Until next time; learn more to earn more.
