So You Want Them to Like You?
By Adam Radzik
Consultant to Professional Firms

One of the most powerful factors that can and will influence a sale is the prospect’s feelings toward you. Think about your own behavior and how often you have chosen a particular vendor because you simply liked the guy or gal. Some experts believe that 80 percent of our decisions are made for emotional reasons rather than rational ones. I think those numbers are too high, but there is no question that the sale is enhanced if the prospect feels positive toward you. How is this accomplished?

I often tell my sales coaching trainees that the best place to meet a prospect is not at a restaurant but in his/her office. Why? Because people surround themselves with objects and images that are important and meaningful to them. These items can range from family photographs, golf clubs, tchotchkes from a favorite football team, a framed newspaper article about a person, an award for public service, a son or daughter’s painting, items from a treasured boat, or a memento from a trip to Hawaii. The list is endless. All these cues give you wonderful opportunities to inquire about these cherished items as well as an opportunity to develop rapport and show interest in the prospect. They also provide the opportunity to create the beginning of a relationship, and finally, they give the opportunity to find similarities. One of my sayings is “Relationships thrive with similarities and suffer with differences.” You may end up saying, “Oh, you love the Yankees too!” or “Your daughter looks so adorable in that picture. My daughter was a real charmer at that age as well” or “I would ask you about your golf game, but you would probably end up asking about mine and the answer would not make me proud!”

One of the major keys to developing a relationship is to find similar interests, experiences, and/or views. When we find someone who enjoys the same things we enjoy, we tend to like them because they make us happy while discussing the things that make us happy.

But what do you do when you meet the prospect outside of his/her environment? How do you create rapport? Well, you examine the person’s age and where the person lives, and you take a chance on common interests such as family or vacations or make conversation about the noisy restaurant, the foul weather, or the trains that don’t run on time. The selling sequence requires that you engender respect in the prospect for the product or service that you provide and that you give the prospect a powerful reason to choose you over your competitors, but if you can also create a sense of liking, a sense of enjoying your company, or a sense of wanting to spend time with you in the future, you go a long way toward increasing the chances that your next interaction with a prospect will turn into a solid sale.

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Comedy Corner

A big business tycoon died and went to his eternal resting place. When he arrived in the other world, he was greeted by a salesman who used to visit him on earth. The salesmen greeted him with a big hello. “Max, old boy, I’m here for my appointment.” “What appointment?” asked the businessman. “Don’t you remember?” asked the salesman. “Every time I used to try to see you at your office, you’d tell me you’d see me here!”