The art of persuasion is essential for any salesperson, but at the same time, a person can be persuaded to buy more easily if we break down that salesperson-customer feeling. Sims Wyeth is the president of Sims Wyeth & Co, a company that trains executives in the art of persuasion, and here he tells us what he learned from Meghan, a knife saleswoman who knocked on his door and cleverly set up the ideal stage for selling her knives.
Meghan had arranged an appointment to present her product to the family. She knocked on the door and made her way to Wyeth’s kitchen. She asked for a glass of water while she unpacked her whole set of knives, and then asked Wyeth to bring out the knives the family normally used at home.
This is how he tells it:
She asked me to describe my current knives, and well… I had never stopped to think about how I would describe ordinary kitchen knives, so I told her they were old and boring…
After some joking around about my description of the knives, which broke the ice, Meghan took a very thick rope out of her bag. She asked me to take my best, sharpest knife and cut the rope with it, counting the strokes it took. I started cutting the rope and counted 14 strokes.
Then Meghan told me to hold the rope. She took one of her knives and started cutting. She asked me to count how many strokes she needed. She did it in just 4. Then I asked her to let me try, and sure enough, cutting that rope with her knife was like cutting butter.
She also asked me to bring my kitchen scissors, which could not even cut the rope. With hers we managed to cut a coin in half.
Sold… She gave me some information about the steel and the handles, a brief technical explanation of why those knives were so effective and useful, and an explanation of how long they would last. The truth is that 11 years later, we still have the knives we bought from Meghan.
When I teach executives about persuasion, I always use that knife saleswoman as an example, because from that experience I drew 10 sales principles for setting up a successful playing field.
See also: 15 habits of successful salespeople
1. The “experiment” principle
Meghan presented her product as a game, an experiment we could take part in, so she removed the pressure of the sale by casting us as participants rather than buyers.
If you work in a company and have a risky idea, your boss will probably resist putting it into practice. Call your idea an experiment and your boss will be more likely to say: “All right, let’s try it.”
2. The agora principle
Agora is the Greek word for the marketplace. In Meghan’s case, the marketplace was our home, where she quickly won our trust and made her visit a pleasant one. So our brains did not see her as a door-to-door saleswoman but as a guest. And as hosts, we make an effort to treat guests well.
3. The contrast principle
With her rope and her tricks, Meghan created a contrast between our knives and hers. In other words, we saw a before and after: our outdated, boring knives versus everything we could do with the bright future of our new ones.
This part is crucial in any sale, because in any situation you need to define or show a problem and paint a picture of the future with that problem solved thanks to your product.
4. The simplicity and clarity principle
Meghan’s message was not hard to understand. She did not bother giving us technical data about the knives’ materials, loading her arguments with technical words and phrases to try to look professional. In fact, her knives were already sold before we knew whether the blade was aluminium or steel. Quite simply, our knives were old and boring. Hers were new, strong and reliable, and even better suited to the everyday needs of the kitchen.
As far as possible, avoid industry jargon and speak in a plainer, more modest way, especially if you are in front of a buyer who does not share your terminology.
5. The specificity principle
Specific arguments are more persuasive than general ones. Meghan’s knives were not just newer and stronger. With my knife it took 14 strokes; with hers, only 4. My scissors could not cut a rope; hers could cut a coin. The message was “efficiency”: her product was much more efficient.
If you wanted to buy a photocopier for the office, would you buy one that was 10 times more efficient than another? Of course you would.
6. The similarity principle
We are more likely to trust and do business with people who are similar to us. When we talked about how to influence others, we said that ties of any kind build trust, whether it is children of the same age, similar activities, and so on.
Meghan made the most of this too, winning over my wife and me. In a short time she had built real rapport. She left as one of those people you were glad to buy from and remember as a lovely person, not as a saleswoman who knocked on your door one day.
7. The active audience principle
An active audience is easier to persuade than a passive one. At every moment I was working with Meghan: bringing her water, fetching the knives, holding the rope, cutting the rope… She asked me questions and listened. In fact, I think that during the whole presentation I talked 80% of the time, while Meghan talked only 20%.
A good salesperson should listen more than they talk. This breaks a big myth about good salespeople, the famous gift of the gab. Today, good salespeople are no longer the ones who talk a lot, but the ones who listen a lot and gather and use that information.
This article is adapted from a piece by Sims Wyeth originally published on Inc.com.
Further reading
Featured image: Photo courtesy of: willem!, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}