NLP in Sales
Reading time 3 minutes
The role of values and positioning in selling
When you apply NLP in selling you can increase your customer satisfaction rating and your repeat business.
The approach enables you to ensure that you match your products or services to your customer’s precise needs…
…and to ensure that your customer is aware of how carefully you are attending to their needs!
By doing this you are positioning yourself differently in the mind of your customer. You’re no longer just another ‘rep’ or even a salesperson. In their mind you become ‘someone-to-be-consulted and a valuable resource rather than a nuisance-to-be-tolerated.
Unrealistic? Not so…
Customers respect salespeople who respect them…
…and the converse applies, too.
Who do you prefer to buy from? The pushy salesperson who talks at you or the person who takes the time to discover your needs and then helps you find the best match for these? Not a difficult choice, is it?
It takes a little longer to sell this way. And a little more care. And a greater respect for your customer. And quite a bit more skill.
Yet it is not difficult to apply. The NLP in selling methods work equally well for retail sales as for international salespeople selling high-ticket products and services. Because customers don’t like to be sold – they like to buy.
And the key difference is in how you treat them…
First they must buy you!
Experienced sales people know that customers are unlikely to buy your product or service or idea if they don’t like you. (Unless, of course, you are fortunate in being in a sellers’ market.)
First your customer must ‘buy’ you – only then will they consider ‘buying’ your product or service or idea. NLP in selling is so powerful that, even where you are at a price or a technical specifications’ disadvantage, you can often get the order if your relationship with your customer is right!
‘Relationship Selling’
When we ‘model’ or extract the key ingredients of successful selling strategies in order to apply NLP in selling we find there are two chunks to the process:
The task: to ensure that the customer recognises the value for them in your product or service or idea – and buys. Most sales training courses and books on selling cater for this side of selling.
The relationship: this is either ignored or given minimal attention by most books, gurus, and training courses. Which partly explains how tough a field selling has become – salespeople are inadequately equipped to deal with an increasingly sophisticated, better informed and more demanding customer base.
So sales people have begun looking for ways of becoming more skilful at being ‘customer friendly’! Instead of simply becoming more friendly with their customers!
Yet so many sales people hate selling. They actually fear their customers. Because they see it as a numbers’ game instead of a people game!
When we model good sales people we find they actually like people. And people pick this up and, if the product and terms are right, they become customers!
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