Southwestern Sales Talk
Let’s say you are running an info session for The Southwestern Company in an attempt to find another team member. Or, you may be demoing your product. Almost subconsciously, your track with your prospect:
“I see what you’re saying.”
“I hear you.”
“Does that feel right to you?”
People use simple phrases like these all the time. When you pay closer attention, you discover all people don’t use all language equally. The words they choose provide insight into how they navigate and experience the world.
In the accelerated learning session in Southwestern’s Sales School, I use the terms “visual, auditory, and kinesthetic” to describe “how people learn.” But what you may not know is that in addition to learning, these terms provide deeper clues into how we create rapport, influence each other, participate on teams, and engage in communication.
Most of us use all three “modalities.” But we are also specialists. I have a Southwestern alumnus friend who taught at a school for the blind. Have you ever spent time with someone who is blind, and noticed the acuteness of their hearing? This is an example of “specializing.” We all have one or two modalities that we are more comfortable with.
If you want to have more influence with people–whether with a team of people on the bookfield or with your kids during work around the house–you will benefit from applying these tips:
1) Pay attention to the clues people leave about their preferred modality–their language is the road map. If you match it, you enter their world and build a stronger connection and relationship.
2) If your conversation or sales interaction isn’t working, broaden or switch the modality in which you communicate . If email isn’t getting it done, switch to phone. (We have to do that with our sales managers.) If telling your kid what to do doesn’t work (auditory), write it down or draw a picture (visual). My daughter prefers visuals. If the phone isn’t working, email a picture. When someone is agitated, a caring touch (kinesthetic) may go further than anything you say (auditory).
3) Effective communication is more about outcome than intent. What does this NLP phrase mean? The most important aspect of communication is not what you meant to say, it’s the response (outcome) you got. You’ve heard frustrated parents say, “I’ve told him a hundred times…!” It’s not what was intended–what was received, what was heard is critical.
So what is your primary modality? Are you visual? auditory? physical? Begin to listen to conversations (and your prospects) to discover what their preferred sense is. As always, I welcome your thoughts.
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That`s a great point, Lee!
I was thinking about it recently – for an example I`m more a visual person/learner, etc. and if I look around myself – people that I am surrounded with are quite the same – you attract people like you the easiest, connect with them better and more likely to become friends.
That is a challenge in communication that we experience every day – during the summer – with our prospects, now – with the managers in the team and the people we recruit. That`s another thing I love about Southwestern Company – I`m 23 and I am getting a constant every-day training on how to ‘read’ people and by the time I`m 30 I`ll be an expert and effective communicator while about this time some peple will recognize the difference between the people.
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 9:17 am
Thanks for the comment, Evelina. I always enjoy your insights. The better we can adapt to the people we come into contact with, the more effective we are in influencing them.
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Lee,
I love the tangible advice. It is so true. Some people talk much more in terms of “feels”, “gut instinct”, etc. Others speak much more in terms of “seems logical”, “need more information”, etc. Figuring out if a prospect is more emotional or logical in their decision making process is huge. Thanks for the insight!
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I’m definitely a visual learner. Like, if I read something somewhere, I may not remember exactly what it said, but I remember where on the page it was and what shape the paragraph that it was in looked like.
I’ve never thought about the language people use being a clue to how they learn, but it definitely makes sense. I always say things like “I see,” and when I try to switch it up (“I hear you,” for instance), it just feels awkward.
I think the best tactic would be to use all three modalities until you can pinpoint which one is the primary style for the person you’re communicating with, and then you can narrow it down.
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
This definitely forces you to pay attention during a conversation! Once you determine their preference, you can “speak their language.” Thanks for the comments!
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Lee,
This post is GOLD! This really helps put a lot o things into perspective! I never really realized that I use my hands so much when I speak until someone pointed this out after reading this post.
I was just curious what specific clues I would look for when trying to find ones modality.
Also I really liked the part about NLP. I’ve been somewhat interested in NLP and was wondering if you had any book recommendations I could check out.
As always, thanks for your hard work and I look forward to hearing your response!
~Will Metscher
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I would recommend going to a live NLP seminar rather than reading a book. The person who has best adapted NLP into the mainstream is Tony Robbins. Check out his book, Awaken the Giant Within. If you check out my latest post, it will be helpful in determining people’s modalities. Thanks for commenting.
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