Empathy - Inside the Mind of the Sales Prospect

We've done some study to help you understand how your sales prospects process information, how they will react to your personality, and how they will make decisions. We've outlined seven clearly identifiable personality types, and carefully analysed the three that you'll encounter most frequently. We call this summary the Thought Map, and it's one of the most advanced weapons in the sales guerrilla's bag of tricks.

Most of us adopt one of these phases as our primary personality genre, but we may shift from one phase to another, depending on the relationship, the environment, or stressors. Whenever people interact, they invariably do so from one of these phases.

Let's look at an example. A senior superannuation salesman, and a sales guerrilla at heart, was introducing a new superannuation plan to employees of a northern Queensland city, but he couldn't seem to generate much interest. The fund was good, and this sales professional had worked long and smart to get it approved by the local government.

During the enrollment period, he sat in a small room in the local government office waiting for the staff to come by to hear about the new plan and sign up for it. In the first week, only five people came to hear the offer.

The first employee was so shy she hardly said a word. She sat with legs crossed, hands folded in her lap, and listened to the presentation. She didn't ask a single question or even offer her name, let alone sign up. She seemed afraid of meeting any stranger. "My manager asked me to come over and pick up some brochures," she said as she left.

The next was aggressive and evasive. She asked pointed questions about dividends and rates of return, then stared out the window as he answered. She expressed concern at "being sold a bill of goods," but she was certain she knew how to deal with salespeople. "I'd look like an idiot," she said, "if I signed up for something like this without analysing it thoroughly." She took the brochures and left.

A third employee was polite and seemed to take a sincere interest, nodding his head in agreement with everything. He was a gentleman, agreeing that it was a good investment, and that he had a real need. He even showed the sales guerrilla pictures of his family, and talked about his plans for the future. He was very apologetic in the end, but he didn't sign up. From his objections and questions, it was obvious that he really hadn't heard half the pitch.

The fourth was direct and distant, as if the only reason he was there was that he'd been told to go. He wanted facts and figures, not the big picture of a comfortable retirement he was hearing. "How do I know that this is the best plan available? What guarantee do I have that your company will achieve this rate of return?" he asked. He challenged the company's track record and the salesperson's credibility.

The fifth employee was nice. She seemed confident, relaxed, and genuine. She asked relevant questions, listened attentively, and, to her ultimate benefit, she signed up. As she was filling out the application forms, the sales guerrilla wondered what made this person so unique.

He asked other employees about her. Everyone who worked with her talked about how good they feel when she was around. She's always fair, they said, and she cares about people and their work, and she shows it. She's always willing to do her fair share of the work, and more. The guerrilla was beginning to understand. With her view of the world, he could see why she was able to recognise the benefits of the new plan without feeling anxious about the salesperson's reaction.

The salesman decided to follow her example. If I were really committed to being fair, caring, and sharing, he wondered, what would be the fairest way to get this information to all the staff, to show them that we care about their quality of life after retirement?

That gave him an idea. It would be unfair, and perhaps even unlawful, if all the employees were not given an equal opportunity to learn about the plan and a chance to accept or reject it. He raised this question with the HR Manager. The HR Manager agreed, and issued a memo via e-mail to all employees.

Everyone would be required to attend a group meeting in a meeting room where they could hear the whole presentation and ask questions. After the meeting they could either sign up to the new plan or sign a waiver saying that they had heard a complete explanation and decided to decline.

With this new strategy, over 70 percent of eligible staff enrolled in three weeks. The salesman repeated this approach in other towns all over Queensland. His fair-for-all-concerned approach increased sales dramatically, rocketing him to top producer in his company.

By observing one of the principles by which guerrillas operate, this salesman was able to find an unorthodox way to deliver his message to a large number of prospects, and discovered greater personal and financial success. He started to wonder if there was a way to be more effective with prospects like the first four he had met.