Sales Meets Brain Research: Just let your customer buy 3658383232, 9783658383237

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Paul Weber Heiner Böttger

Sales Meets Brain Research Just let your customer buy

Sales Meets Brain Research

Paul Weber • Heiner Böttger

Sales Meets Brain Research Just let your customer buy

Paul Weber Sales Performance GmbH Möhrendorf, Germany

Heiner Böttger Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Eichstätt, Germany

ISBN 978-3-658-38323-7    ISBN 978-3-658-38324-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 This book is a translation of the original German edition „Vertrieb trifft Hirnforschung“ by Weber, Paul, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH in 2021. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

Thanks to

Books do not usually come into being without help. This volume, too, would not have seen the light of day without the valuable, enriching, and inspiring feedback of many highly competent people. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the following people: Dr. Stefan Merkle from LMU Munich contributed with his friendly and professional input in the phase of conception and brainstorming to the fact that the two authors found the courage to get started. Prof. Dr. Florian Riedmüller from TH Nuremberg gave extremely constructive advice on the structural fit and order of the chapters, especially from an economic perspective. Dipl. Ing. Heidi Lehner gave decisive stylistic hints from an economic-practical point of view on behalf of WGF Nuremberg. Prof. Dr. Eberhard Nöfer from the HS Coburg was first and foremost a critical friend to whom the authors owe the fine-tuning of two seemingly different worlds through his high level of technical expertise. Dr. Gisela Lang-Hümmer and Barbara von Alvensleben took on the time-­ consuming, meticulous stylistic and content editing with bravura. Dr. Marianne Anders and Dipl. Ing. Lutz Bauer gave encouraging, positive feedback and made valuable comments. Laura Ickinger MA, as a research assistant to Heiner Böttger, contributed to the creation and growth of the manuscript. Overall, the “WissenSchafftErfolg” community at the lectures on the topic contributed indirectly to the alignment of the content in 2018–2020 through many feedbacks and constructive inquiries. Finally, very special thanks are due to Tina Weber (Management SalesPerformance GmbH): Through her financial, moral, and content support, she has been significant in the realization of this volume.

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Contents

1 Our  Philosophy of Selling   1 1.1 What You Should Know About This Book in Advance��������������������������������   3 1.2 The Role of Brain Research in This Book����������������������������������������������������   5 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   6 2 Successful  Selling Is Successful Communication   7 2.1 Customer Communication: A Brief Review ������������������������������������������������   7 2.2 Brain Power in Conversation������������������������������������������������������������������������   9 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  11 3 Step  1: The First Impression Counts  13 3.1 Everything Begins With the Eye ������������������������������������������������������������������  15 3.1.1 Glances Can Hardly Be Controlled��������������������������������������������������  18 3.1.2 Research Findings����������������������������������������������������������������������������  19 3.1.3 Excursus: Intuition����������������������������������������������������������������������������  20 3.2 Requirements for a Good First Impression��������������������������������������������������  21 3.2.1 Prepare Yourself Emotionally ����������������������������������������������������������  23 3.2.2 Achieving Cognitive Ease����������������������������������������������������������������  25 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  26 4 Step 2: Assess Customers  29 4.1 Motivation Typology Is Brain-Based������������������������������������������������������������  31 4.2 The Map of Motivation Is Created����������������������������������������������������������������  32 4.3 What Makes My Counterpart Tick? A Navigation System��������������������������  35 4.4 Motivation Typology������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  38 4.4.1 The “Reds”: Extroverted and Task-Oriented������������������������������������  38 4.4.2 The “Yellows”: Extroverted and People-Oriented����������������������������  41 4.4.3 The “Greens”: Introverted and People-Oriented������������������������������  41 4.4.4 The “Blues”: Introverted and Task-Oriented������������������������������������  42 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  44

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Contents

5 Step  3: Synchronize and Connect  45 5.1 Teamwork: Brain-to-brain Synchrony����������������������������������������������������������  46 5.2 Home of Synchronicity ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  47 5.3 Concentration Requires Mindpower ������������������������������������������������������������  48 5.4 Concentration is Also a Question of Age������������������������������������������������������  49 5.5 The Cocktail Party Phenomenon������������������������������������������������������������������  51 5.6 Active Listening Synchronizes Brains����������������������������������������������������������  52 5.7 Synchronization Can Be Learned ����������������������������������������������������������������  54 5.8 Five Steps to Focus on the Conversation������������������������������������������������������  57 5.9 Make a Prepared First Impression����������������������������������������������������������������  59 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  60 6 Step 4: Gain Trust  61 6.1 The Sales Success Spiral������������������������������������������������������������������������������  62 6.1.1 Appreciation��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  63 6.1.2 Speech Portion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  64 6.1.3 Positive Mood ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  67 6.1.4 Don’t Be Afraid to Say No!��������������������������������������������������������������  67 6.1.5 The Yes Loop was Yesterday������������������������������������������������������������  69 6.2 The Mirror Technique: Creating Empathy����������������������������������������������������  71 6.2.1 Why Is Mirroring So Rarely Used?��������������������������������������������������  75 6.2.2 The Social Mirror������������������������������������������������������������������������������  75 6.2.3 Questioning Technique ��������������������������������������������������������������������  75 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  76 7 Step  5: Create Solutions  77 7.1 Tracking Creativity ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  79 7.1.1 Creativity in Communicating������������������������������������������������������������  80 7.1.2 Creativity Arises En Passant ������������������������������������������������������������  81 7.2 Using the DMN for Targeted Discussions����������������������������������������������������  82 7.3 Priming: Using the Power of Imagination����������������������������������������������������  84 7.4 Framing: Formulating Information Ideally��������������������������������������������������  84 7.5 Securing Creative Thoughts in Conversations����������������������������������������������  86 References��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  87 8 Step 6: Argue Appropriately  89 8.1 The Four Positions in Sales��������������������������������������������������������������������������  89 8.2 Benefit Arguments and Price������������������������������������������������������������������������  92 8.2.1 What Makes the Difference?������������������������������������������������������������  92 8.2.2 The Price-performance Ratio������������������������������������������������������������  93 8.2.3 Honesty Is the Best Policy����������������������������������������������������������������  95 8.3 Objectives of the Interview ��������������������������������������������������������������������������  95 8.4 Would You Buy from Yourself?��������������������������������������������������������������������  96

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8.5 The “Benefit Model”������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  97 8.5.1 The Manifestations of Utility������������������������������������������������������������ 100 8.5.2 Planning and Noting Down Chains of Arguments���������������������������� 103 8.6 Objection Handling Faultless������������������������������������������������������������������������ 106 8.6.1 Unsuitable Objection Treatments������������������������������������������������������ 107 8.6.2 The Appropriate Objection Treatment���������������������������������������������� 107 8.7 Arguing Emotionally������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 110 8.7.1 The Red Customer���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112 8.7.2 The Yellow Customer������������������������������������������������������������������������ 113 8.7.3 The Blue Customer �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 8.7.4 The Green Customer ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 116 Reference �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119 9 Step  7: Reward Each Other: and Let Customers Buy Easily 121 9.1 Is It Worth It?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 122 9.2 The Reward System�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 123 9.3 Using Anticipation in a Targeted Way���������������������������������������������������������� 125 9.4 Watching the Pupils�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126 9.5 And Just Let them Buy �������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 References�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 129 Appendix A: Afterword

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About the Authors

Paul Weber  As the owner of the first German sales agency SalesPlus GmbH, Paul Weber was active nationally and internationally for renowned companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, Mercedes-Benz, Nestlé, and SAP for over 25 years. After the successful sale of the company to 1&1, he was employed as Sales Director Central Europe at the world’s largest call center network Teleperformance. Afterwards, together with a business friend, he developed a multi-channel platform for manufacturers and retailers, which is still used by many renowned companies today. In 2009, he joined SalesPerformance, the sales agency founded by his wife Tina Weber, as managing partner. SalesPerformance offers consulting services, seminars, lectures, and interim management on all aspects of sales. He is a speaker on many topics related to sales, marketing, and management, and was a lecturer at the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg for retail and service marketing.As a former handball Bundesliga player who also breathed new life structurally, organizationally, commercially, and morally into a current Bundesliga club before it almost went bankrupt, he knows exactly what enthusiasm and will mean. His clientele benefits from a total of over 30 years of experience, which he has gained with hundreds of clients in countless industries. Over the years, Paul Weber has developed many of his own methods and strategies for B-to-B sales and has taught them in seminars and coaching sessions. Today, Paul Weber is once again in charge of operations at VEDES, Europe’s largest toy association, as Managing Director of Wholesale and Head of Sales for the entire group.Contact: [email protected]

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About the Authors

Heiner  Böttger  has been Professor of English Didactics since 2006, since 2007 at the Catholic University of EichstättIngolstadt. His research interests there and worldwide currently focus on (foreign) language-relevant, evidence-based, and holistic teaching/learning processes in language acquisition-sensitive developmental phases from birth to high adulthood. This means he is interested in all processes related to language. In his first line of research, especially as a qualified educational neuroscientist, he investigates how children and adolescents acquire communicative competences, which strategies they use, which neuronal processes in the brain underlie linguistic development, and which conditions are necessary for the acquisition of languages. In adult education, his focus is now on the workplace  – where there are still unexplored areas of research. In doing so, he explores how young and older adults can learn language(s) after school and in professional contexts and use them as efficiently as possible.  Heiner Böttger is a great advocate of the self-­obligation of scientists to make the results of their studies accessible to a broad public through publications, lectures, and interviews and via further education and training measures. For him, research has a clear objective – that of the applicability and significance of the findings for everyday and working life.Contact: [email protected]

1

Our Philosophy of Selling

Abstract

The first chapter introduces you to our sales philosophy and our aspirations for selling. This includes, above all, the attitude towards customers and the topic of “selling”. We show that selling can be learned and is not solely a question of talent or intuitive, partly unprepared action. Selling is ideally a non-manipulative, professional procedure. It must be understood, practiced, prepared and applied. We will show you that brain research supports you in successful implementation and contributes to making the sales conversation successful and a communicative experience for you and your customers. Practice and research are linked to form a consistent methodology.

If you define selling as a process that leads to guiding the customer1 to his more attractive and successful future, then it is certainly one of the most exciting jobs you can do in business. This, by the way, is our philosophy of selling, and we want to show you in this book that it is at the same time the basis for simply letting the customer buy. cc

The goal is: to lead customers into a successful future and to put the price into perspective.

You will learn many things in this book that will help you to sell with great pleasure and ease in the future. Because if you actually manage to lead the customer into his more  In the interest of readability, we have refrained from using gender-related formulations in some parts of the text. However, it goes without saying that the generic masculine form in the text always refers to both women and men. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_1

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1  Our Philosophy of Selling

attractive and successful future, then issues such as price, for example, become much less important. However, let us state right at the beginning of the book that you will only achieve this ease in selling if you are willing to invest time and energy in learning the methods we are going to teach you in such a way that you will be able to call them up in sales conversations. Our philosophy presupposes, at least to some extent, that you treat your customers with respect and appreciation. It is not uncommon for salespeople to boast over a beer about how they have once again ripped off a customer. This may indeed succeed now and then, but it will tend to make a long-term and mutually successful business relationship impossible. It would be much better if salespeople could brag about how successful they have been with their customers. At this point we want to concede right away that you by no means have to have the same philosophy of selling and the same view of people as we do in order to become even more successful in sales as a result of this book. Even great egoists who don’t have the slightest thing to do with other people and yet are willing to apply the things we teach in this book will be successful. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to think hard about our philosophy. There are many different, inconsistent definitions of the term “customer”. If one wants to get an overview, terms such as customer, consumer, buyer or purchaser are often used synonymously. In the understanding of this book, customers are first of all persons and institutions with several decision-makers who act as actual or potential demanders on markets and (want to) conclude purchase contracts (cf. Dichtl and Issing 1993, p. 1253). However, they all have individual personality traits that can differ to such an extent that a simple classification for generalisation is only roughly successful. Customers, above all people, are not just functionaries. They deserve respect and appreciation and must not be underestimated under any circumstances. Especially in times of the Internet, customers today are often more knowledgeable – as the origin of the word suggests – than many a salesperson. Proposed in the literature are psychologically based customer typologies such as that by Lorenz (2007). They all distinguish individuals in four ways, which, however, only corresponds to human complexity to a limited extent in the first instance. Accordingly, consideration of the individuality of customers must also be reflected – as in this book – as an essential aspect in the criteria for successful customer communication. Germany Is in a Training Dilemma Communication and selling can hardly be learned specifically in Germany’s school institutions. This is a real training dilemma. At schools, neither communication nor selling is a subject of instruction, and at colleges and universities, special sales-related communication is likewise only taught in specialized courses of study – despite the fact that the majority of the economic system functions via communication and transfer or sales and distribution.

1.1  What You Should Know About This Book in Advance

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Salespeople thus become primarily people who were born with a certain sales skill. That is, who intuitively do many things right in sales. And so it is the popular belief that you can not learn selling, but simply need people with talent to provide the necessary sales. cc

The bad news is: talent and intuition are often not enough. The good news is that selling can be learned.

It is always good to have talent for what you do in your working life, but transfer this thought, which is so self-evident in sales, to other areas of the company. In production, for example, people try to reach every achievable percentage point by optimizing, while in sales success is more or less left to the intuition of the employees. We believe that many people would be excellent salespeople, but either don’t trust themselves to do so or dismiss selling as “door-to-door selling”. If you take our philosophy of selling as a basis, then selling is exactly the opposite. Many people would be good salespeople simply because of the fact that others like to trust them because of their personality. If these people are willing to put in a lot of effort and diligence, as mentioned above, they can become very successful salespeople. If you apply the suggestions this book gives, then you will be able to convince your customers of a common cause and not have to persuade or even dupe them. That’s a significant difference – and our philosophy.

1.1 What You Should Know About This Book in Advance Selling Does Not Have to Be Manipulation In this book we want to show how it is possible to achieve lasting success together in a communication situation – namely speaking, listening, understanding and agreeing: Based on the latest findings of brain research, being enabled to convince sustainably in a personal conversation, even without manipulating with invasive conversational techniques, is the goal of the book. Our Claim This book has been written with a high standard. Because the main finding from many years of experience with sales coaching is the following: Despite existing theoretical knowledge, some effective communicative behaviors are often implemented too little in the sales conversation. 1. Know – be able to – apply. This means that pure knowledge alone is not enough. This is where relevant publications often stop. By including brain research, we now go one step further: Brain research not only explains, but also helps to really recognize and understand the effectiveness of the communication methods and thus to be more willing to practice them permanently and to implement them.

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1  Our Philosophy of Selling

2. Preparation first. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the book take a look at preparation and the prerequisites for a successful conversation from the perspective of brain research. Successful will be the one who prepares for every single conversation and fully concentrates on his counterpart. 3. Then create a communicative experience. Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 of our book describe how professional dialogue then becomes a communicative experience for customers when you succeed in authentically telling their story and showing them how you can lead them to success  – and become successful yourself at the same time. Completely New and Tailored to You This book is not only new, but unique. Granted: Many authors will say that about their works. But: Current results of brain research have never been made available in this systematic, detailed way for the topic of buying and selling. Brain research thus supports and reinforces the sales pitch method described in this book. It’s About You This book is written for you. You are in sales, self-employed or employed, have your own company and deal with sales almost daily, communicating with customers and those who are yet to become customers. You would like to review and optimise your communication in these contact situations with people (known or unknown to you). You would also like to know why you say something, how, when and why, why this is successful one time, less so the next time and sometimes does not lead to the desired goal at all. You would simply like to be able to justify your communicative actions in conversation. 1. Sales success through communication. This book offers you maximum learning success. You will learn in a clear, informative and comprehensible way, based on your own or described examples, what kind of communication will ensure your sales success. After reading the book, you will be able to interpret the behavior of your customers, their typical and individual ways of thinking, and the timing of their decision-making processes much better. A systematic, non-manipulative, structured approach is suggested for your sales conversations. 2. Research as a basis. The special feature of this book is the foundation of all topics and contents by neuroscientific research findings. So you learn not only facts and backgrounds, but also the reason why and when something happens. 3. Practice makes perfect. You can practice, practice and practice again – on your own initiative or in suitable, bookable seminars. This is how you learn, and after several repetitions you become confident in your actions. With many dry runs you automate the processes without having to slavishly stick to them. This is a basis for flexible, individual adaptation to concrete, different communication situations.

1.2  The Role of Brain Research in This Book

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1.2 The Role of Brain Research in This Book Research Helps Practice This book dispels the misconception that sales cannot be learned. Research helps. As the book title suggests, this is where sales know-how meets brain research. The success of the methods and strategies of sales communication presented here has been empirically proven, and we explain why and, above all, how these methods work. Brain research makes a significant contribution here. An example of this already here: In the cells of the limbic system deep in the middle of the brain, many feelings and emotions are unconsciously gathered that once triggered certain experiences. The corresponding physical states that accompanied these past situations positively or negatively at the time are also marked there. In a decision-making situation, these bodily memories of happiness, fear, disgust or other emotions are activated within fractions of a second, and they thus significantly influence the decision, long before the conscious confrontation. Knowing this puts us in a position to consciously prepare and counteract. Besides brain research, it is communication science that can help to act on the basis of evidence. It classifies the term “customer communication” theoretically – this is necessary to clarify what is being talked about or written about in this book (Chap. 2 “Successful selling is successful communication”). Because the mode of action of successful communication processes is now explained by the latest findings in brain research, it can be understood in a more targeted manner and implemented more successfully. Such methodical procedures and strategies in sales talks are so important because, once they have been learned and internalized, they can be used again and again in a wide variety of conversational situations. Brain Research Helps to Understand Brain research helps to better understand and control one’s own communicative actions and thus to avoid mistakes that could prevent a successful conversation. 1. Remembering facts more easily through connections. In the so far unique combination of scientific findings and practical experience, you will be guided through the thematic reading track shown in Fig. 1.1.

The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Fig. 1.1  Reading timeline

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1  Our Philosophy of Selling

2. Success through methodology. The book explains in an unprecedented form the preparation and sequence of exemplary communication situations for sales and distribution, which have been developed over decades and usually lead to success. All steps (cf. Fig. 1.1) are presented in a linear fashion and are ultimately completed, which is why the book also refers to a special sales talk method. All techniques and competencies are additionally interconnected and interwoven. As a result, they reinforce each other. Example: Benefit argumentation (Sect. 8) alone is less effective than in combination with motivation typology (Sect. 4) and mirror technique (Sect. 6.2).

References Dichtl E, Issing O (eds) (1993) Vahlens Großes Wirtschaftslexikon. Vahlen, München Lorenz KH (2007) Typisch Kunde. Lorenz, Elmstein

2

Successful Selling Is Successful Communication

Abstract

The second chapter begins with a clarification of the most important term, communication. We show how systematically it takes place on the one hand, but on the other hand how differentiated and individually it is realized on the other hand in contexts such as customer communication on several levels between the salesperson and the customer. A first neurobiological focus is the view into the brains of the partners involved during the customer conversation. Listening and speaking for oneself or even thinking along and ahead, it becomes clear, requires a high level of concentration. As a reader, it will become clear to you in conclusion that such a complex process cannot be called up automatically, because the following applies: practice makes perfect.

Selling takes place communicatively, i.e. by talking to each other. Thus, the conversation logically moves to the center in this book.

2.1 Customer Communication: A Brief Review Communication is Multifaceted The term “communication” is defined in many different ways, always depending on the context. This can be technical (e.g. media), (neuro)biological or social. Interpersonal communication can take place in all three areas, especially the dialogical communication between salesperson and customer, the so-called “customer communication” face to face, is primarily to be seen in the social area (Böttger 2020). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_2

7

8

2  Successful Selling Is Successful Communication

e.g. salesman

Self-Revelaon

Transmier

News/ Message/ Informaon

Appeal e.g. “Buy!”

Subject content e.g. product

Recipient e.g. customer

Relaonship

Fig. 2.1  Communication model sales talk

Ideally, communication proceeds as follows: In general, there is always the sender who sends a message, a message or information, and at least one receiver who receives it. It should be borne in mind that communication can be both verbal and non-verbal (Schulz von Thun 1987). Therefore, in this broad spectrum, it seems to be justified to say that one indeed “cannot not communicate”, as Watzlawick et al. (1969) claim. Whoever speaks and also whoever does not speak always sends explicit and implicit, direct and indirect messages, which can be expressed both with words, but also through facial expressions and gestures. Communication, including customer communication, takes place on two levels: the content level (green in Fig. 2.1) and the relationship level (orange in Fig. 2.1). Interestingly, the relationship level is generally of greater relevance for successful communication than the content level. Emotionalize Factual Information This relationship changes in the case of customer communication: The content level is certainly to be regarded as more equivalent, since it is primarily about something factual, the object of sale or the product itself. In addition, there is the clear appeal to the customer: “Buy the product from me/us!” In this book, however, it is shown that sales success can be achieved primarily by emotionalising factual information (Sect. 8.7). The way in which one communicates with the other person says a lot about the mutual attitude and opinion about each other. If the sender, i.e. the salesperson, communicates verbally and non-verbally in an open and respectful manner, for example maintaining eye contact in a connecting and synchronizing manner (Chap. 5), mutual respect, acceptance and appreciation, and ultimately also trust-building, can be positively influenced. It is worth taking a look at the New High German origin of the word customer, namely *kund (among other things, kund, kennend), which originated from the Germanic *kunnan (= to understand, to be able to know, to know) (Köbler 1999) – an indication that, as a salesperson, existing knowledge should be taken seriously and valued in a communication “at eye-to-eye level” (Sect. 6.1.1).

2.2  Brain Power in Conversation

9

2.2 Brain Power in Conversation The brain has a lot to do and perform in every conversation: In every conversation, the physical thinking centers of both speakers and listeners are working at top speed. A high level of concentration ensures that we can think ahead and think with others. Sounds simple, but it is highly complex. In this chapter, right at the beginning  – before things really get going – we will show which areas of the brain are entrusted with which tasks. The little neurobiology of the two-way conversation serves as general information and understanding of the complex processes, which will be discussed in more detail in later sections. It is therefore worthwhile not to skip the chapter. cc

Memory has a place in the brain.

The classical view of research on speech reception (through hearing and seeing) and processing describes a clear separation of tasks: it assigns individual tasks to specific areas of the brain. Newer research, on the other hand, assumes networks and so-called highways that help organize the neuronal processes in conversation – in other words, “keeping the conversation going”. For a first rough orientation, the classical – of course not wrong – view is helpful. When listening, brain areas in the left brain hemisphere (= hemisphere) are mostly active, decoding each word meaning and its emotional context in parallel within milliseconds. In speech, on the other hand, the areas involved become active one after the other, which allows language to be first formulated and then articulated. In Figs. 2.2 and 2.3, the communication processes are located on both sides for simplicity.

Fig. 2.2  Brain areas involved in listening

Hear

10

2  Successful Selling Is Successful Communication

Fig. 2.3  Brain areas involved in speech

Speak

Hearing – and thus also listening in sales talks – is a complex process that does not happen automatically. This becomes clear in the following: The auditory cortex (blue) (cf. Fig. 2.2) receives information from the inner ear via sound. The almond-shaped amygdala (below the cerebral cortex in the limbic system – dashed circle) registers emotions and triggers emotional reactions. Broca’s area (light blue) is responsible for language production and processing of sentence structure and grammar. The Wernicke area (green) and the anterior temporal lobe (yellow) ensure that the spoken word is heard and understood. The prefrontal cortex in the frontal lobe (red) is responsible for decoding word meanings by connecting them to experiences and memories. It is similar with speaking, which is also not automatic. In sales talks, it is all about using the right language, which is neither innate nor automatically available to us. It has to be practiced. It doesn’t hurt to get to know the speech process in more detail (cf. Fig. 2.3): The entire temporal lobe (brown) selects words from the individual vocabulary memory. They are stored there and associated with specific experiences and memories. The Wernicke area (green) assigns the corresponding sounds to the selected words and controls their meaningfulness – also in the sentence. The speech plan reaches Broca’s area (light blue) via nerve fibres (“highways”). As the motor speech centre, it coordinates the movements of all the muscles involved in articulation. Part of the motor cortex (purple) sends movement instructions to the speech organs mouth, tongue and larynx. The cerebellum (black) controls the timing of articulation or speech.

References

cc

11

Listening needs to be practiced.

So: listening intently to someone and then speaking yourself when you answer, listening again later, and so on – these are all processes that trigger all kinds of different actions in the brain in equally different areas. Now it also becomes clear why both – listening and speaking – need to be practiced. Especially in the sales conversation.

References Böttger N (2020) Kundenkommunikation. AKAD University, Stuttgart (Unveröffentlichtes Seminarpapier) Köbler G (1999) Wörterbuch des althochdeutschen Sprachschatzes. Schöningh, Paderborn Schulz von Thun F (1987) Miteinander reden: Störungen und Klärungen – Psychologie der zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation. Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg Watzlawick P, Beavin JH, Jackson DD (1969) Menschliche Kommunikation. Huber, Wien

3

Step 1: The First Impression Counts

Abstract

This third chapter is intended to introduce you to the procedures of a successful communication process, specifically here: a conversation in sales. Chapter 2 continues the idea that communication in sales must be planned and targeted in order to be successful. It will be made clear that the first impression of the counterpart is an important, decisive one, although not completely irreversible in the second impression. You will learn that eye contact and body posture have unconscious effects or can be used by you in a targeted manner. Finally, emotional preparation will be addressed, which leads to risk minimization and takes the customer’s mental state into account.

This chapter and those that follow are structured to lead from preparation into the interview itself, step by step. In the following, this bookmark is used for your orientation: The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

The theoretical background is always explained before it comes to practical application. So let’s start from the beginning – first with considerations about communication as a whole, then with the first impression, which is considered to be decisive.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_3

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3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

Sales Communication Is Targeted Communication can only be successful if it does not take place randomly (Chap. 2). Especially conversations that are goal-oriented, e.g. sales and distribution conversations, need preparation and structure. Communication is like going to the North Pole, but not like going to the South Pole. What is the difference? The way to the South Pole is through Antarctica, a real continent. There is ice underfoot, but solid land underneath. An explorer who wants to get to the South Pole walks step by step forward over a layer of ice that is almost 3000 m thick and lies on rocks. The way to the North Pole is different: The way through the Arctic also leads over a thick layer of pack ice, but underneath lies a sea many thousands of metres deep. The ice thus floats on the Arctic Ocean (cf. Fig. 3.1), with no “solid ground” beneath it. Ice floes can break away, drift off and back, and progress is by no means assured. Setbacks and standstills must be taken into account on the journey to the North Pole. cc

Sales expeditions need to be planned.

And conversations are like that – largely plannable, but not in every detail. Being prepared for all eventualities, being well-prepared, that ensures communicative success with a high degree of probability. Just like arriving at the North Pole. The preparation for an interview must be as professional as that of an expedition: all scenarios are considered and thought through, the equipment/skills are checked, tasks are distributed and taken on, concentration is kept high. On the road to successful communication, it all starts with first impressions. The dangers: Prejudice and misjudgment – and the deceptive first impression. The first impression is a visual one – and responsible for its capture is a quasi external part of the brain: the eye.

Fig. 3.1  Path to the North Pole. (Source: Evgeny Kovalev spb/shutterstock 116303212)

3.1  Everything Begins With the Eye

15

3.1 Everything Begins With the Eye From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

First impressions are determined by appearance and demeanor, among other things. Personally, I’ve been thinking about what clothes to choose for an appointment every morning for years. Not that this is my forte or that I consider myself particularly fashionable. It was a long process of education from my wife that I learned to mix and match colors. But everyone has experience values that they gather over the years, and everyone should notice which outfits customers react to positively or less positively. Of course, this can also sometimes go in a direction that you can’t foresee. I once joined the CEO of Europe’s largest toy association on a trip to their bank. Of course, I checked with a board member beforehand to see what the correct dress code was. He said: “Well, Mr Weber, we’re going to a bank. I think we should appear there in a suit and tie.” No sooner said than done! The bankers had obviously been thinking along similar lines. But they were thinking: Here come the toy guys, we should be very casual. When we entered the meeting room, the bankers were sitting in front of us in jeans and jacket, but without a tie, while we appeared in our communion suits. The chairman of the board, who had the gift, both linguistically and empathically, of addressing grievances with incredible charm but to the point, of course addressed this immediately. The liberating laughter on both sides made for a wonderful emotional connection. We couldn’t have asked for a better conversation starter.

“Clothes make the man – and in a fraction of a second” was the headline of the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on 22.12.2019. It reported how researchers from Princeton/ USA were able to measure the effect of clothing: According to this, people judge their fellow human beings within a fraction of a second solely on the basis of their attire (Süddeutsche Zeitung 2019). Thus, people who appear richer because of their clothes tend to be trusted more, write the US psychologists in the journal “Nature Human Behaviour” (Oh et al. 2019). • They had conducted experiments to see how their subjects rated the same person depending on their outerwear. “Instead of getting respect for their efforts, poor people face persistent disdain and disrespect from the rest of society,” said one of the study authors, Eldar Shafir, of Princeton University, according to a university press release. His team’s study shows that this disrespect can have its origins in the first split second of an encounter. • For their experiment, the researchers created special manipulated portrait images. They showed a person’s face and the upper part of the clothed torso. The researchers were free to combine the face and the upper part of the body. They mounted the same face both on clothing that had previously been judged as richer by a jury and on clothing that appeared “poorer”.

16

3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

• The researchers then showed these manipulated portrait images to their test subjects. They were asked to answer the question, “How capable do you think this person is?” The rating was done on a scale from 1 (not at all capable) to 9 (extremely capable). • In more than 80% of the cases, the same face was classified as more capable when it was mounted on an upper body with “richer” looking clothing. This effect even occurred when the subjects were shown the image for only 129 ms. According to the researchers, that’s just enough time to realize you’ve seen a face. Even when the study participants were explicitly asked not to pay attention to their clothing, the majority of them considered faces with richer-looking clothing to be more capable. • “The clear and consistent effects we observe are consistent with theoretical work and empirical observations,” the researchers wrote. “There is a strong tendency for people of lower economic status to be perceived as less capable,” they explained. This often leads to social exclusion with disadvantages for physical and mental health, they said. cc

Conclusion  So when you go to a client meeting, it’s always better to be a little

overdressed than too underdressed.  You will also notice that you feel much better when you are well dressed. And you will learn how important a positive mood is in a sales conversation in Sect. 6.1.3. Seeing and recognizing the other person – so everything begins with the eye. The eye is a component of the brain. It immediately assigns a detected object spatially (Where?) and recognizes it (What?), but not completely: humans only have a limited perception of reality. This can be seen in the limited peripheral vision, the so-called visual range, or the lack of spatial orientation. And precisely when looking at interlocutors, of whom only details can ever be grasped. Why is this so? This is illustrated by the example of reading: The point of sharpest vision, the fovea centralis, is the point on the retina in the eye that reads even the smallest information, e.g. letters (cf. Fig. 3.2). When reading, only about four letters are brought into focus at the same time (fixation). There are individual differences in the distance at which the points of gaze are set: Good readers jump further in the sentence with their eyes, worse readers make smaller gaze jumps (saccades) (cf. Fig. 3.3). This is how we read – and not, as is often assumed, letter by letter. But how then can the area between the jumps be recognized? The brain anticipates what needs to be in the gaps between fixations, it is a very complex process (Böttger 2013, p. 7). This ability to anticipate increases with practice in reading. An example of this (cf. Fig. 3.4): the first and last letters are correct, the remaining letters are reversed. The brain sorts the probable solutions with the help of already stored information and enables the reader to understand the word or text. This works in any language. The prerequisite for this is that the words have already been read at some point. If this has not happened, as for example with difficult foreign words, it does not work. Here is another example: Xpboieslnoosohge.

3.1  Everything Begins With the Eye

17

Retina

Fovea centralis

Optic nerve

Fig. 3.2  The point of sharpest vision – fovea centralis Vison span for early readers ...

The big dog jumps over the crazy cat I I I I I I I I I Fixaon

Saccade

I

... and with experienced readers

The big dog jumps over the crazy cat I I I I I I Saccade

Fixaon

I

Fig. 3.3  Good and bad readers

If you want to know what the word is really called and what it means, look it up once in a dictionary of foreign words or read the further article cited here or its title in the bibliography to this chapter, which sheds light on an interesting aspect of communication (Böttger and Költzsch 2020).

18 Fig. 3.4  Reading anticipation

3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

Here you can see, to what gorßatgiren Liuestgnen your Hrhien is iäg. As long as the first and last words of the book are spoken, the rnleieoge of the other bacebuths can be easily ignored, and you are now in a posion to harden the txet.

Fig. 3.5  Heatmap cover letter. (Courtesy of © StepStone 2021. All Rights Reserved)

3.1.1 Glances Can Hardly Be Controlled The eye looks mostly intuitively, unconsciously, often uncontrollably. Our own perception, however, is different: Job interviews, for example, are also a kind of sales situation, when applicants literally want to “sell themselves well” and promote their hiring at the company. Many personnel decision-makers state in interviews that they objectively pay attention to formal aspects, job-related skills and special individual characteristics. But: in reality, the gaze research results, especially the Stepstone study (2018), show that people look at appearance as well as so-called check and buzzwords (e.g. study/English and Daimler, respectively) (cf. Fig. 3.5). This is due to the fact that people exhibit an evolutionary behaviour in this respect – prejudice. In this case of application, attractive people are unconsciously attributed better qualities. Seemingly “beautiful” people benefit from such positive prejudice: They are initially thought to be more socially competent, more successful, more intelligent, more likeable, more confident, more creative, more sociable, more hardworking, more satisfied and more passionate. By the way, also in hearing, or more precisely in the so-called “advanced hearing”, there is such an almost unbelievable computing power of the brain (Sect. 5.6).

3.1  Everything Begins With the Eye

19

The described processes are also valid for the assessment of an interlocutor (Chap. 4). However, it is simply impossible to grasp a person as a whole – especially during the first encounter. This can be understood with technical aids that can track gazes. Eye trackers, whether mobile or stationary, track eye movements, or more precisely, they measure them, • which field of vision the test person has in mind, • which gaze stops he or she makes (fixation points) and • how the course of the gaze presents itself. Studies on eye tracking during the first encounter of two interlocutors are extremely rare, mostly referring to dating contexts or web-based communication. In addition to gender-­ specific gaze directions, which are mostly instinct-driven and often aim at procreation and provisioning, there are also cultural differences, for example the avoidance of direct eye contact when greeting in China.

3.1.2 Research Findings The encounter of looks, together with facial expressions and gestures, plays an important role in the first impression we gain not only of the professional counterpart. Within a fraction of a second, a differentiated judgement is made about a person – and this judgement is initially strictly adhered to. cc

First impressions are important. The consensus of all relevant research on first visual impression is the following findings:

(1) Body Language Plays an Important Role Before the eyes, the smile or the voice of the other person is perceived, the very first time it is seen from a distance. Body language is the first thing a counterpart recognizes from the other person when meeting. An open posture, loosely hanging arms and firm, upright stance appear confident. Slow, deliberate movements signal self-confidence. Self-­ confidence enables you not only to think about yourself and to be able to assess yourself, but also to put yourself in other people’s shoes. The salesperson’s ability to adopt a perspective (Sect. 6.2) forms the basis for a successful sales pitch. cc

Bodies “speak” first.

(2) Eye Contact is Mandatory Before any actual conversation begins, customers can usually be noticed at an early stage when they approach the salesperson. The examining look from top to bottom and back

20

3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

(scanning) is often perceived as critical or arrogant. Attention and eye contact is the first way to establish a connection. It is important to wait a short moment after turning and making eye contact before smiling: the subsequent reaction, the smile, is taken away from the arbitrariness and is related to oneself by the counterpart. This has a sympathetic effect. Conversely – smiling before or during the turn – does not refer the smiled at person to himself. cc

Blindfold binding.

(3) Smile Makes You Shine There is no more effective way to appear likeable than a radiant smile. This sign is universal throughout the world and is understood by people of all ages and cultures. Thanks to specialized brain cells called mirror neurons (Sect. 6.2), smiles are almost always reciprocated. cc

Smiling has a sympathetic and empathetic effect.

(4) Distance is Reduced The previous posture is abandoned at the end of the first encounter, the approach is reduced to about arm’s length. This is done in order to extend a hand, greet and introduce oneself. In more conservative companies, there may be an emphasis on observing rank. The higherranking person does the greeting. cc

Not too close, not too far.

Using the Resonance Phenomenon The mirror neurons in the brain ensure that people unconsciously imitate their counterparts. The posture is adjusted, synchronous movements are carried out or even what is said is repeated. Exactly this imitation leads again to the fact that the opposite feels just as unconsciously understood and taken seriously. This increases the sympathy for the other person, creates trust, opens up and relaxes the situation. cc

Taking seriously by imitating.

3.1.3 Excursus: Intuition During a conversation, initially only small areas are fixed, usually the mouth and eyes. There is a so-called eye-mouth-gaze continuum, an alternation of the gaze between the mouth and eyes of the counterpart. There are people who have a strong tendency to look

3.2  Requirements for a Good First Impression

21

Fig. 3.6  View. (From Rogers et al. 2018; courtesy of © Springer Nature 2018. All Rights Reserved)

at the eyes, some who have a strong tendency to look at the mouth, and others who distribute their gaze to the eyes and mouth to varying degrees (cf. Fig. 3.6). The time spent in the eye and mouth regions is also highly individual. The eye, which incidentally is part of the brain, thus primarily offers simple cue stimuli that provide the interlocutors with access to mutual information. These in turn are stored in the brain regions responsible for them. In interaction with much of this information from just as many previous encounters and conversations, a kind of statistical probability or empirical experience value or even a model of familiar situations emerges as to how a person or a situation is to be assessed. The size of the pupils plays a role here: The wider, the more attractive – and more trustworthy, interesting and interested. The so-called intuition of experts – or the common “gut feeling” – is therefore a myth. Intuition is nothing more and nothing less than a recognition of a possible pattern of an experience already made.

3.2 Requirements for a Good First Impression In order to make a good first impression, several things are crucial. It is very important not to be under too much pressure as a sales employee: For example, if a disgruntled boss calls you out just before a meeting on the fact that sales quotas have not been met yet again, you will be driving to the customer under a lot of pressure to get an order. I like to say in such cases: If you literally already smell fear, the customer will sense this insecurity and will be insecure himself (Sect. 5.8). It is therefore important to always have a full forecast so that you can deal with cancellations in a relaxed manner. And to all managers: Help your employees to organise themselves in such a way that they also have the chance to work successfully – such as reducing administrative activities in sales or organising meetings through an internal sales service. According to a study by Proudfood Consulting (2006), salespeople spend only about 21% of their working time actively selling and acquiring new customers. If you are confronted with this figure for the first time, it initially  sounds frightening. But when you realize that the figure also applies to your own sales staff, then this realization offers a very

22

3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

big opportunity. Because once you know how to significantly increase the active sales time of the sales staff with the customer, this is a lever that brings measurable success very quickly in most companies. Since time can only be bought to a limited extent, it makes perfect sense to add a systemic success component to the individual success of individual employees who know how to make good use of their time resources by making structural improvements that push the performance of the employees. In any case, the management is challenged to provide the sales staff with really helpful and market-driven products so that they can actually lead their customers into a more attractive and successful future. Almost all employees in sales know this situation: If you are blessed with many orders, you can also tell the customer once quite relaxed that you will not give him the slightest discount and still get the order. In my experience, this almost never works if you need the order urgently. cc

Preparation is half the battle.

It is very important to make a positive first impression on the customer. However, for this it is necessary that you go into the sales talk perfectly prepared and well trained. Only then can you radiate great self-confidence. Often, precisely this is a major shortcoming among salespeople. True to the motto: I’ve already had so many conversations, I’ll do it, training and preparation are no longer taken very seriously. What about second chances? Do they exist? Apparently not: “There’s no second chance for a first impression. – There’s no second chance for a first impression”, says an English proverb. However, this assumption is a pure myth. Because it does exist, there is a second little chance to correct the first impression – under the following conditions: • The first “moment of truth” in an encounter is shaped by the perception of people. This first visual inventory may never be completed, must always be re-evaluated. It is important to know here that the sequence with which the characteristics of a person are taken note of, often is random. • Key and color stimuli can bind the whole attention and direct it unconsciously to certain messages. The viewer must be aware of this so-called halo effect, a cognitive distortion, in order to be able to avoid prejudices that can arise, for example, through incorrectly chosen clothing or exaggerated conversational impulses. • The second “moment of truth” is dominated by the actual performance, and  thus becomes a more independent judgment. Errors in the initial assessment can be corrected. A prerequisite for this is to empathically engage with the other person, to mentally and visually block out his or her appearance, etc. • Viewers, e.g. customers, are less likely to be distracted by sideshows in this phase. In the case of applications, for example, it is important to consciously pay attention to the linguistic content of the explanatory or application texts.

3.2  Requirements for a Good First Impression

23

From Brain Research

The intuitive initial assessment of a person in a sales or sales talk at first glance, so to speak, is checked and corrected by the cognitive centre, the prefrontal cortex (frontal brain), at the moment when control mechanisms begin there. These may be initial doubts, conversational strategies, internal rules (for example, sleeping a night over an important decision, etc.), or simply increased concentration on what is happening (Wegner 2002). Sometimes it is also key words or questions or statements that initiate the continuation of monitoring one’s own behaviour. Thus, the automatic, intuitive state or unconscious rumination cannot be turned off, but only put into perspective willfully (Lavie 2010, p. 143ff.). In this way, cognitive distortions of intuition as well as the quick, perhaps wrong prejudice can be avoided or at least controlled. For these reasons, it is important to obtain information from a wide variety of data sources that are as independent of each other as possible when preparing for an interview. Similar meticulous work is done, for example, in police investigations: This kind of professional assessment is a model for sales staff – if not for the interlocutors on both sides of the table. The special assessment of a customer is a complex action with cognitively high demand, as will become clear in the following chapter.

3.2.1 Prepare Yourself Emotionally Preparing for a conversation also means having yourself under control emotionally to a large extent, in order to be able to assess the conversation partner from as objective a position as possible, to make a positive impression yourself and to be able to pursue a goal in the conversation. cc

Emotional control requires concentration.

Assessing an interlocutor is challenging. This is because conversations on both sides are never just controlled, i.e. conscious and planned. Emotions are always involved, and controlling them is the goal of many communication coaching sessions. However: Even a deliberately and purposefully sober consideration and a supposedly rational weighing usually still contains traces of emotions. Almost no one can automatically escape the mechanism of emotional reactions: If external signs such as facial expressions and gestures are apparently neutral, measurable biodata such as heart rate, skin temperature and perspiration indicate emotional involvement.

24

3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

From Brain Research

Together with cognition, or awareness, emotions form two complementary systems that interact in multiple ways (Kahneman 2016). This is most often evident in emergency or stressful situations. The two systems are also not always completely harmoniously balanced across the lifespan, depending on age. Younger people in particular, especially during puberty, are more likely to have uncontrolled reactions due to rapid emotional judgment rather than careful cognitive deliberation. This has to do with brain development in mainly the following three brain areas: The cognitive centre of all our decisions, the prefrontal cortex, is not fully developed until the age of 27. The emotion centres (see Fig. 3.7), amygdala (Sects. 6.1.4 and 7.5) and the hippocampus in the limbic system are fully mature earlier. Of course, this does not mean that adults beyond puberty cannot literally lose their emotional-cognitive balance. In addition to its emotional function, the hippocampus is also called the memory center, which stores autobiographical memories, conscious memories, and memories that are integrated into situations and contexts. It also stores and labels mainly positive emotions and involves spatial navigation and creative thinking. Amygdala, the amygdala, stores negative experiences throughout life (Genon et  al. 2018, p. 350ff.). This also explains why emotional events are stored for so long: They are holistically embedded in many memories. This is why the strategy of the customer journey, the story of a customer’s journey through many contact points with the product or company up to the purchase, is a promising one. Essentially, this also explains the dominance of emotional decisions, including the linguistic ones in communication situations: Especially at a young age, unintentionally emotionally coloured statements are made again and again, which in part can damage the course of the conversation. Prefrontal cortex: – Attention – Concentration – Focus

Amygdala: – Emotion regulation – Reaction

Fig. 3.7  The cognitive centre and the emotion centres

Hippocampus: – Learn – Memory

3.2  Requirements for a Good First Impression

25

Minimize the Emotional Risk In order to minimize the emotional “risk” – or more precisely, to prepare oneself emotionally – the following four conditions are recommended in summary: 1. Create a positive atmosphere: it is virtually “recognized” and forms an important basis for conversation. 2. View people holistically and always check your own prejudices. 3. Check congruence in the interlocutor and in yourself: Do body language, facial expression, voice or tone and content or verbal statement match? Saying “I like the new task” and making a disgruntled face is irritating. 4. Consider the context of the conversation: What exactly is it about, what is particularly important, what is unimportant? If these points are not or not completely taken into account, the content message is largely lost due to the dominance of the emotional.

3.2.2 Achieving Cognitive Ease Facial expressions in particular provide information about the emotional state of interlocutors (Kahneman 2016, p. 81ff.). This is usually easy to read and understand in the case of new information (astonishment → raised eyebrows or frown lines in the case of sceptical listening) or a subjective feeling (e.g. threat → “What am I actually being sold here?”). Consider the Mental Alertness of the Customer If the customer’s wishes and expectations are not addressed quickly or are not taken into account at all, this places a great mental or cognitive strain on the customer: concentration increases, the frontal brain is active (Sect. 7). A subjective danger (e.g. of being taken advantage of) is assumed and mental alertness, namely vigilance and suspicion, is built up (Chap. 6). The latter in particular is not a good prerequisite for a successful course of the conversation or even the conclusion of the conversation. It is therefore important to be aware of the expectations of the other person before or during the conversation. The situation is completely different in a positive conversational context: familiar content, processes and statements are processed mentally without interference, and a cognitive lightness sets in. This is usually accompanied by a good mood and a good feeling of familiarity with the current situation. The decrease in cognitively demanding processes is then measurable, the mental alarms are switched off (Morewedge and Kahneman 2010, p. 435ff.). The linguistic level also plays an essential role in achieving the easy, productive conversational flow. It is a fallacy that one must package simple, clear facts in long sentences with difficult technical vocabulary in order to appear credible and intelligent (Oppenheimer and Shah 2007, p. 371ff.).

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3  Step 1: The First Impression Counts

Brain-friendly Formulation Rather, it is simple, memorable, positive phrases in coherent, understandable language that are more likely to be believed to be true. It almost seems as if the human brain has a tendency to be cognitively lazy – however, the brain also follows efficiency. Since it is one of the largest consumers of energy in the body, it wants to enter a rest mode (Chap. 8 and Sect. 8.5) as quickly as possible in order to be ready for strenuous phases again. Supporting table templates for a conversation to strengthen familiarity and signal to the other person that you have nothing to hide: High gloss improve matte materials, colors improve pure black and white, and simple sentences improve long essays. Not to forget the structure and a professional content structure. It goes without saying that content, offer and/or message must be coherent. Mentally, strategically and organisationally well prepared for the meeting, you are ready to go. The knowledge of this fact conveys self-confidence, lets you enter the meeting room almost by itself upright, authoritative and smiling. Short & Compact

1. A good first impression is not decisive, but pre-decisive. It helps as a “door opener” and as an icebreaker for the conversation and can be influenced. 2. Intensive preparation and knowledge of, for example, the effect of open body language, one’s own positive mood, a winning smile, adequate clothing and the selfconfidence of being well prepared can help to convey a positive first impression. 3. To achieve mental, cognitive ease in addition to emotional control, both knowledge of it and strategic action are necessary. 4. And if all that doesn’t work out with the first impression: In the end, there is also a second chance, which you can earn with a good performance during the interview.

References Böttger H (2013) Weil Kinder es können und wollen: Lesen und Schreiben im Englischunterricht der Grundschule. Grundschule Englisch 45:4–9 Böttger H, Költzsch D (2020) The fear factor: Xenoglossophobia or how to overcome the anxiety of speaking foreign languages. Train Lang Cult 4(2):43–55 Genon S, Reid A, Langner R, Amunts K, Eickhoff SB (2018) How to characterize the function of a brain region. Trends Cogn Sci 22(4):350–364 Kahneman D (2016) Schnelles Denken, langsames Denken. Penguin, München Lavie N (2010) Attention, distraction, and cognitive control under load. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 19(3):143–148 Morewedge CK, Kahneman D (2010) Associative processes in intuitive judgment. Trends Cogn Sci 14(10):435–440 Oh D, Shafir E, Todorov A (2019) Economic status cues from clothes affect perceived competence from faces. Nat Hum Behav 4:287–293

References

27

Oppenheimer D, Shah A (2007) Easy does it: the role of fluency in cue weighing. Judgm Decis Mak 2:371–379 Rogers SL, Speelman CP, Guidetti O, Longmuir M (2018) Using dual eye tracking to uncover personal gaze patterns during social interaction. Sci Rep 8(1):4271 StepStone Österreich (2018) Eyetracking Studie Whitepaper. https://www.stepstone.at/Ueber-­ StepStone/pressebereich/eyetracking-­studie-­so-­lesen-­personalverantwortliche-­bewerbungen/. Accessed on: 15. Mai 2021 Süddeutsche Zeitung (2019) Kleider machen Leute  – und zwar in einem Sekundenbruchteil. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/wissenschaft-­kleider-­machen-­leute-­und-­zwar-­in-­einem-­ sekundenbruchteil-­dpa.urn-­newsml-­dpa-­com-­20090101-­191222-­99-­236009. Accessed on: 17. Mai 2021 Wegner DM (2002) The illusion of conscious will. MIT Press, Boston

4

Step 2: Assess Customers

Abstract

Being able to better assess yourself and others has been a great desire since time immemorial. In this chapter, you will learn what motivation typology is and get to know different systems that will help you to better categorize yourself and others. We will show you how to use the combination of two systems for your sales success by managing to think with the customer’s head, so to speak. A pleasant side effect is that you will learn more about yourself as well as your professional and private environment. The main advantage of the motivation typology is that you can generally understand your behaviour and communication to and with other people more easily and thus also optimise it. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

After you have gained a first impression of your customer, you would naturally like to be able to look behind his forehead to know what he thinks, what is important and less important to him. But of course, that’s not so easy to do. What you will get to know in this chapter, however, is a system that enables you to better assess, sort and understand people and their decisions. In the process, by the way, you will also learn a great deal about yourself.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_4

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30

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

The starting point of all considerations is not oneself.

Imagine that you want to make another person happy. Then it is quite normal and human that you first of all assume that the other person will enjoy exactly what you would also enjoy. It is not uncommon for us to be disappointed when the person we want to do something good for is not as happy as we had hoped, and we are naturally depressed ourselves, because we had hoped for a positive reaction. The reason for such unsuccessful actions is that we usually think with our own head and not with the head of the other person. Thinking with the Customer’s Head and Knowing What Makes the Customer Tick This is often the case in sales as well. Of course we try to make our products and services palatable to the customer, but many sales people only think about what excites them themselves. If in doubt, however, assume that this may be completely unimportant to the customer. We can only tailor our sales arguments to the customer if we know what makes our counterpart tick. If we know what drives them or what stops them from doing things. Or to put it another way: When we know why our customers prefer one thing and reject another. And of course, when we understand why customers react so differently to our arguments. cc

A good assessment of the customer helps to be successful.

So it would be nice if there was a system that helps you to better assess people. Because if you can do that, then you can communicate with customers in a targeted way right from the initial contact and make a good first impression. You develop a much better sense of what they want and can formulate customer value according to their needs. As a result, customer focus becomes evident and building a much stronger business relationship becomes possible. In the end, one will act more successfully and sell significantly more (cf. Fig. 4.1).

Targeted initial contact with the customer More sales More success

Better understanding of customer needs More successful customer relationships Argue benefits according to customer requirements

Stronger customer relationship Demonstrate greater customer focus

Fig. 4.1  On the way to a better customer relationship

4.1  Motivation Typology Is Brain-Based

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31

An individual approach helps in every situation.

Knowledge about other people, their motives and motivations, not only helps in sales, it is of utmost importance in any interpersonal communication. Whether you are talking to your boss, colleagues or employees, family or friends, knowing how to address your conversation partner individually is always a considerable advantage.

4.1 Motivation Typology Is Brain-Based The system that helps one to assess other people is called motivation typology (cf. Lorenz 2007). The decisive factor that influences human thought and action is motivation. It determines the efforts that someone makes to achieve a goal and is decisive for his perseverance or determines his future success in action. The system of human motives underlying the process of motivation as triggering human characteristics can be emotionally conditioned and include unconscious needs as well as drives, or it can be rather cognitively controlled. The latter “higher” motives arise after the satisfaction of the “lower” ones such as curiosity and are socially motivated or indicate goals such as self-actualization. The higher-level motives for human action can be systematized: The achievement motive depends on praise and recognition, the power motive strives for influence over people and things, and the connection motive to people is determined by sympathy and empathy (cf. Böttger 2020). In the following, both systems – emotional and cognitive – are logically connected with each other. Together they plausibly explain in a simple way why a motivation typology exists at all and how it can be used as a kind of navigator in any interpersonal communication. In sales, the idea is widespread that the motivation typology is based on the theoretical assumption that a person possesses three basic emotional instructions in the brain, namely a so-called “limbic map” (cf. Häusel 2010, p. 32ff.) of dominance, balance and stimulus. However, these assumptions fall short and no longer correspond to the findings of science. All three aspects cannot only be assigned to the emotions, which in turn are located in the limbic system, among other things. Dominance, for example, is a primarily cognitive action and is assigned to a completely different centre in the brain. There are definitely only two systems that work together and largely balance each other, namely the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. In conjunction with the hormonally controlled stimulatory reward system, which we discuss in detail in Sect. 9.2, they provide the explanation for human motivation. The limbic system itself is complex, but is often mistakenly reduced to just the amygdala and hippocampus. Thus, it is not amenable to mapping or reduction to just a few functions. Figure 4.2 shows the components of the multilayered limbic system.

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

Beams (Corpus callosum)

Fornix cerebri

Epiphysis (Pineal gland)

Cerebral parts Parts of the diencephalon:

Cingulate gyrus

Gyrus parahippocampalis

Front thalamic nuclei Hypothalamus

Hippocampus

Mamillary bodies Amygdala

Fig. 4.2  The limbic system. (Courtesy of © Blausen.com staff 2014. All Rights Reserved)

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Emotions originate deep in the brain.

In short, the limbic system consists of different structures with similar or identical functions. It is located deep inside the brain and is its oldest part in terms of evolutionary biology. In addition to emotions, the limbic system also has a particular influence on memory and motivation. The system houses the six basic emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise, but they cannot each be assigned to a location. It is now known that they only form the basis for 21 other derived emotional human states. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), the forebrain or frontal brain, has already been mentioned. It is responsible for cognitive actions, that is, conscious control of all human actions. This is where thought, recognition, forethought, evaluation and execution take place (cf. Sect. 3.2.1). Both brain areas, the limbic system as well as the prefrontal cortex, are in constant exchange in adults. Therefore, they also possess the ability to largely control emotions with increasing brain maturation and advanced age. Both brain areas can be roughly assigned certain human motives that explain the resulting human actions. However, it is difficult to separate emotion and cognition, and selected motives can be classified and represented with greater proximity to the limbic system or the frontal brain (Fig. 4.3).

4.2 The Map of Motivation Is Created If this logical division into cognitive and emotional is further deepened in thought, then one ultimately arrives at what the authors call the Map of Motivation, which forms the basis for human action and human motives. Such motives can be assigned to the emotional limbic part or the cognitive prefrontal cortex, as shown in Fig. 4.3.

4.2  The Map of Motivation Is Created

33

Stability Activity Status Image Team spirit Wealth Trust Day Dream Fame Freedom Challenge Family Order Acknowledgment Relaxation Silence Achievement Safety Creativity Innovations Victory Structure Relations Openness Discipline Pleasure Fun Quality Control Idealism Harmony Justice Cleanliness Thrift

Sustainability

Fig. 4.3  Balance system of motives

A second systematization is necessary, the motivation typology. It serves to make the now emerging, theory-based Map of Motivation actively applicable for customer discussions. This second system is the four-colour model. Appraise People: An Ancient Desire Its origin goes back to the philosopher and physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC), who already typologized people. He distinguished between the sanguine, the choleric, the melancholic and the phlegmatic on the basis of bodily fluids and elements. These distinctions form the original basis of the many modern motivational typologies that exist today. The following, even more differentiated and positive versions, the INSIGHTS method (Scheelen 2011) as well as the typology according to Florence Littauer (1994), ideally describe four different colour types (cf. Fig. 4.4). Because such a classification is optimal and proven for the sales talk, since it seems impossible to cope with more than four different types there. In order to make it easier for you to argue on a customer-specific basis in the future (Sect. 8.7), we have transferred the four colour types and the cognitive/emotional system (cf. Fig.  4.3) to the innovative Map of Motivation. For the customer conversation this means that such differences have to be found out and addressed in the communication. For this reason, we use the term Map of Motivation in the following, which illustrates how complex human motives are. The Map of Motivation is, so to speak, the map that helps to find out the customer’s motivational situation in the customer conversation and to be able to respond to it (cf. Fig. 4.5).

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

The blue type

The red type

Discipline Quality Justice Order

Control Family

Structure

Safety

Cleanliness

Safety

Sustainability

Harmony Stability

Trust

The green type

Thrift

Victory Status

Image Achievement

Acknowledgment Challenge

Activity

Wealth Innovations Fun

Day Dream

Idealism

Relaxation

Relations

Silence

Pleasure

Fame

Team spirit Openness Creativity

Freedom

The yellow type

Fig. 4.4  The four colour types

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Memorize the Map of Motivation well. It will help you to argue your case.

This map of motivation shows which triggers or preferences people have, and where they are located at certain points or in certain areas of this map. Now you will probably think to yourself: How am I supposed to find out who is located where on the map? There are billions of people in the world and none of them is exactly like another – not even twins. So you’re dealing with billions of different triggers. Exactly! But that still doesn’t help us. A test can help to find out which motivational type you are and what percentage color distribution you have. Florence Littauer has described positive and negative attributes for each color type, which are included in this test. Give it a try: Test There are first 20 lines with positive attributes and then 20 lines with negative attributes. In each line, please pick the attribute that most closely applies to you and put an “x” in the box after the term. There will be one or two lines where you will struggle. Nevertheless, please select one of the attributes. So you need to come up with a total of 40 crosses.

4.3  What Makes My Counterpart Tick? A Navigation System The blue type

Quality Justice Order

Control Family

Structure

Safety

Cleanliness

Safety

Sustainability

Harmony Stability

Trust

The green type

The red type

TASK ORIENTED

Discipline

INTROVERTED

35

Thrift Day Dream

Victory Status

Image Achievement

Acknowledgment Challenge

Activity

Wealth Innovations Fun Idealism

Relaxation

Relations

Silence

Pleasure

HUMAN ORIENTED

Fame

Team spirit

EXTROVERTED

Openness Creativity Freedom

The yellow type

Fig. 4.5  Map of motivation

You can carry out the test and have it evaluated here: https://www.salesperformance-­ gmbh.de/vertrieb-­trifft-­hirnforschung.html. Or: You can purchase an even more accurate test from INSIGHTS MDI International Deutschland GmbH.

4.3 What Makes My Counterpart Tick? A Navigation System Views are Different So why is it so important to be able to deal purposefully with the four different types? As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, people have different ways of looking at things. What is important to one person may be completely indifferent to another. But the really essential argument is this: More than 80% of all decisions we humans make are purely emotional, and of those we think we’ve made rationally a huge proportion are equally purely emotional. Our brains search for rational arguments in a split second to justify the decision. So it then feels as if the decision was made rationally. Häusel (2010, p. 53) writes the following: “The more motivational and emotional systems are positively addressed by a product or service, and the more strongly this happens, the more valuable the product or service becomes for the customer.” This can be summed up in the following central tenet:

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

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The more positive emotions are addressed, the more likely the purchase decision will be made in favor of a certain idea, product or service.

In his book Brain View (2010, p. 57), Häusel raises the question of what is the most popular drink in the whole world. It is coffee. The only question is: Why? In our seminars we always ask the participants why they drink coffee. Every time, many good reasons are given. They want to stimulate themselves or relax and treat themselves to something. You drink coffee when you want to talk to someone in peace and quiet, and of course you can also have a latte macchiato or a cappuccino to treat yourself to something special. If we then project the reasons for drinking coffee onto the Map of Motivation, we can see at a glance that it is almost covered (cf. Fig. 4.6). Apparently, it really does seem to be the case that one of the reasons coffee is the most popular drink around the world is that it covers a great many motive fields. From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

Now we’ve trained thousands of sales people in our seminars, and very often the following is brought up as a counter-argument to this example: “We have a technical product, it’s not emotional in the least.” Far from it! There is neither a product nor a service that is not emotional or could not be emotionally charged in such a way that it touches the customer. The “coffee example” has shown very well how important it is to serve the customer’s motivations. So let’s take a look at how it is with a highly technical product and its areas of application: One of our customers manufactures four-way eccentric high-performance valves and felt that this product was not emotional. This butterfly valve is based on an innovative design principle that ensures absolute tightness, even at extreme temperatures of −270–800 °C. It is often used in the field of oil and gas production. Here, high demands are placed on the safety of the valves, as the risk of fire is latent in all processes. It is therefore easy to imagine how much precision and reliability are required in this application in order to rule out accidents or even catastrophes. A product, therefore, that gives the customer a great sense of security and simply lets him sleep better at night. Incidentally, this is just one way of giving this product an emotional charge. We will explain how to emotionalise products in a later chapter (Sect. 8.7).

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All products and services can be emotionally charged.

How can I find out relatively quickly and accurately who is which type? The INSIGHTS system (Scheelen 2011, p. 137) provides a very simple method, a navigation tool, so to speak (cf. Fig. 4.7).

4.3  What Makes My Counterpart Tick? A Navigation System The blue type

37 The red type

TASK ORIENTED

Coffee is lifestyle Discipline Control

Quality

Drinking coffee as a ritual

Family

Justice

Structure

Order

INTROVERTED

Communication at the coffee wreath

Safety

Cleanliness

Safety

Sustainability

Harmony

Thrift

Stability

Drinking coffee is relaxing

Trust

The green type

Day Dream

Victory Status

Image

Coffee boosts performance

Achievement

Acknowledgment Fame

Challenge

Coffee vitalizes

Activity

Wealth

EXTROVERTED

Team spirit

Innovations

spoil yourself with coffee

Openness

Fun

Creativity

Idealism

Relaxation

Relations

Silence

Pleasure

Drinking coffee is pleasure

Freedom

The yellow type

HUMAN ORIENTED

Fig. 4.6  Emotional overlaps

The blue type

Discipline Quality Justice Order

INTROVERTED

Control Family

Structure

Safety

Cleanliness

Safety

Sustainability

Harmony Stability

Trust

The green type

The red type

TASK ORIENTED

Thrift

Victory Status

Image Achievement

Acknowledgment Challenge

Activity

Wealth Innovations

Idealism

Relaxation

Relations

Silence

Pleasure

Team spirit

EXTROVERTED

Openness

Fun

Day Dream

Fame

Creativity Freedom

HUMAN ORIENTED

Fig. 4.7  The navigation system through the motivation types

The yellow type

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

First of all, you should always start with the initial assessment of whether the other person is more introverted or more extroverted. Introverted types are the so-called blues and greens. The extroverted people are the so-called reds and yellows. Experience shows that you can tell very early on in a first contact who is an extrovert and who is an introvert. Afterwards one estimates whether the interlocutor is rather human-oriented or rather task-­ oriented. The following four combinations can result from this: (a) The Red: extroverted – task-oriented (b) The Yellow: extroverted – human-oriented (c) The Blue: introverted – task-oriented (d) The Green: introverted – human-oriented Of course, there is no human being who corresponds to only one type in pure form. One will always have to deal with certain mixtures. The important thing is to find out which color dominates. cc

People always have a certain mix in their typology. It’s worth a second look. From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

Once it actually happened to me that I could not assess one of my colleagues at all, although I had worked with him for a longer period of time. When he then took the motivation typology test, it turned out that he had 25% of each colour. By the way, he was the works council in the company and always got along excellently with all contacts.

4.4 Motivation Typology Every person has positive and negative characteristics. Let us go into the four different types a little more intensively. You will see in the following explanations how the individual types differ from each other (cf. Figs. 4.8, 4.9, 4.10 and 4.11).

4.4.1 The “Reds”: Extroverted and Task-Oriented The Red Wants to Shine Let us turn first to the dominant reds (Fig. 4.8). The greatest driving force of the red is applause. The red wants to be better than all others and is permanently in competition

4.4  Motivation Typology

39

The red type

strong-willed competitive obstinate sure

creating

+

inventive

the boss

the leader straight out persuasive

daring determinant self-reliant

decisive

forceful

bossy stubborn

adventurous

independent

argumentative

headstrong

convinced

positive

dogmatic

unsympathetic

impatient

proud

manipulative

intolerant workaholic

-

nervous

dominant tactless

withstanding

special proud

Fig. 4.8  The red type

The yellow type

spirited popular

cheerful

inspiring

spontaneous

+

animated

convincing expressive

funny

the talker playful

optimistic

sociable

playful

the promotor exciting

delightful

lively refreshing

nice

undisciplined intimidating

unstable

restless

-

permissive

repetitious slightly enraged

forgetful loud

disorganized

talkative

interruptive

blue-eyed wants to be respected inconsistent

messy

Fig. 4.9  The yellow type

mode. He avoids situations that cannot end well for him like the devil avoids holy water, because his image must always be polished to a high gloss. His reputation is sacred to him. This inner drive makes the Reds high achievers. It doesn’t matter if it’s in business, in the public sphere, or in their private lives: Reds lead the way and call the shots.

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

The green type balanced

humble tolerant

consistent

hesitant

dry humour

patient

+

indifferent

adaptable

reserved

plain

satisfied inoffensive the listener peaceful pleasant contented shy

tolerant

diplomatic

-

timid shy

aimless

simple reserved

doubtful

uninterested

friendly

compromising

lazy

uninvolved

patient

sluggish

indecisive

reticent

fearful

unenthusiastic slow

Fig. 4.10  The green type

The blue type

well behaved evaluating

persistent considerate scheduled cultured

loyal

thoughtful

respectful the planner orderly

+

analytical detailed

sensitive self sacrificing idealistic

obstinate perfectionist

introverted

moody

critical revengeful uncertain suspicious unpopular withdrawn hardly to be satisfied pessimistic negative attitude depressed too sensitive disconcerted fussy sceptical unforgiving insecure a loner

-

Fig. 4.11  The blue type

The Reds are the Engines Many successful German family businesses have been led to success by a dominant red. Where the other motivational types are already satisfied, he doesn’t let up and always tries to “go one better”. Once a goal is reached, a new one is immediately issued. The Red is decisive and goes forward energetically to achieve goals. He is completely convinced of himself: when he gets into a taxi at the station and is asked by the taxi driver where to go, he answers: “Never mind, I’m needed everywhere!”

4.4  Motivation Typology

41

On the other hand, the red one is often not so easy in dealing with other people. He constantly plays the “big man” and gives others the feeling that only he knows what is best for everyone. He doesn’t really listen and gives others the feeling that it doesn’t matter what they say anyway. Reds Should Be Careful Not to Permanently Run Over Others To achieve his goals, the Red not infrequently acts according to the motto: “The end justifies the means.” The Red says to himself, “Here me – there goal – that way.” He takes the direct climb to the top and, if necessary, becomes manipulative to achieve his goals. Because the Red sometimes addresses things so bluntly that it becomes hurtful, it is often not always easy for colleagues or co-workers to process the tactless nature of the Red.

4.4.2 The “Yellows”: Extroverted and People-Oriented Yellows are Excited and Enthusiastic The yellows are the sun shines – often in the lives of others (Fig. 4.9). They are very enthusiastic and can infect others with their enthusiasm. Thus, the yellow is a good motivator who tries to carry people along in a positive way. The yellow salesperson wants to get customers excited about products and services, rather than trying to rush them or talk them into something. Yellow is always optimistic and approaches tasks positively. He is a good storyteller. If at a party or gathering, a bunch of people stand around one person, listening spellbound and laughing, there is a good chance that a Yellow is in the middle. However, be careful: The yellow has no problem with exaggerating stories or even adding something to make the story even funnier. Which brings us to the difficult attributes of the Yellow. Yellow Should Let the Customer Have His Say As the yellow one likes to hear himself talk, he may overdo it with the storytelling and fall into the same trap, especially for others who would also like to have their say. Yellow Does Well a Little More Realism than Idealism The yellow is by nature undisciplined and forgetful. Since organization and processes are not exactly his strengths, it can be that now and then something slips through or his good ideas fail in the implementation.

4.4.3 The “Greens”: Introverted and People-Oriented Greens are excellent at getting into the soul of other people (Fig.  4.10). Because they observe other people from an early age and do not have to be in the front row, they are the

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

first to understand motivational typology when it is explained to them. This is completely natural for them, since they have always observed things this way. Greens are Very Good Moderators Greens are excellent active listeners. When you have been talking to a Green for an hour, it is often the case that you ask yourself afterwards what the Green has actually told you about himself. Greens are very good at keeping their interlocutor talking by asking clever questions. They are very diplomatic and tend to think for themselves before they openly talk about unpleasant things. The Greens certainly have a dry sense of humour. It is possible for the Green to not say anything in a party all evening, but when he makes a joke, everyone is on the floor laughing. He also only makes the joke when it’s really funny. The Green’s working motto is: “Don’t work hard – work smart!” Greens Should Work on Their Charisma Because the Greens are shy and withdrawn, they often come across as disinterested, hesitant and indifferent. You permanently have the feeling that you have to kick them in the butt to animate them. On the other hand, the Green can actually switch to extreme stubbornness when he thinks things are pointless or inappropriate. Then he’s also ready to go into confrontation.

4.4.4 The “Blues”: Introverted and Task-Oriented The blues are the absolute structure and process people (Fig. 4.11). A question such as “Where is the organisation chart in our company?” is asked 90% of the time by Blues. The Blues are Extremely Sorted When it comes to optimizing processes or structures in a company, you certainly can’t find anyone better than the Blue. He meticulously adheres to agreed processes and in turn feels pain when others do not. The Blue is a cultured and polite person, but also insistent on his ideas about how things should be organized. Blue Should Develop a Positive Attitude The blue one is very hard to please. Not even by himself. Therefore, blues – in contrast to yellows – have a rather subdued joy level. With the blue the glass is always half empty, with the red it is always half full and the yellow doesn’t care, the main thing is that there is gin and tonic in it. In sales you have to perceive individuality and be able to deal with it.

4.4  Motivation Typology

43

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

As you can see from the explanations, the individual types are really extremely different. Customers must therefore also be treated individually. As a salesperson, you have to perceive which type you are yourself and work on yourself in order not to scare the customer away with your type. How often have we heard of unsuccessful presentations in our seminars and coaching sessions. A common version of the story is that the sales representative had presented magnificently, but the customer simply fell to his knees in the face of so much ingenuity. One can then only ever reply that we have very rarely come across a customer who is too stupid. At least less often than a salesperson who fails to present to the customer. The fact that the words “presentation” and “present” are related is no coincidence. In both cases, it is a matter of “giving”, and in both cases, the recipient usually does not know the exact contents beforehand. If you give an expensive bottle of wine to an anti-alcoholic, his enthusiasm will probably be limited. But would you call the recipient too stupid for that? Hardly! More likely the giver. What went wrong there is obvious. The gift itself was impeccable, it just didn’t fit the person of the recipient. In other words, the giver did not sufficiently engage with the person he wanted to make happy with his gift. He probably rather realized his ideas of a perfect gift for himself. In the same way, even the most sophisticated presentation can fall flat if the salesperson has failed to get as accurate a picture as possible of the customer’s expectations, wishes and personality beforehand. Of course, this is not always easy, and yet it is essential for successful work in sales. There are hardly any stupid customers, only those with different ideas or their own ideas. The probability of meeting a sales employee who presents straight past the customer is probably much greater. So what needs to be found out in or even before a sales meeting is what the “main trigger” of the communication partner is, what emotional type is sitting or standing in front of you.

In Sect. 8.7.4 we will talk about the fact that in sales talks the motto always applies: “The fish must like the worm and not the fisherman.” Only if you are able to tailor your messages to each individual customer will you have lasting sales success. You will also learn why this is so in the further course of the book. Summarized in one sentence: cc

You need to tell your customer their story, not your own.

So the emotional orientation of the other person is highly different, but in addition, remember: you also belong to one type. So emotions are active on both sides and completely unconscious – at least partially. Is that controllable?

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4  Step 2: Assess Customers

In our seminars, motivation typology and benefit argumentation, which you will learn about later, are the foundations for successful sales communication. As already mentioned above, you will read in Sect. 8.7 how you can use these in combination for your success. In the next step, you will now learn how important it is not only to be able to better assess the customer, but also to synchronize and connect with him in the truest sense of the word. Short & Compact

1. The motivation typology is a proven navigation system to better assess and understand people’s behavioral patterns and ways of acting. 2. The motivation typology helps to better assess oneself and to better deal with one’s own strengths and weaknesses. 3. The motivation typology is therefore the basis for being able to better control one’s own behaviour – also in sales – and to argue in a customer-specific way.

References Blausen.com staff (2014) Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014. https://en.wikiversity. org/wiki/WikiJournal_of_Medicine/Medical_gallery_of_Blausen_Medical_2014#/media/ File:Blausen_0614_LimbicSystem.png. Accessed on: 15. Mai 2021 Böttger N (2020) Mitarbeitermotivation als Erfolgsfaktor im Unternehmen. AKAD University, Stuttgart (Unveröffentlichtes Dokument) Häusel H-G (2010) Brain view: Warum Kunden kaufen. Haufe, Freiburg Littauer F (1994) Einfach typisch! Die vier Temperamente unter der Lupe. Gerth Medien, Asslar Lorenz KH (2007) Typisch Kunde. Lorenz, Elmstein Scheelen FM (2011) So gewinnen Sie jeden Kunden: Das 1x1 der Menschenkenntnis im Verkauf. Redline, München

5

Step 3: Synchronize and Connect

Abstract

Even if you are already theoretically familiar with communication processes, you will learn amazing things in this chapter. The knowledge of synchronization effects forms the latest state of neuroscience: people can connect quasi “wirelessly”. This is related to the development of the brain as well as the ability to concentrate. The resulting, seemingly unbelievable abilities of your thinking organ will be explained by way of example. What competencies can be acquired to build the necessary mindpower and how to do it is explained in a practical section. These competencies mark the end of the conversation preparation before we round off the chapter with initial brain-based conversation strategies. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step number 3 to successful communication is based on completely new research results that you, dear readers, should definitely be aware of. Because: The findings clearly show what happens where and with what potential, with what energy, when people communicate. Successful communication is a matter of synchronization (Dikker et  al. 2017, p.  1375ff.), of connecting rather than isolating and disconnecting. Everyone is familiar with the terms finding a connection, connecting, being on the same wavelength as well as

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_5

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5  Step 3: Synchronize and Connect

Fig. 5.1  Invisible but measurable connections during conversation

Listen Speak

the opposite, talking past each other. Getting involved with each other, understanding each other and the other person, that is what counts and is the goal in the professional context. Although speaking and listening plus understanding are different processes, the associated areas of speaker and listener synchronize during the conversation, quasi wirelessly (cf. Fig. 5.1). A very special role in the mutual connection process is played by vision, the reading of facial expressions, gestures and body posture. cc

Using all the senses means “immersing” oneself in the customer.

In a sales talk, it is therefore important to use all the senses in a targeted manner. In addition to concentrated listening, targeted observation and engagement with the customer provide valuable information about their thoughts and feelings. From Speaking to Convincing The advantage for the (sales) conversation is therefore the synchronisation of its communicative parts: speaking – listening – answering – understanding – being convinced. They are automatically and continuously coordinated with each other. An almost unbelievable ability of the brain.

5.1 Teamwork: Brain-to-brain Synchrony Teaming is the synchronization of two or more people. It’s like sports. Nothing succeeds like success: Every successful team not only has tough games behind it, but also months of incessant physical and mental preparation, countless team meetings and motivational locker room talk. In all of this time, teaming, the synchronization of the team, makes an extremely important difference: it comes from verbal and nonverbal communication with each other on the team, in groups, and with special team partners. Successful team communication leads to increasingly successful synchronization. In the end, such successful teaming can be superior in competitive rivalry situations.

5.2  Home of Synchronicity

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Fig. 5.2  Crossing legs. (Source: rawpixel.com/shutterstock 505166710)

Synchronisation takes place in sport, at work and in everyday life: People imitate each other, e.g. perfectly match their stride length and frequency when walking, cross their legs in the same way when sitting next to each other (cf. Fig. 5.2), imitate the positions and gestures of the interlocutor when speaking, and use roughly the same pitch of voice, phrases and grammar of the other in conversation (Böttger 2018). People are in a constant state of teaming, often without really noticing or knowing it (Chap. 4 First impressions count). Why do they do it? People want to because they are social beings. Aligning with each other and imitating each other shows that they belong to the “team,” the social group. Down to the micro level of the brain cells.

5.2 Home of Synchronicity When people interact, regions of their brain automatically synchronise their activities (Sect. 5.6). This coupling of brain cells is a central component of communication. Although it occurs largely unconsciously, a few aspects of it can be controlled cognitively. These are, for example, the control of attentional intensity and concentration during mindful listening. Brains Connect The switching points for wireless synchronization are located in the brain. Two parts of the cortex are mainly affected (cf. Fig. 5.3): • The prefrontal cortex (PFC), also called the forebrain or frontal brain, is responsible for recognizing, anticipating, executing and evaluating – this is where relevant decisions are made. As the CEO of the brain, the PFC connects to almost all areas of the brain. It receives information from these areas and projects it back to control them. • The temporal lobes house the two language centers for language processing and production. Interestingly, in women this area is on average 25% larger, has better blood

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Fig. 5.3  Two brain areas for synchronization

Prefrontal Cortex PFC

Temporal lobe

flow and a higher neuron density (Böttger 2017, p. 40ff.). At ages up to 18, this actually leads to an advantage in language use – but this evens out again at around 17.

5.3 Concentration Requires Mindpower Concentrated thinking sounds easy. Concentration and attention can neither be demanded nor maintained permanently, but only in phases. At the same time, it is a considerable effort that requires a lot of measurable strength. This chapter provides the necessary information to make this clear. cc

Concentration is the highest competence.

Being able to concentrate is a higher, so-called metacognitive competence. Such self-­ referential competencies enable people to, for example, • • • •

consciously direct and control their own thoughts, to develop their own opinions and attitudes, to be creative, and also to control, monitor and regulate one’s own attention.

Being Concentrated Originates in the Cerebral Cortex All the areas of the brain involved in concentrated thought lie directly under the bones of the skull and are easily accessible for research. Nerve fibres with a length of one millimetre to one metre transmit electrical impulses between the nerve cells with an average speed of 250 km/h. Want a little more information? You can read on here, but you don’t have to. If necessary, just skip to Sect. 5.4.

5.4  Concentration is Also a Question of Age

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Special from Brain Research

The speed of communication between these nerve cells is determined by the thickness of the fiber coating, the myelin sheaths. Measuring the intensity of this electrical activity of the PFC by electroencephalography (EEG) provides information about the electrical power. The intensity of such electrical brain waves can be high enough to trigger movement: Neuroscientists at Duke University Durham have developed a brain-machine interface (BMI) that allows primates to use their thoughts to navigate a robotic wheelchair. As the animals imagine getting closer to their destination – in this case, a bowl of fresh grapes – computers translate their brain activity into real-time operation of the wheelchair, which takes them to their destination. Experiments on humans with EEGs are equally successful. Mobile and wireless EEGs connected to high-end software display brain waves of different types as a graphical representation of voltage fluctuations on the PFC. Navigation of virtual objects and of mind-controlled drones, so-called minddrones, as well as wheelchairs is already a reality, even if not always precise. However, it is already possible to move robotic arms on the ISS space station in real time using thoughts from Earth, more precisely from the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen.

Mindpower, the power of thought, is attainable through concentration. This can be practiced and trained.

5.4 Concentration is Also a Question of Age Mindpower is the indispensable prerequisite for synchronization. This ability begins at a very early age, perhaps before birth (see Fig. 5.4). Eye contact between an infant and an adult helps both brain waves to synchronize, which also strongly supports communication and learning. Eye Contact Synchronizes the Strongest For example, it is thought that imitation constitutes an essential activity in order to learn (Wass et al. 2018). Several other aspects may also be synchronized, such as voice color, emotion, and heart rate. Eye contact is possibly the strongest parameter for synchronization. This is probably because the eye, unlike the ear, is a real element of the brain. As people age and develop cognitive abilities, especially concentration, they can increasingly control synchrony through the power of thought. Laboratory and live experiments that measure the synchronization rate of two partners show that even interventions in the concentration and distractions of the subjects have little influence on the results.

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Fig. 5.4  Synchronization from birth. (From Leong 2017; courtesy of @ University of Cambridge 2017. All Rights Reserved)

Interestingly, closing the eyes to focus more on a partner does not weaken the intensity of the connection (Poeppel 2016). Therefore, eye contact cannot be the only parameter of synchronicity. Focused listening – selective listening – must play another important role. The ability to concentrate, i.e. to use the frontal brain, the PFC, in a targeted manner, is a maturation process. It is not completed until around the age of 27 and has a fixed direction of development, from the back of the head to the forehead (cf. Fig. 5.5). You can continue reading here, but you do not have to. If necessary, skip to Sect. 5.5.

Special from Brain Research

Maturation has to do with the growth of the so-called myelin layer, which coats the nerve fibers and contains a lot of fat. They develop from the back of the head to the forehead, whereby the existing so-called grey brain matter decreases. Thus, the forehead brain develops the slowest and matures very late or at the very end compared to other brain areas. But when it is fully developed, it ensures that the areas of the cortex (the cerebral cortex) are interconnected with deeper areas of the brain and merged into a whole, a so-called connectome. Then the cognitive processes and executive functions in the prefrontal cortex are also fine-tuned: Decisions and execution are more deliberate when the brain has reached its full capacity. Now the conditions for a high ability to concentrate are given. This also explains why young people, especially during puberty, often cannot concentrate longer. Knowing this helps mentors and trainers, or adult supervisors in general, to communicate with their young employees and protégés. It is often not a lack of interest on the part of young people if they do not listen for a long time, but a completely normal stage of development that simply does not yet allow this. Successful communication with young people does not work hierarchically from the top down, but literally only at eye level.

5.5  The Cocktail Party Phenomenon

51

Fig. 5.5  Maturation of the cerebral cortex. (From Gogtay et  al. 2004; courtesy @ The National Academy of Sciences 2004. All Rights Reserved).

5.5 The Cocktail Party Phenomenon Humans Can Filter and Classify Sounds It is a remarkable human ability to be able to focus on a single interlocutor in virtually any setting – e.g., a classroom, a sporting event, a coffee shop – or at a cocktail party (see Fig. 5.6), even though there are so many distractions all around. Brainwaves are shaped so that the brain can selectively track the sound patterns of the speaker in question while blocking out competing sounds from other speakers. When hearing, there is no natural way to close the ear. Thus, all sounds in the environment reach the brain at certain points. If you then concentrate on a certain sound, a speaker, other sounds are faded out or actively ignored. The Brain Prioritizes Audio Signals This is a very complicated physiological process, but through concentration the incoming audio signals can be hierarchised according to what is currently most significant. All other things can be filtered out unless there are distractions or sources of interference during communication. This is because sensory regions of the brain influence each other (cf. Fig. 5.7). Incidentally, the brain does not distinguish between information it receives via ears, eyes or skin.

5  Step 3: Synchronize and Connect

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Fig. 5.6  Cocktail party phenomenon

cc

Sales meetings don’t have to take place in sterile environments.

However, in certain circumstances, sensory distractions can also be very productive. The findings suggest that more content can be retained when the listener filters out all other stimuli to focus on one. Studying and working in a coffee shop, with music or inspiring background noise makes sense according to this. It simply depends on the individual’s thinking power or ability to concentrate. Again, the noise should not be above a threshold that makes concentration impossible. This varies from person to person. Concentration and synchronization with a single partner, for example in a café or on a park bench, can therefore work perfectly. The ambient noise there can lead to higher concentration than, for example, in a quiet meeting room free of disturbances. The question is whether individuals also synchronize in groups. The latest complicated experimental setups provide reliable results, so brain-to-brain synchronization seems to work even in certain class or seminar environments (Dikker et al. 2017). More research is needed in this regard, but the fact is that even in a group, pairs of conversations always emerge depending on who is talking to whom at the time.

5.6 Active Listening Synchronizes Brains Studies using modern imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show: Regions of the human brain have a tendency to couple and synchronize precisely during conversation (Silbert et al. 2014). Figure 5.8 shows a schematic summary of the networks of brain regions that are active during real-life communication.

5.6  Active Listening Synchronizes Brains

53

Fig. 5.7  The senses – “disturbing factors” when concentrating. (Source: Christos Georghiou/shutterstock 502222780)

Broca site

Motor cortex Intraparietal sulcus

Medial Intraparietal Motor cortex prefrontal cortex sulcus

Median cut

Le brain Speak

Precuneus

Understand

Overlap without coupling

Fig. 5.8  The brains of interlocutors couple together

Right brain Speech producon and understanding

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5  Step 3: Synchronize and Connect

Speech production, i.e. speaking (red), and speech comprehension, i.e. listening and understanding (yellow), are generally active in separate brain areas and react to each other with a delay. But: In most areas, especially in the right hemisphere, there is also a temporal coupling of the activities in the brain of speaker and listener (blue). This indicates that the concentrated listener not only listens, but thinks ahead in small steps. cc

Focused listening = listening ahead.

This mechanism works especially well if the synchronization is well achieved through interest, eye contact and concentration on the speaker. It can be easily checked: While listening with concentration, you can speak along with the spoken sentences almost in parallel or add to or finish them during pauses or interruptions. Anticipate Intentions This can be used strategically in that the innate ability to listen and anticipate (= anticipation) can be used to anticipate or predict the speaker’s possible intentions – sometimes by seconds. Anticipation cannot be learned, but it can be strengthened by the ability to concentrate. If the conversation has already been planned structurally and in terms of content, e.g. on the basis of a discussion document, the effect is intensified. Generally speaking, this foresight makes it possible to give a well thought-out answer and, on the whole, to have a fluent dialogue, a conversation without sometimes embarrassing pauses. This is how meticulous preparation for a conversation pays off. Speak Clearly Another active control possibility of the sales talk should not remain unmentioned: If you don’t speak clearly, you overburden the person you are talking to, who then literally switches off. Because he gets no chance to think along or even ahead, and ultimately no opportunity to anticipate his own advantage.

5.7 Synchronization Can Be Learned Controlled synchronization through concentrated listening is not easy, but it can be learned. If you can do it, you will gain a communicative advantage for successful conversations. By actively synchronizing with your conversation partners, you can gain more empathy and self-confidence and, above all, radiate success. The knowledge and awareness of the processes in the brain form the basis for this. cc

Understanding what you hear requires concentration.

Synchronization requires mental strength and a cognitive strategy. The reason it’s not easy is because of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in the brain. The DMN is a network

5.7  Synchronization Can Be Learned

55

of brain regions in a comfortable resting state. When things are done automatically, like driving a car, riding a bike, or listening to music, the mind wanders uncontrollably. The brain seemingly rests and takes in only relevant information. If this happens during a conversation, you hear what is being said, but you hardly understand the content. It is difficult and a cognitive feat to perceive when one’s own lack of concentration and distractions become too strong. The complete attention network of the brain must be engaged for this. The whole body is involved, which is also shown by the fact, for example, the blood flow increases. cc

Concentration can be practiced specifically.

However, this step of re-concentration can be practiced: Mental training, especially regular mindfulness practices and breathing meditation, as well as recurrent self-­reflection, lead to self-awareness, a routine that allows one to constantly check one’s mental status. In the brain, this looks schematically and in radiological imaging as shown in Fig. 5.9. And this is how the cycle of re-concentration, of becoming mindful, works (cf. Fig. 5.9):

Fig. 5.9  Becoming mindful – the 4 phases. (From Hasenkamp and Barsalou 2012; courtesy of © Hasenkamp and Barsalou 2012. All Rights Reserved)

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• Mind-wandering: Thoughts wander off or around. Lack of concentration and distraction lead to activity in the Default Mode Network (DMN). The goal on the way to concentration is to leave this state again. For this purpose, permanent self-control is important. Becoming aware of one’s lack of concentration is a high demand. • Awareness of mind: Becoming aware of the state of mind wandering is difficult. Through special thought techniques and with the help of self-control, areas of the attention network can be reactivated. • Shifting attention: Re-orientation is initiated by increased attention. Sometimes this occurs with a slight startle as one becomes aware of the previously unfocused state. Concentration returns, interference is contained or faded out. It is the frontal brain, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and certain areas that are responsible for the ability to block out distractions. • Sustained focus: The state of re-focus is reached – the PFC takes over and directs the concentration to listening, thinking and acting. “Translated” into one’s own meditative action, this results in the steps shown in Fig. 5.10 (Böttger et al. 2018). Such mindfulness and re-concentration can be trained through meditative breathing exercises and appropriate coaching. Exercise Everywhere The actual, active exercise can happen anywhere, even at the workplace. The focus of the basic exercise is breathing (cf. Fig. 5.10). • Deep breathing with eyes closed at best, checking concentration – where are you mentally at the moment? What is your own mental state? • Take your time  – lack of time means pressure. Five minutes are enough if they are just yours.

Check

take time

Ideal state

Re-orient

Fig. 5.10  Sequence of the meditation

5.8  Five Steps to Focus on the Conversation

57

• Re-orient yourself: Where exactly are you in time and space? What is directly ahead? Are you prepared for it? • You reach the ideal state, the high concentration on the here and now, and on the conversation.

Gather Briefly Before the Interview This concentration exercise or small meditation is already suitable for proper listening: Before the conversation begins, it enables another quality boost by increasing concentration. In the beginning, even this short concentration phase can be difficult, but with increasing repetition comes the routine. This is how successful athletes handle it, for example.

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

You can learn a lot from sport  – including how to prepare for important events. Imagine the following situation. There is a slalom race in the Ski World Cup and the second run is coming up. The Austrian coach has set the course and, of course, flagged it out so that it is tailored as well as possible for his athletes. Our most successful – although no longer active – German skier Felix Neureuther is standing on the slope playing with his mobile phone. The national coach approaches him: “Say, don’t you want to take a look at the course and memorize it?” Neureuther replies: “Oh, coach, today I’m just going by instinct.” ABSOLUTELY UNTHINKABLE! Such a thing would never occur to a top athlete. But you can’t imagine how often I’ve heard this phrase from sales people – even managers – in my career. For me, this is nothing more than the justification for not having to invest anything and no longer having to develop. As the saying goes, “If you’ve stopped getting better, you’ve stopped being good.”

Good preparation should precede any sales call. A worthwhile investment! cc

Good preparation is half the sales success.

5.8 Five Steps to Focus on the Conversation Concentration Can Be Practiced What has been considered rather theoretically in the previous sections will be translated here into five concrete steps for action (cf. Fig. 5.11):

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5  Step 3: Synchronize and Connect

Power of Mind Know

Knowledge about communicaon

Training mindfulness on the job

Success Mindful communicate can be found at

Act communicavely

Conversaons consciously prepare

Fig. 5.11  Focus on the conversation

1. The knowledge and acceptance of the Power of Mind – the power of thoughts – are the first steps towards successful synchronization, the connection of two people down to the neuronal level. They create self-awareness, which can also be passed on in any learning context such as education. Self-awareness here means being aware of oneself, not in the sense of building self-esteem. 2. The second step is the continuous practice of mindfulness and concentration through small meditation exercises (aiming at breathing and pulse control etc.). Breathing synchronizes neuronal activity throughout the cerebral cortex (Heck et al. 2017, p. 10). It positively influences higher cognitive performance, including spatial awareness and, via the breathing rhythm, probably also memory. With each inhalation, new information enters the brain via the olfactory function. 3. The third step is to routinely recapitulate the exercises during work, for example, to concentrate on the names of current interlocutors or to repeatedly engage in inner – positive – dialogue for self-encouragement and to use a pulse watch. This also changes the brain’s positive structure – it even grows in certain areas. You will also avoid excessive release of the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline due to excitement before the interview and panic in the final interview preparation phase (more about stress and stress hormones in Sect. 5.9). Short-term stress below a certain threshold (called positive excitement) can be beneficial. Negative influences, such as prolonged, excessive stress beyond a beneficial, intermediate level, have been shown to impair physical performance, memory and thought processes. Pulse and blood pressure as well as muscle tone increase, the messenger glutamate activates two alarm centres in the brain, where the stress hormone cortisol is also secreted and alarm messengers are released. Panic can occur, flight reactions are the result. Cortisol has considerable side effects, it weakens brain cells or even causes them to die. But stress can also have a positive effect. In not excessive form, stress can even help us to build up or intensify interpersonal relationships. The effect is essentially based on the fact that the body produces more oxytocin under stress. This hormone is important in social relationships and can increase trust and

5.9  Make a Prepared First Impression

59

lower blood pressure. So it’s the strength of the stress that matters, the duration – and the opportunities to relieve it in relaxing phases. 4. The fourth step is dominated by the preparation for the interview, more precisely for oneself and the interview context. 5. In the fifth and last step, when the best conditions are created, you can act, convince and actively synchronize in the best way.

The Right Charisma is Crucial for Success Thus prepared, one radiates empathy, self-confidence and, above all, a focus on success: especially when it comes to language, the most powerful tool at our disposal. Sometimes it is also the most powerful weapon. Mutual appreciation (also through small gifts), gratitude, getting to know each other’s working and learning styles or openness in feedback have a reinforcing effect on the synchronisation of two or more people. Appreciative communication prevents conflicts, connects or synchronises people and leads to mutual understanding.

5.9 Make a Prepared First Impression If you are ready for this now, a successful synchronization in the role as a sales professional, but also trainer, team leader, teacher, boss and partner with the counterpart is possible. Empathy, the ability of compassionate understanding and emotional perspective-taking of other people, plays an important role in this  undertaking: A first prerequisite is to be able and willing to listen, for this you need to be approachable, attentive, trusting and appreciative. This creates the basis for the initial preparation. cc

Wanting to listen is a matter of attitude.

Four Conversation Strategies to Memorize Some aspects of communication are just natural synchronizers: • If you immediately call your conversation partner by name, remember names and family details, focus on the topic of conversation and anticipate the course of the conversation (as in sports), this is the basis for empathy and synchronicity. This also explains the effect of small talk, which has a rather negative connotation but is underestimated in its communicative positive efficiency. • Eye contact from the beginning is definitely important. Facing each other, even in larger groups, contributes measurably to synchronization. Distractions are welcome, but not allowed: The focus is on the other person, on space, time and place. • A calm, strong voice and the use of a language in which all participants understand everything on almost the same level are decisive factors for dubbing.

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• Active listening is important and accompanies us permanently through the conversation. Eye contact and confirmation of understanding can serve as examples. Now you know where the benefits are for you to connect in conversation. Short & Compact

1. One can be neurobiologically, in everyone since birth, literally and measurably on the same brain wavelength with his counterpart, synchronize. 2. Meticulous, concentrated preparation for a conversation is a basic prerequisite for strengthening synchronization and connection with another person – but not a criterion for excluding it. 3. By actively synchronizing yourself with your conversation partners, you can gain more empathy and self-confidence and, above all, radiate a focus on success.

References Böttger H (2017) Early gender diversity in reading and writing: research and didactical consequences. Train Lang Cult 1(2):40–53 Böttger H (2018) Learn to synchronize your brains to improve performance. Adidas: Gameplan A https://www.gameplan-­a.com/2018/09/synchronize-­your-­brains-­to-­improve-­performance/. Accessed on: 15. Mai 2021 Böttger H, Jensen K, Jensen T (eds) (2018) Mindful evolution: conference proceedings Eichstätt 2016 & Thessaloniki 2017. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn Dikker S, Wan L, Davidesco I, Kaggen L, Oostrik M, McClintock J, Rowland J, Michalareas G, Van Bavel JJ, Ding M, Poeppel D (2017) Brain-to-brain synchrony tracks real-world dynamic group interactions in the classroom. Curr Biol 27(9):1375–1380 Gogtay N, Giedd JN, Lusk L, Hayash KM, Greenstein D, Vaituzis AC, Nugent TF, Herman DH, Clasen LS, Toga AW, Rapoport JL, Thompson PM (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci 101(21):8174–8179 Hasenkamp W, Barsalou LW (2012) Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. Front Hum Neurosci 6(38):38–52 Heck D, Mcafee S, Liu Y (2017) Breathing as a fundamental rhythm of brain function. Front Neural Circuits 10 Leong V (2017) Eye contact with your baby helps synchronise your brainwaves. https://www.cam. ac.uk/research/news/eye-­contact-­with-­your-­baby-­helps-­synchronise-­your-­brainwaves. Accessed on: 18. Mai 2021 Poeppel D (2016) From what makes us tick to what makes us click. Tech Open Air, Berlin (Keynote) Silbert LJ, Honey CJ, Simony E, Poeppel D, Hasson U (2014) Coupled neural systems underlie the production and comprehension of naturalistic narrative speech. Proc Natl Acad Sci 111(43):E4687–E4696 Wass S, Noreika V, Georgieva S, Clackson K, Brightman L, Nutbrown R, Covarrubias L, Leong V (2018) Parental neural responsivity to infants’ visual attention: how mature brains influence immature brains during social interaction. PLOS Biol 16(12)

6

Step 4: Gain Trust

Abstract

In order to find the right solution for the customer, it is essential to gain their trust, because only then will they be willing to give you the necessary information. In this chapter you will read how important the right information from the customer is for your sales success. One of the central tenets of this book, respecting the customer and showing them honest appreciation, is explored in more detail here. You will learn why this is essential to your success. If you internalize the described, evidence-based techniques, you will be even more able in the future to act in a targeted manner, be deeply relaxed in sales conversations and significantly increase your sales success rates. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

The customer’s trust is essential for the success of the process. This chapter is about the sales conversation itself. Gaining the customer’s trust is the first goal of the conversation and an important key to sales success. On the following pages you will learn how you as a salesperson can positively influence this step.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_6

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6.1 The Sales Success Spiral The sales success spiral shows in a wonderfully simple way what is required to be successful in a sales talk (cf. Fig. 6.1): 1. You are able to identify a truly central problem for your customer (Sects. 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.1.4 and 6.1.5). 2. They have a better product or solution than the competition or are able to create it for the customer (Chap. 7). 3. You can communicate the difference to the competition and the benefits of your own solution to the customer (Sects. 8.2 and 8.5). 4. They make the benefits of their own solution visible or even tangible for the customer (Sect. 8.7). 5. Then you can’t avoid success – and you can just let the customer buy (Sect. 9.5). The absence of even a single component in the sales success spiral means that success is no longer guaranteed: if what you can solve is not a key problem for the customer, why should the customer even bother with it or even spend a lot of money on a solution?

Formulating customer benefits

Having or finding a better solution

Chapter 10

Identifying the customer's central problem

Bringing customer benefits to life

Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Chapter 10.4

Success Chapter 11 + 12

Fig. 6.1  The sales success spiral

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If you can solve a customer’s central problem but cannot present a better solution than the competition, price will always be the deciding factor in the end. The same is true if you have a better solution than the competition, but the sales staff are not able to make this clear or to formulate the benefit that results for the customer from the offered solution. So if the sales rep is not able to show the customer that it is wiser for them to buy their higher priced product or service because it will pay off for them, in the end it is again just the price that decides. Information for Problem Solving It is often preached that one should not strive to solve all the world’s problems. But it is precisely such problems that form the basis for selling. A basic prerequisite for successful selling is therefore to identify a central problem for the customer. This also applies to problems that the customer was not even aware of. And for this you need as much relevant information as possible. One of the ways salespeople can build trust is by adopting an appreciative attitude (Sect. 6.1.1). If salespeople are really serious about their customers and their goal is to lead the customer into a more attractive and successful future, the customer will sense this. This then gives rise to the trust that is needed to obtain the really essential information, which then makes it possible to make the customer an interesting offer. cc

Trust opens the conversation.

If the customer does not have confidence, he will not open up and try to hide the problems he has. Because no one likes to admit that they have problems. And then to tell them to someone you don’t trust? No way!

6.1.1 Appreciation Learning to Assess and Value Customers Of course, not everyone is equally likeable, and sometimes customers may have somewhat unconventional attitudes and ideas. This is where knowledge of motivational typology can help you to accept the customer for who they are (Sect. 4.4). Motivation typology tells you what the customer is particularly good at and why they might be different from you. This helps you to deal with differences in a professional and, above all, better way. If you make an effort to know what really makes your customer tick and what his drivers are, you can

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From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

In my seminars, I always say, “If you can manage to fall a little bit in love – platonically – with your client, you almost can’t avoid success.” So, in order to be successful, you have to find out what is a central problem to the customer and what image of his own more attractive and successful future he has. You have to know what moves the customer. Because: The more positive emotions are addressed, the more likely the purchase decision will be in favor of a certain idea, a certain product or a certain service. And for this you should not think with your own head, but try to think with the head of the customer. In Chaps. 8 and 9 we will show you how you will manage to close the sale completely without pressure and with appreciation.

leave your own world of thoughts to some extent and engage with the customer much better. This is a first appreciation.

6.1.2 Speech Portion Most salespeople shine with a very significant sense of mission. They assume: A lot helps a lot. In sales, the reds and the yellows – in other words, the extroverts – are often on the road. The reds go into the conversation knowing what’s best for the customer anyway, and the yellows have a pretty high sense of mission from birth.

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

I was at an appointment with a business friend years ago. We visited a large telecommunications company. The topic was omnichannel, which was still very new at the time. There were three of us, five of the customers. We sat at the appointment for 2 h, and apart from my friend  – a great mind, by the way, who had thought the omnichannel topic years ahead – nobody really got a word in edgewise. After 2 h the appointment was over, he felt great because he had brought the ignorant up to speed and enlightened the customer from his perspective. He was completely contrite when we had to gently teach him that it would have been helpful to hear from the customer after all. In a sales pitch, less is sometimes more. The fact that we didn’t sell anything, of course, almost doesn’t need to be mentioned anymore. Of course, it can only be a rough guideline, but I personally consider a speaking ratio of 80% by the customer and 20% by the salesperson to be appropriate.

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Uncertainty Generates Speech Energy One reason for a heightened sense of mission is often that the salesperson is not sure of his or her reasoning. And then the good old saying applies: Uncertainty generates speech energy. cc

If you are able to argue precisely and to the point, you don’t need too many words.

It is the case in almost all medium-sized companies that the managing directors or owners are their best salespeople. There are several reasons for this. Sales staff themselves have not developed the products and services to be marketed, and companies often invest too little in knowledge transfer. So it happens time and again that there are knowledge gaps. If this is the case, salespeople already go into every conversation with a certain basic nervousness. When the customer speaks, they think about their arguments and no longer listen to the customer properly. And when they speak themselves, they concentrate only on stating their position. If the counterpart is then also unfocused, one is dealing with a kind of conversational schizophrenia. Both sides only listen to the voices in their head (Voss and Raz 2017). The focus and the chance to synchronize are gone. What is said and what is understood is close to zero. Selling Under Too Much Pressure Is Counterproductive Because salespeople in this way do not get the right access to their customer, his needs and problems, they try with power to only sell their products and do not think about solutions. True to the motto: “If I only have a hammer as a tool, every problem looks like a nail.” Imagine this conversational situation: How is there supposed to be a “relaxed mood”? But we will explain how important this is in Sect. 7.2. cc

You need a certain level of relaxation so that you can really listen to your client without worry.

Many salespeople confuse diligence with stress. If I am diligent and always make enough calls, then I always have enough appointments and a full forecast. And when I’m well trained and one hundred percent prepared, sales is something relaxing and beautiful. Diligence is the antidote to stress. Anyone who, in addition to diligence, has the knowledge and methods from this book can approach every appointment in a relaxed manner. He

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From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

For years, we have been training the sales team of Germany’s largest credit agency, which also offers debt collection services. The company is particularly well known for its creditworthiness index, a beautifully colored and clearly presented graphic that shows the financial strength of a company. As part of a role play, we had a situation where a new sales representative had to explain to his colleague what types of credit reports the company offers. The whole thing, of course, with the goal of generating a close. As I said, the colleague was new and the conversation was recorded on camera: Stressful situation! Consequently, he was quite nervous and very preoccupied with himself. So just like it often happens in real life. The credit reports offer range in various gradations from short reports to premium reports and contain different types of information that become more in-depth the more the customer wants to invest. So now the young colleague explained the structure of the credit reports and also introduced the credit index. After he explained everything and was forced to take a breath, the customer said, “Okay, but I definitely want this colored credit score.” However, our man was already mentally busy preparing his next remarks and unfortunately did not hear this buy signal, which was blown with a large French horn. He continued his remarks undaunted. So many fine and important things could have been asked at this point, even if it was only role-playing. “I’m glad you like the credit score so much, in what areas do you plan to use the information?” Or, “It’s an important tool for many of our clients, how will you use the information in your business?” Or: “The creditworthiness index is great because it gives you an overview so quickly. What other information is of importance to you? Then we can perhaps already see which types of information are basically suitable for you.”

is then in a position to sell successfully in the long term and does not have to “push something on the customer” come hell or high water. The fact that stressed and strained salespeople don’t listen properly to their customers almost inevitably leads to them simply not noticing their customer’s buying signals. An example: Whatever you ask, it must be suitable to let the customer describe how his work will improve in the future by using the offered product or service. A first step in the direction of: Just let them buy. cc

Getting the customer to tell the story is gold. Relaxed listening is silver.

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6.1.3 Positive Mood When people are in a positive mood, they think faster and their willingness to cooperate and solve problems increases (Voss and Raz 2017, p. 48). This applies to both men and women to the same extent. A smile on the face also promotes one’s own mental agility. But a really big smile only comes to your face when you are deeply relaxed. And that is precisely one of the essential tasks of a salesperson: to arouse positive emotions. Of course, that doesn’t work if you go into a conversation anxious or, as some salespeople in Germany are of the mistaken opinion, that they come across as particularly professional when they appear especially serious. Sales work is seen by many salespeople as a tough job that must be performed with the utmost seriousness. In order to demonstrate this seriousness to the outside world, they forbid themselves even the slightest emotional movement in customer contact. For king customer these discussions are then usually very informative. But the question is: Are they also edifying for him? I always say: “Customers are bored all by themselves. They don’t need us salespeople for that.” From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

You remember? The more positive emotions are addressed, e.g. also through appreciation, the more likely the purchase decision is in favor of a certain idea, a certain product or a certain service. Since products are becoming more and more similar and innovations are being copied or even improved at lightning speed these days, there is far more often a lack of a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) than it is actually possible to define one meaningfully and truthfully. Thus, it depends more and more on the person or the personality of the salesperson, on his ability to argue benefits and on his skill to meet the motivational situation of his counterpart in order to positively influence the conclusion of the sale. Even though the Internet has already made the presence of salespeople obsolete in many areas, it is still true in most cases in the business-to-business sector that people prefer to buy from people. People like to spend money on being able to fulfill their wishes, hopes or dreams, and for this, emotions are almost everything that is decisive. The justification for a purchase is then virtually post-rationalized by collecting the arguments that justify the investment. Anyone who wants to increase their success rate in sales should be able to understand their counterpart and their motives and be able to show authentic emotions themselves. This can also be learned – at least to a certain extent.

6.1.4 Don’t Be Afraid to Say No! Many sales people are afraid of saying no! But saying no at the right time can be really helpful. Often the No is the beginning of a good negotiation (Voss and Raz 2017, p. 95ff.). With No! the customer stakes out what he does not want. This makes the customer feel

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safe and protected. You learn how your offer has to be designed so that it meets the needs of your customer. What must never happen in a sales talk is that the customer’s limbic system signals danger (Sect. 3.2.2). Then the success of the sales talk is already very much at risk. Trust and security are the feelings you have to convey to the customer. At least if you are aiming for a long-term and mutually successful business relationship. Clear Obstacles Away The reasons why your clients may refuse to settle with you are often more powerful than the reasons why they may be willing to settle with you. Therefore, you must first focus on removing the obstacles. If you know what the customer doesn’t want, you also have the option of using anticipatory objection handling. This means that you present a possible customer objection on your own initiative in order to refute it immediately. An example of an anticipated objection: “Many of our customers found our solution very highly priced at first glance. That’s exactly why we have developed a test that shows you how quickly our solution will also pay for itself in your company.”

From Brain Research

The cause of the fear of no is again a neurobiological one. The frontal brain, the prefrontal cortex PFC, fades into the background, the amygdala in the limbic system into action. It prepares us for adequate behavior in critical situations: Without us being able to influence this much, our heart begins to race, blood pressure and breathing rate increase, hands become clammy, knees weak, eyes widened, pupils dilated. The muscles tense, we get goose bumps. The adrenal glands unload their stores of adrenaline into the passing blood. Fully automatically,  our body is prepared to engage in flight or fight. Parallel to this, our cerebral experience memory is searched in fractions of a second for a suitable program. If no solution is found, the stress hormone cortisol in particular also flushes out. Negative feelings of helplessness, powerlessness and despair spread. We either start stuttering or talking in a confused and incoherent manner. Or we don’t get a word out at all – a complete speech block. Only much later, when we are in control again, do we remember the right words. Performance anxiety and exam anxiety are distinct expression of this phenomenon. However, our brain always compulsively wants to move away from the negative and towards the positive. This becomes clear with stage fright, which can occur not only during performances but also before conversations. It actually improves concentration, presence and expressiveness and leads to an increase in performance. The only thing is that it must not exceed a certain threshold and turn into fear (Sect. 5.8).

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The brain tends toward the positive.

Conquer the Fear of No The good news is that fear – even of being told no – can be conquered: by preparing, preparing, preparing, allowing for contingencies and – again – preparing for the best case as well as the worst case. • Conditioning yourself: Positive conditioning helps. Just before you start, put yourself in the right mental frame of mind: look at yourself in the mirror (see Chap. 3), smile – and smile at yourself. • Remember successes: Be confident and think of past successes. Read in your “mental success book”, a kind of memory store for successful situations, how you went about it and what exactly made you successful so far. And if you do not yet have such a success book, then create one. • Really look forward to the conversation: Look forward to the conversation, your conversation partner and your stage fright. This will make you wide awake and the conditions for a good interview performance will increase. And if the excitement does become too much: Consciously breathe in and out deeply and slowly.

6.1.5 The Yes Loop was Yesterday Many salespeople try to get a yes from their customers as often as possible. Sales trainers used to preach that in the 1980s. Horrible! The trainers who touted this method mistook a simple yes for genuine agreement. We will discuss what genuine consent is in more detail in Chap. 9. First, it is important to know that there are three different types of “yes” (Voss and Raz 2017, p. 95ff.). 1. The wrong yes 2. The affirmative yes 3. The obligatory yes Don’t force a yes from your customer. It will only make the customer feel cornered. Let’s look at an example dialogue: Example • Example salesperson: “Let me get this straight: you don’t want to overpay for this equipment?” • Customer: “Yes, you see that right.”

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• Salesman: “And you want to be one hundred percent sure you’re buying the right thing?” • Customer: “Yes, that’s right too.” • Salesman: “And am I correct in assuming that good conveyance performance and a solid warranty are at least ten times more important to you than a dumping price?” • Customer (at first slightly hesitant, then agreeing): “Yes, you could say that.” • Salesman: “Good, then the XY system is just right for you. When would you need it at the latest?” At this point at the latest, most customers will be completely annoyed and just try to get out of the situation. What coercion means, even to an unwanted “yes”, is only touched on in passing at this point, because it would go beyond the scope of this book. But since it comes to these or similar situations in slipping sales talks from time to time, it should be mentioned briefly in any case: cc

Scaremongering is not a good advisor in a long-term business relationship.

In so-called “dangerous situations” of a sales talk, in which, for example, coercion is exerted, there are two further behaviours in addition to the two reactions mentioned above, flight and fight. When a salesperson scares a customer, the customer reacts with one of these four actions: 1. Escape: The customer tries to stall the call as quickly as possible. One example is hanging up the phone during the call. 2. Fight: The customer begins to argue furiously against everything the salesperson puts forward. 3. Submission: the client uses phrases like “we don’t have a budget for that” just to get out of the situation. 4. Imposition: The customer pretends to work with the best and most renowned companies on the market, so that a cooperation with the pressurizing salesman is out of the question for him.

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From Brain Research

The neurobiological explanation for this is ancient. The amygdala, or the almond nucleus, is – a little reiteration here – an almond-shaped area in the limbic system deep in the middle of the brain. It is responsible for processing emotions, especially fear. It provides knowledge and experiences acquired under stress with a negative emotional marker that persists throughout life (Böttger 2016, p. 56). This is because the amygdala associates emotions with experiences  – people are better able to remember emotionally charged memories this way. In a fearful situation – even in a conversation, for example – the amygdala activates not only the fight-or-flight system, but also the emotional memory and stores as many sensory impressions of the environment as possible. The amygdala is therefore a kind of safety system: it makes us positively attentive and focused, ensures that we think carefully and thus ultimately retreat (also mentally) in uncomfortable situations. How can such an unwanted process of “inner emigration” of the customer be interrupted? It sounds simple and it is  – with the exclusive concentration on the individual situation of the customer. The customer’s active working memory in the forehead brain then also acts in a concentrated manner and has a preventive effect on unwanted emotional reactions. It anticipates necessary requirements in the sales talk, such as necessary financial calculations. In this way, the alarm and defensive attitude dissolves and trust develops. Trust in turn calms the alarm centres in the brain. Because when initial trust is created through a non-manipulative, focused and approachable conversation, the possible emotional activity of the tonsil nucleus subsides and the customer calms down. cc

The amygdala can do much more than fear.

6.2 The Mirror Technique: Creating Empathy The reaction of neurons to the behavior of another person has often been interpreted by neuroscientists as mirroring, and so-called mirror neurons are supposed to be responsible for this. They also become active in conversations.

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Special from Brain Research

The mirror neurons are located in the prefrontal cortex PFC area (the frontal lobe), but also in the more lateral Broca’s area (see 1 and 3 in Fig. 6.2), which is associated with language functions, among others. The mirroring neurons react in the viewer or listener as if what was seen or heard was actually performed or said (Sect. 5.6). Schematically, this is how it works in speech acts (cf. Fig. 6.2): 1. The frontal brain gives the command for movement, e.g. of the speech tools, to the motor centre. 2. The motor cortex sends the command on to the muscle cells in the mouth. 3. In the listener, the same neuronal region becomes active. The transmission to the motor system, however, is inhibited. Particularly fascinating: what is heard is even anticipated almost half a second earlier, which leads to the anticipation of sentence statements. Mirror neurons can also supplement individual parts of a conversation to form an overall sequence that is probably to be expected (Böttger 2018, p. 9ff.). In 2009, scientists (Keysers 2009) succeeded in measuring the activity of mirror neurons directly in the human brain: In response to sounds that expressed various emotions such as disgust, fear, triumph or joy, the brain areas of both test subjects, the sound giver as well as the listener, were active almost simultaneously in these cases. One thing is certain: mirror neurons function unconsciously. Their contagious effect works without thinking. The main effect of mirror neurons is thus,

Fig. 6.2  Home of the mirror neurons

(continued)

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(continued) • that we can empathize with observed feelings (empathy/sympathy), • that we intuitively imitate an observed behavior and • that – in case of sympathy – we unconsciously harmonize and imitate our body language. Researchers speak here of the so-called resonance phenomenon: Whoever imitates us, we like – and vice versa. The more similar people are, the more things they have in common, the more likely it is that the proverbial chemistry is right. They are – as we say – on the same wavelength (Chap. 5). However, this can also be manipulated if we subtly arouse sympathy by discreetly imitating the body language, gestures and facial expressions of our counterpart (chameleon effect). Laughter is also contagious, good as well as bad mood.

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We like who we imitate – and vice versa.

Using Imitation in Sales Talks But it is not only the case that people who like each other align their body language, use the same words or unconsciously imitate the facial expressions of their counterpart (technical jargon: rapport). This also happens in conversations between strangers. Schematically, the process runs as shown in. Fig. 6.3. The mirror technique in the sales conversation is one of the more important, but least present, because hardly addressed methods. Mirroring is part of our daily life, and it has been since birth. Imagine a little blond boy in his light blue romper suit walking barefoot through the nursery in the semi-darkness and there it is, this small, beautiful but terribly angular Lego brick that he is stepping on at that moment. Tears well up in his eyes and he contorts his cute face in pain. If you just walk into the room, you’ll probably mimic his pain contorted face and offer anything pain relieving. Whether this works to the same degree for men and women, we will not go into at this point. cc

Mirroring is the ability to grasp the feelings of the other person and to communicate them mimically, gesturally or verbally.

Every person wants to experience appreciation and understanding and feel secure. You will create a feeling of security, well-being and trust the faster you interrupt the thought processes in the amygdala of your conversation partner. This is, after all, the part of the brain where feelings of fear arise.

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The body language of the other person is analysed and ini ally only reflected by your own to a maximum of 50 percent.

Body language, gestures, facial expressions and speech are now increasingly aligned.

Almost complete symmetry - both partners refer to each other every me by their behaviour.

Fig. 6.3  “Mirroring” procedure

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Listening signals sympathy.

With mirrors, you convey to your customer that you are listening to them and also like them. Once your counterpart knows that you are with them, they are more likely to share something with you, which you can then use positively for mutual success. Mirroring in Sales Practice When mirroring in a sales conversation, the salesperson reproduces in his own words the key message that he understood from the customer (paraphrasing). What is the purpose of this? Quite simply, it’s about understanding. If the salesperson has summarized the customer’s statement accurately, then the customer no longer needs to revolve around the same topic. What he wanted to say has been received. Now he can illuminate further aspects, get to the actual core or the next topic, or simply switch to the role of the listener and listen to the salesperson’s point of view. cc

Mirroring helps to find the essential point.

If the salesperson has misrepresented what was supposedly understood, the customer will be inwardly compelled to set the record straight. No one likes to be misinterpreted. This immediately awakens the desire for clarification, which is a blessing in the sales conversation, because now you really know what the customer thinks. Mirroring, along with skillful questioning, is one of the “techniques” that will get you the most mileage, because you get to know from the customer what they are really thinking.

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6.2.1 Why Is Mirroring So Rarely Used? It’s true that we mirror all the time in our lives, but we do it unconsciously. You just feel funny when you use mirror technique quite consciously, until you notice that it is an enormous help in real sales situations. Especially in conflict conversations, it often gets you from the superficial to the real issues and shortly thereafter to their solutions. cc

The customer’s point of view is crucial in the sales conversation.

Another obstacle: We are so busy with our own view of things that we don’t even think about taking the customer’s perspective. We are often not interested in it. We put together our arguments, compare them with our own experience and try to support them eloquently. Unfortunately, we don’t even get to see what the other person is really about. So, there are many reasons why salespeople’s success rates are sometimes mediocre. Why don’t you treat yourself to a voyage of discovery into the viewpoints of your conversation partners once in a while and let yourself be surprised where that leads you?

6.2.2 The Social Mirror Also pay attention to the body language of your customers. If you are not only busy with yourself in a sales talk, but let the customer have an effect on you, then you will notice from time to time that the customer feels uncomfortable. After all, the customer is supposed to make a mutually positive decision at some point in the salesperson’s mind. But people don’t like to make decisions! Therefore it is in not few sales talks in such a way that the customer feels necessarily uncomfortable. Most salespeople, if they notice it at all, do not have the courage to address this openly. If you manage to positively resolve such a situation with the customer, the conversation will also take a positive course in most cases. An example of a social mirror: “You are giving me the impression that you are uncomfortable right now. Is that true?” Now the customer has opportunity for a nice pitch to express possible concerns or to state in a positive way if nothing bothers him anymore.

6.2.3 Questioning Technique Once you have gained the customer’s trust, it is of course crucial to ask the right questions. You have to encourage the customer to describe his problem areas in such a way that you can use the information to create solutions. You will learn more about this in Chap. 7. Customers are not always actually aware of the causes of their problem areas. If they were, customers would probably also be able to eliminate them without having to call on outside help. So questions should be designed to ferret out one or perhaps even more of the customer’s central problems. Even though the problem itself may not be really clear to the customer yet. Knowledge of customers with similar structures helps here.

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Asking the right questions helps to get valuable answers.

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If you need information, you should always ask open questions, i.e. questions to which you cannot simply answer “yes” or “no”. These would be closed questions. Semi-open questions, to which one can answer with a simple piece of information such as “black” or “twelve times”, are also inappropriate. Open-ended questions that help one grasp facts might be as follows, “How do you do that exactly?” Or, “How have you organized this in your company?” The customer who has placed his trust in you will then also respond to these questions with usable explanations. This is how you gain the information you need to be able to work out creative solutions together with the customer. Trust can become closeness.

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Useful indicators that you’ve done everything right at this stage of the conversation are phrases from the customer like, “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this in our first conversation,” or “With you, it’s like we’ve known each other forever.” Short & compact

1. In order to be able to sell something to a customer in a targeted manner, it is necessary to find out what the customer’s needs are and which of the customer’s central problems can be solved. 2. Mutual trust is necessary for a customer to be willing to describe his central problems. 3. In order to gain a customer’s trust, various conversational attitudes, strategies or mind-­sets are important: • • • • •

Appreciation for the customer Positive mood High speech rate for the customer Mirror technology Questioning technique

References Böttger H (2016) Neurodidaktik des frühen Sprachenlernens: Wo die Sprache zuhause ist. utb, Stuttgart00 Böttger H (2018) Gruppenarbeit  – Teaming. In: Adelante! Curso profesional Lehrerbuch. Klett, Stuttgart, pp S 9–S11 Böttger H (2020) Mitgefühl. In: In ¡Adelante! 2 Curso profesional Lehrerbuch. Klett, Stuttgart, pp 10–12 Keysers C (2009) Mirror neurons. Curr Biol 19(21):R971–R973 Voss C, Raz T (2017) Kompromisslos verhandeln: Die Strategien und Methoden des Verhandlungsführers des FBI. Redline, München

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Step 5: Create Solutions

Abstract

This chapter is all about finding creative solutions in sales talks. This requires a basic knowledge of the phenomenon of mind wandering, which is explained from the perspective of brain research. You will learn how mental associations can be used to lead conversations in a positive, pleasant, future- and solution-oriented way. It also addresses how this can be done without manipulating the client in any way – one of the most important claims of this book. Mindfulness techniques serve your own mental preparation for the course of the conversation. At the end of the chapter you will read how you can make creative, openly held conversation notes for yourself. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Have you ever had the same experience? You stare at your PC (as in Fig. 7.1) – but nothing creative or ingenious comes to mind, even though you concentrate so hard? Then you get up, go for a walk, jog, etc. – and suddenly your head is full of ideas? That is no coincidence. cc

Ideas come when you don’t expect them.

For centuries, there have been reports that the mental application of creative ideas to overcome problems often occurs only after the sometimes desperate efforts to find

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_7

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Fig. 7.1  Blockade of ideas. (Source: Lukas Bieri/Dmitrypixabay)

Fig. 7.2  Low-demand tasks. (Source: Dmitry Galaganov/shutterstock 746370664)

solutions have been abandoned. Experience shows that this effect only becomes apparent when, after focusing on a problem without results, one turns to another intuitive, non-­ demanding (cf. Fig. 7.2) and automated everyday action such as walking, driving a car, riding a bicycle, taking a shower or washing up, etc. One also suddenly remembers names that one had previously searched so desperately for in one’s memory. Even Einstein and Newton claimed that important moments of their inspiration occurred while they were engaged in thoughts and activities that were not consciously directed at the problem.

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7.1 Tracking Creativity Creativity and Concentration Act Independently of Each Other Sometimes creative flashes of inspiration and ideas for problem-solving arise precisely when concentration wanes and positive psychological conditions prevail, such as freedom from restrictions or a lack of time pressure.

From Brain Research

The decline of concentration has been neuroscientifically understandable for a long time. Even when the human brain appears to be resting, it is not inactive. On the contrary, it seems that during various states such as daydreaming, mind wandering, and sleeping, the brain has much more to do than during waking periods. Different regions of the brain show very similar patterns of action during this time of mind wandering: this is why they are counted as the neuronal network DMN (Default Mode Network) (Raichle et al. 2001, p. 676ff.). The DMN is active during half of all waking hours. Then this DMN works consciously, but not perceptibly for humans. The participating network regions have the following in common: • They need a lot of energy due to a high resting metabolism. • They are immediately deactivated to a large extent when a concentrated task is to be carried out again. • They are connected to each other and to other active networks. • They work very spontaneously, automatically and cooperatively at rest.

For the sake of completeness, a few explanations about the functions of the other brain areas of the network (cf. Fig.  7.3). The initially somewhat surprising aspect that unfocusedness is nevertheless also a conscious state is based on the fact that the middle prefrontal cortex (1) (cf. Fig. 7.3) is measurably involved. It is involved in the planning of complex cognitive behaviors, in the expression of personality, in decision making, and in the moderation of social behavior. The frontal brain elevates the network to a higher mental level and demonstrates why it must be taken seriously as a powerful mental learning tool. The cingulate (2) is a central structure in learning, e.g. for error correction. The precuneus (3), which like the posterior cortex (4) is involved in visual processing, and also in episodic memory, self-reflections and other aspects of consciousness, forms another important part of the network. The parts of the cortex have to do with spatial orientation, sensory processing of stimuli into meaning, emotional association, and especially language comprehension (5).

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Fig. 7.3  Components of the DMN. (From Killpack 2014; courtesy @ ScientificAmerican.com 2014. All Rights Reserved)

7.1.1 Creativity in Communicating Different regions of the Default Mode Network DMN are responsible for communication processes. They • • • • • •

monitor the call environment, bring emotionality into the conversation, help to recognize and predict linguistic patterns of the counterpart, help you correct yourself verbally, help to express one’s own personality, and support in decision-making, e.g. how to say what exactly to whom.

What becomes clear is that an unfocused state is far from also being a state of mind that has no place in a conversation (Böttger and Költzsch 2019, p. 8ff.). How can the DMN be specifically activated? • Timing: During non-optimal times, e.g. around midday, when concentration is waning anyway, unfocused but creative phases are best planned. • Through the choice of location: Creativity is not located in a single place. Like the DMN, it is organized like a network, feeding on past experiences, new impressions and visions of the future. Open communication scenarios support its development. • Through mental techniques: Mindfulness techniques can lead to both concentration and focus, but also conscious mind wandering.

7.1  Tracking Creativity

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Letting your mind wander is productive.

So letting your mind wander purposefully while listening doesn’t mean being unfocused, it helps you find solutions.

7.1.2 Creativity Arises En Passant Almost all DMN areas of the brain overlap with those of the so-called “implicit” use of the brain. Performances that the brain accomplishes quasi “in passing”, incidentally and without requiring much attention, are called this. Creativity, it can be concluded, also occurs en passant, effortlessly, subconsciously. This includes linguistic creativity: Creative formulations, neologisms, and ideas about content emerge in conversation. That is why knowledge of such processes in the brain is important for the sales talk. If we look into the brain with the help of radiology, we get the picture shown in Fig. 7.4. The left part of Fig. 7.4 shows a brain scan of a subject who is communicating explicitly, i.e. she is concentrating on what she is saying, controlling herself intensively. The language-­related areas that have been activated are located only in the left hemisphere (Broca’s area), which is responsible for processing language information. Implicit Means Networked The right part of Fig. 7.4 illustrates the implicit form of language use. Both hemispheres of the brain as well as a larger, network-like number of brain regions are activated. This appears to be more efficient and even more creative in relation to the conversation.

Fig. 7.4  Explicit and implicit language learning

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Networks of thought provide ever new connections.

Why exactly? Because of the availability of an associative memory in which words, sentences and whole incidents are linked together to form a huge network of thoughts. The links in this network are single ideas, e.g. of cause and effect: purchase → good feeling or virus → cold. Objects and their properties can also enter such nodes, which can be used positively when selling: Machine → faster production. Triggering Mental Links with the Customer However, the associations go beyond these simple connections and can thus be used in the sales talk: The object mentioned is mentally associated with the category to which it belongs, e.g. band saw blade → precision saw. If such an idea is activated in the customer’s mind during the conversation through a targeted choice of words or a precise description, it generates further ideas without the customer being aware of it (cf. Sect. 7.3). Creative and implicit brain activities therefore take place in both conversation partners, in the salesperson as well as in the customer. The cascade of creative activities in the brain usually has a supporting and strengthening effect on the initial idea. Measurable are then both cognitive and emotional and ultimately physical reactions, e.g. in joy and well-being (Niedenthal 2007, p. 1002ff.). Mental processes, including cognition, always take place physically. This so-called embodiment is one of the foundations for successful conversation.

7.2 Using the DMN for Targeted Discussions The DMN, with its both conscious and unconscious parts, can be used quite specifically for successful conversation: • Storytelling, especially in a darker environment such as near campfires (cf. Fig. 7.5), without too many sensory impressions, promotes language creativity through listening comprehension. Such cumulative meaning identification is located in the DMN. For the (sales) conversation this means that a fireside chat atmosphere or an alcove, a smaller room with appropriate focused lighting would be more appropriate than the usual large, often sterile meeting rooms in companies. • People direct their attention inwards when listening to sad or happy music and engage in spontaneous, self-referential cognitive processes. Texts associated with this are processed more intensively. Therefore: Subliminal, non-disturbing music can have a supporting effect. In the chosen space of the sales talk, soft music is therefore at least conducive to the conversational mood. In the best case, it is exactly the music that a customer likes – a case for targeted preparation.

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Fig. 7.5  Mind wandering through storytelling around the campfire. (Source: fboudias/shuterstock 514149277)

• Talking about one’s past and imagining one’s future motivates one to speak actively in both the mother tongue and in a foreign language. Conversations can therefore be opened with precisely these two directions. • Social topics promote empathy, compassionate understanding, a domain of the DMN, among others. They can promote oral communication skills in any context. This is also the case in a sales conversation: Conversation-opening questions about the family, for example, or reports about one’s own, have a corresponding effect.

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Only implicitly acquired and used language is creative.

When thinking seems to occur without an explicit goal, all linguistically relevant inputs are nevertheless stored, processed and prepared for availability when needed. Although the concept of the DMN network involved in this process is not entirely uncontroversial, it definitely promotes implicit language learning. Implicitly acquired language can be used almost unconsciously – and thus almost automatically, creatively and fluently. Mental Relaxation in Conversation Promises Success If you want to arrive at a creative solution together with your customer, it is first and foremost necessary that both sides reach a relaxed mental state. To achieve this, it is also crucial that the salesperson is under no circumstances under too much pressure. His job is to make the customer feel comfortable and to gain his trust so that he opens up and is willing to work on a solution together with the salesperson. A salesperson who is under considerable pressure and poorly prepared will hardly be able to do this.

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7.3 Priming: Using the Power of Imagination The priming effect has to do with the associations already described, which are to be concretized again here. One word thereby precedes and prepares the other. For example, in the word “food”, the fragment “S___p” is completed with “soup” rather than “soap”. Then one sentence prefigures the next and one idea the following. A powerful image of this is the spreading little circular ripples of throwing a stone into a still body of water  – the impetus is given by a word, the ever-expanding circles moving outward represent the sentences and further ideas in this image. Many events stored in memory unconsciously prime emotions and actions. The so-­ called Florida effect (Bargh et al. 1996, p. 230ff.), for example, causes slower movements in test subjects who had previously consciously processed words and sentences on the topic of “old”, e.g. spoken or written them. Such links have an effect on all areas of life and on all decisions that people make. They can be consciously used in a positive way, even in sales talks. They are non-manipulative: positive words, friendly sentences and forward-looking verbalized ideas, as well as non-­ verbal signs (smile, affirmative nodding of the head) influence thoughts and feelings in a positive way. This also applies to the conduct of the conversation itself – calm and friendly has a positive, calm and convincing effect. cc

The line to manipulation is quickly crossed.

The fallacy of having complete control over one’s own decisions and certainty about the reasons for them at all times is widespread. Primes, however, unconsciously affect intuitive judgments, decisions and actions. cc

Preparing conversations is not manipulation.

For the sales discussion, they also offer the possibility of positively influencing preconceived judgements or decisions of the discussion partners. The prerequisite for using such possibilities of targeted, non-manipulative conversation management is – as you already know  – targeted preparation for the customer and his family and for the  professional context.

7.4 Framing: Formulating Information Ideally Variably worded information with the same content arouses equally diverse emotions. An example: (a) “The profit margin is over 50% in the first few months after the rollout.” (b) “The maximum gain will be half achieved in the first few months after roll-out.”

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Variant (a) certainly sounds much more reassuring and positive. It is formulated positively, indicates the scope and does not formulate any grievances or limits. Nevertheless, both formulations are similar. So it is not necessarily facts but individual mental interpretation frames that are decisive, which are called frames by cognitive science. So everyone interprets what he hears or reads. Plan Information Logically and Understandably Some facts and realities are thus emphasized, others are neglected. For conversations, this means that what is said can be better processed if it fits into frames that have already been activated, i.e. it connects logically to existing information. A conversation guide, or at least an internal flow chart, is therefore necessary. If interlocutors are confronted with information that does not fit into their frame, their brains react like stubborn horses and may not accept the new information as reality. cc

Future topics have positive potential.

Thoughts and actions are controlled by such frames: those who think about the future tend to lean forward, and thoughts about the past have exactly the opposite effect. Accordingly, sales talks should be positive and directed towards the future. Phrasing Positively To really make a sales call go positively, salespeople should pay very close attention to their wording. Sometimes it can be little things that upset the customer. Two very important tips: 1. If possible, avoid speaking or arguing in “omnibus” terms: “All of our customers became much more successful by using our product.” It’s not particularly believable that using a product or service will make you more and more successful. If it is indeed the case, I would advise you to have tangible evidence of this at the ready. Or simply say, “The customers who used our product in a very specific way became more successful as a result.” That way, you’re hardly vulnerable. 2. Always formulate your statements as positively as possible: Imagine that the customer is of the opinion that your product is very complex and therefore difficult to handle. If you answer as follows, you are more likely to confirm his doubts: “Admittedly, our product is difficult to handle, but we offer you very good training.” The following variant is certainly better: “Our product is very complex because it is suitable to save you a lot of work in the long term and to relieve you of complex tasks. Granted, it’s not easy to handle, but we offer training that will soon enable you to take advantage of all the product has to offer.” Just replacing the word “difficult” with “not easy” makes a serious difference.

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7.5 Securing Creative Thoughts in Conversations Creative thoughts and ideas need to be backed up. They can easily be lost because they are quickly overlaid with new thoughts in the brain’s short-term memory and cannot be transferred to long-term memory (Böttger 2016, p. 168). Whenever they come up, they only “stick” if they are documented. Written notes of all kinds, ordered or unordered, but also audio memos that can be recorded and stored via a mobile phone app. In fact, everything should be recorded and not yet sorted out, quasi a creative brainstorming. Creative “Doodling”: Sketchnoting A creative way of taking notes during the conversation is sketchnoting. Creative ideas can be saved just as creatively this way. • Sketchnotes do not simply consist of texts, but they are equipped with various images that promote and facilitate clarity. The reason for this: the human brain absorbs images faster than speech and subsequently links them to the discussed content of the conversation. • When making the sketchnotes, the most important information is stored in the working memory of the brain and can be retrieved more easily a little later – due to the visual support – e.g. for presentations or conversation summaries. • No drawing skills are needed to create sketchnotes. Everyone can develop their own style. All you need for sketchnoting is paper and a pen or a digital tablet with drawing function. • This is how the Sketchnoting skill is then developed individually: Practice small signs and give them a meaning, e.g. arrow = “follows from this”. • Complex subject matter can be presented with small pictures or initially simple drawings (cf. Fig. 7.6). Symbols and arrows then help to link the trains of thought in order to create a common thread of discussion. Everyone decides for themselves how the notes should look on the sheet at the end. • Finally, the most important skill in sketchnoting, intensive listening, should be mentioned: intensive listening – and silence.

Short & Compact

1. Creating solutions begins with relaxation. In sales talks, this is the basis for customers as well as for salespeople right at the beginning of the conversation and is conducive to a further successful course of the conversation. 2. Creative thoughts come and go quickly – if they are not documented immediately. For this purpose, silence on the part of the salesperson in the sales conversation is silver when the customer is speaking; the competence of active listening can even be proverbially gilded. 3. Formulating ideally in the sales talk itself, relying on positive, forward-looking and figurative language, promotes understanding and imagination among customers.

References

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Fig. 7.6  Simple sketchnoting

References Bargh JA, Chen M, Burrows L (1996) Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. J Pers Soc Psychol 71(2):230–244 Böttger H (2016) Neurodidaktik des frühen Sprachenlernens. Wo die Sprache zuhause ist. utb, Stuttgart Böttger H, Költzsch D (2019) Neural foundations of creativity in foreign language acquisition. Train Lang Cult 3(2):8–21 Niedenthal PM (2007) Embodying emotion. Science 316(5827):1002–1005 Raichle ME, MacLeod AM, Snyder AZ, Powers WJ, Gusnard DA, Shulman GL (2001) A default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci 98(2):676–682

8

Step 6: Argue Appropriately

Abstract

In this chapter you will learn why an effective benefit argumentation is the basis for any sales and marketing communication. You will also read why the benefit argument is the only valid way to put the price of your products or services into perspective and thus achieve a higher price. And we also explain why companies have an obligation to support their sales staff in being able to build on and use a valid benefit argumentation in the sales conversation. You will realize that it is important for every salesperson to train themselves in order to realize the best possible success. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Do you remember the sales success spiral? If not, read Sect. 6.1 again. In Sect. 8.5 you will learn how to develop a valid and above all comprehensible benefit argumentation. You will encounter a method that we have developed and refined over decades and that is now used successfully in many cases.

8.1 The Four Positions in Sales Basically, you can have four different positions in a business relationship with your customer (cf. Fig. 8.1): © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_8

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I win, you win. I lose, you win. I lose, you lose. I win, you lose. Fig. 8.1  The four positions in sales

I win You win I win You lose

I lose you win I lose You lose

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

We now want to put you in a situation that we have often experienced in field service escorts in the automotive industry. Put yourself in the position of a car salesman who sells high-class vehicles. Not infrequently, these cars are so expensive that the seller himself would not be willing or able to buy such a car himself. If he would invest such a large amount of money at all, then probably rather in the long term for the own four walls or a financial investment, which secures the future. Of course, the salesman quickly has to think about this: If I sell the customer this expensive car, then I win and the customer loses. So it seems much more customer-oriented to take the opposite position by turning the tables and playing the game “I lose – you win” (cf. Fig. 8.2). We have experienced an infinite number of car salesmen who not only brought up the subject of discounts in the customer discussion of their own accord. They literally threw discounts around before any other subjects were addressed or even explained, which would however have been absolutely decisive for the customer to make a purchasing decision. In the end, both parties, the customer as well as the salesperson, think they have lost (cf. Fig. 8.3). The customer, because his concerns were not really taken into account and he had to get the feeling that the vehicle is obviously not worth the price that is called by the manufacturer. And the salesperson, because he either did not reach a conclusion at all, because the customer was not convinced, or he had to give an unnecessarily large discount, which he then had to justify again eloquently to his boss.

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Fig. 8.2  Win or lose

I win You win I win You lose

I lose you win

I lose You lose

Fig. 8.3  Customer and seller both lose

I win You win I win You lose

I lose you win I lose You lose

What causes this unsatisfactory state? Quite simple: Only very few companies think about how they can actually create the state “I win – you win” (cf. Fig. 8.4) and then also train this sufficiently with their employees. Many companies still live in a world where for years they were able to stand out from the competition by offering one or two special product features. But in today’s world, where the competition is constantly watching the market and the competition, where products are immediately copied or improved by the competition and where competitors invest massively in innovations, you can be happy if you are still ahead for one or two years due to better product features. If you don’t really deal with how to make your customers more successful in the long run, you will have a hard time: Only a win-win situation will last and ensure business success (see Fig. 8.4).

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Fig. 8.4  The win-win situation

I win You win I win You lose

I lose you win I lose You lose

8.2 Benefit Arguments and Price There is an old saying in sales: Those who can’t do anything and who don’t know anything always only talk about the price. But this is exactly the core problem that every sales employee – regardless of the industry – has to solve. Because if it really is all about the price, you won’t get to the point where you can just let the customer buy. The price only becomes a minor matter if you succeed in showing the customer the benefits of the proposed solution in such a way that he finds himself in it. cc

The price becomes a minor matter in a successful conversation.

“In order to influence the purchase decision in their favour, companies basically have two opportunities: they can turn the price screw or clarify the benefits. (…) In our experience, the frequently heard statement ‘Our customers buy on price’ is an indication that companies do not systematically deal with customer benefits.” (Homburg et al. 2006, p. 32).

8.2.1 What Makes the Difference? One thing is true in all industries without distinction: interchangeable services always lead to zero or negative growth and diminishing returns in stagnating markets. This is true even if the services are perceived by the customer as merely interchangeable.

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From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

In my professional life, I have mainly dealt with optimizing the sales work of other companies and during this time I have read several books that recommend how to conduct a price discussion. However, I have never found much usable material on this topic. However, if you want to “just let a customer buy”, it is indispensable that the price becomes a completely secondary matter in the course of the conversation and that the positive business success of the customer is discussed in the sequel. In my opinion, the only effective approach to make the price a minor matter is a well-structured, logical and comprehensible benefit argumentation for the customer at any time.

8.2.2 The Price-performance Ratio Now put yourself in the world of a normal sales conversation: A sales representative meets a customer and wants to offer him a service or a product that has a certain value (cf. Fig. 8.5). The salesperson will naturally want to get a higher price for his service or product, while the customer will certainly try to negotiate a particularly low price (cf. Fig. 8.6). The salesperson will only be successful if he succeeds in presenting the benefits that the customer is to receive in such a way that they at least equal or even exceed the price. It is therefore a matter of a comprehensible presentation of the price-benefit ratio (cf. Fig. 8.7). cc

Intuition alone is not enough – hard work beats talent!

We call this ability salesmanship (cf. Fig. 8.8). Of course, there are also talented salespeople who get a lot of things right intuitively. However, only those who repeatedly deal with the elaboration of the customer benefit and intensively practice the argumentation chains are successful in the long run. We have already dealt intensively with discussion preparation from a mental point of view in Chaps. 2 and 3; from a sales point of view, we will take it up again in this chapter.

Fig. 8.5 Price-­ performance ratio

Performance / Product

Price

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Fig. 8.6 Price-performance ratio: Different objectives

Sales target

Customer request

Performance / Product

Fig. 8.7 Price-performance ratio: The gap

Sales target

Formulating customer benefits

Fig. 8.8 Price-performance ratio: Sales skills

Price

Customer request

Performance / Product

Price

Customer benefit

Sales skills

Performance / Product

Price

8.3 Objectives of the Interview

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8.2.3 Honesty Is the Best Policy At this juncture, it should be expressly pointed out once again that this book calls for always dealing honestly with customers and not manipulating them or making them believe things that will not happen. A lie has never been a good basis for a long-term and mutually profitable business relationship. cc

Convincing is not manipulating.

We would like to enable all people working in customer contact to present the advantages of their company, their services or their products in such a way that the customer recognizes the benefits and becomes aware of how he or his company can become even more successful through the services/products offered. No Cooperation Without Mutual Benefit So let’s approach customer benefit. If we look at it philosophically, we can say that those who offer benefits will also reap benefits. If this is not the case in a business relationship, one should consider whether this form of cooperation actually makes sense. After all, a business relationship can only make sense for any company in the long term if it is profitable and profitable. Not Supporting Employees in Sales Is Negligent In order to be able to formulate the customer benefit and then also adapt it to the respective individual customer situation, a high degree of preparation is necessary, which is rarely provided by companies. And so it is of course not at all surprising that sales employees often go to their customers insufficiently prepared. It would be the task of the business and/or sales management to provide the employees in customer contact with the essential argumentation. However, this is usually left to the employees themselves.

8.3 Objectives of the Interview

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

In our sales force coaching sessions, we often took the liberty of asking the sales people 15  min before their next customer appointment what goal they wanted to achieve at the upcoming appointment and what strategy they wanted to use. We are sorry to say at this point that the answers were often very sobering. In sales, experience shows that we often have to deal with red and yellow types (Chap. 4) who enjoy customer contact but invest less time and meticulousness in preparation. However, good preparation is half the sales success. (continued)

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(continued) I can recommend a competitive attitude in sales: If you lose a championship game in sports, the points are gone in the final accounts. If you don’t get an order in sales, many people think, you can try somewhere else. At first glance, this looks plausible, but only at first glance. In fact, an order that is not won is missing from the company’s final accounts, but there is no table in which this loss is shown in black and white. The goal must therefore be to win every interesting customer. Of course, flexibility and the ability to react spontaneously to specific situations are indispensable qualities in sales. However, it is also and especially true in this sector: success can be planned and is in any case much more likely through good preparation. Clearly defined goals are essential for successful sales work. Setting goals does not always have to come from the company. A salesperson should also set goals for themselves. If salespeople set goals for each appointment, they can break these down into sub-goals and think of alternative strategies in case unexpected problems occur at individual stages. On this basis, they can influence the outcome of an appointment to a much greater extent than if they approach the customer purely with an open mind. And there is something else that is important: if you have a clear objective, you will also appear much more sorted and self-confident and make a more professional impression on the customer. When we confronted the sales people with this in our coaching sessions, they gladly explained to us with the tone of conviction that they had already conducted a huge number of customer meetings and would already sort everything out when they were sitting with the customer. In addition, they often said, there was simply not enough time for specific preparation. Sales employees are just as challenged as their managers to create a good balance between preparation time and active selling time with the customer. Sales employees who do not prepare sufficiently for an appointment and have not yet or not sufficiently dealt with the benefit argumentation not infrequently doubt their own products and services that they (should) offer the customer. Ask yourself the following question: “Would you, as a customer, buy from yourself?”

8.4 Would You Buy from Yourself? I’m sure you’ll say yes. But is there really any reason to buy from you? Keep trying seriously. Answer for yourself the further question, “If I were my own customer, what specifically would cause me to buy from my own business?” You’ve come to a satisfying conclusion? Congratulations! Because this is anything but easy. Uniform communication in the direction of the customer is valuable. Not only sales, but also marketing or PR are to be included here. And now imagine what your employees

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or colleagues say in customer contact when the customer asks you this more than justified question. Based on our experience, we can tell you that it often gets more than argumentative thin at this point. This is highly concerning because: Why should a customer buy from a company if the salesperson himself cannot formulate the reason for purchase or benefit? Without structure, you have to improvise. Particularly when employees are under pressure – and this is especially the case when the evil competition also comes into play – it becomes apparent that arguments have not really been prepared in a structured manner and therefore everyone improvises a little and tells what they think is good. Since what is said is then often not very convincing for the customer, the sales talk, as already described, very quickly ends in an unpleasant price discussion. It is therefore of utmost importance that sales staff can fall back on a clearly structured argumentation, especially in this crucial question, which brings the benefit a customer has to the point and at least puts higher prices into perspective. But it is precisely at this point that very few companies do the necessary groundwork: What is needed are complete sales documents with benefit arguments and intensive, long-term training. From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

The customer benefit must always be clearly recognizable in every contact with the customer. This is by no means limited to direct customer discussions. It applies equally to all company and product presentations, to the company’s homepage and, last but not least, to all offers. By the way, if you look at the offers that many companies make to their customers, you tend to get the impression that you are holding a lawyer’s reminder in your hands. I always recommend to my clients to develop their offers more in the direction of a love letter. So what is customer benefit and how can it be presented in a structured and comprehensible way? I am convinced that employees in customer contact only need to know a few methods or systems in order to be successful. But the basis is always the benefit argumentation. The system described in Sect. 8.5 is helpful here.

8.5 The “Benefit Model” With the benefit model you will get to know a new argumentation methodology that you can and should apply in every discussion situation with the customer once you have internalized it. This structure will lead you to inevitably think and argue in the customer’s interest. You will learn how to use the benefit argumentation for a strong objection handling and last but not least you will be initiated into the royal discipline of sales communication: The connection of benefit argumentation and motivation typology. Quasi the

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From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

In our sales agency, we were challenged almost weekly to process new inquiries from customers quickly and in a targeted manner. The question that almost always had to be answered was how the most diverse products and services of our customers could be brought to market quickly and promisingly with our help. The preoccupation with ever new market requirements ultimately led to a new type of model. The answer lies in the question “Why?”: Why would someone want to buy a particular product? Only if he also has a real benefit from it.

tailoring of arguments for your customer. This is how you become a “black belt” in sales communication. The Benefit Rationale Forces You to Think in Terms of Your Customer You can read a lot about “feature – advantage – benefit” everywhere. However, you will immediately notice that the benefit reason is the all-important factor that shows the customer what benefit will result from a purchase decision in his company. So let’s first deal with a few definitions before we get into practice. In sales, one often speaks of the so-called benefit argumentation chain. The following methodology also shows this structure. What is new, however, is the component “benefit reason”, which must be included in order to develop an argumentation chain that is comprehensible for the customer (see Figs. 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12 and 8.13). In the following, you will be provided with graphics that will help you in your daily sales work to develop a well-founded benefit argumentation for your company, your products or services. Let us now take a closer look at the individual components of the benefit model. The four parts, which build on each other, show how the process of a valid chain of reasoning is to be designed (cf. Fig. 8.9). They are defined as follows: Feature

Advantage

Benefit reason

Benefit

Benefit reason

Benefit

Benefit reason

Benefit

Fig. 8.9  Benefit argumentation chain

Feature

Advantage

Fig. 8.10  Benefit argumentation chain – feature

Feature

Advantage

Fig. 8.11  Benefit argumentation chain – Advantage

8.5 The “Benefit Model”

Feature

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Advantage

Benefit reason

Benefit

Fig. 8.12  Benefit argumentation chain – benefit reason

Feature

Advantage

Benefit reason

Benefit

Fig. 8.13  Benefit argumentation chain – benefit

• Characteristics are properties of products or services. These can be measured, counted or weighed or otherwise proven. Characteristics answer the question, “What characterizes our products or services?” (Cf. Fig. 8.10) • Advantages are the positive consequence of a feature. Describing advantages: “What do our products and services have to offer?” (Cf. Fig. 8.11) Describing features and benefits is what salespeople usually limit themselves to in customer conversations. The employees adulate what the company, their products or their services have to offer. The step over to the customer side, however, is often missing. You do this with the benefit justification: • The benefit reason is the argument that explains to the customer why a particular benefit will occur for them or their company. The benefit reason is the trigger, so to speak, for our customer’s brain to explain the benefit and thus make the decision ripe. The “benefit reason” component thus answers the question: “What do our products and services do for the customer?” (Cf. Fig. 8.12) • Benefit is the type of need satisfaction that is provided to the customer by a purchase decision. The component “benefit” answers the question: “What do our products and services bring to the customer?” (Cf. Fig. 8.13) In Fig. 8.14 you will find the structure summarized once again with an example from the automotive industry. The feature in this example is: “The vehicle has xenon lights.” This is of course provable – as described above. The positive consequence of the feature “xenon light” is that the road is better illuminated at night. This is the advantage. Now the question arises, what is the effect of this advantage? The answer and thus the benefit reason: Drivers are better able to detect obstacles and avoid them. The benefit that now arises for the driver is that he is safer on all roads.

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Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

Description

Features are characteristics of products or services. These can be measured, counted or weighed, i.e. proven.

Advantages are the positive consequences of a feature.

The argument that the customer reaps a certain use is that of benefit reason.

The benefit is the kind of need satisfaction that arises for the customer through a purchase decision.

Question

What characterizes our products or services?

What do our products or services have to offer?

What effect do our products or services have on the customer?

What do our products or services bring to the customer?

Example

The vehicle has xenon light.

The street is better lit at night.

As a driver, you can better recognize obstacles and avoid them.

So you are safe on all roads.

Fig. 8.14  Benefit argumentation chain – details Commercial benefits Cost savings Increase in sales

Income / Increase in value

Time saving

Fig. 8.15  Commercial benefit

cc

Self-congratulation does not build bridges.

8.5.1 The Manifestations of Utility There are three forms of utility to which any argument can be directed: • The commercial benefit • The image benefit • The emotional benefit Commercial benefit  Let us start with the commercial benefit (cf. Fig. 8.15): This is made up of the components increase in sales – time savings – cost savings. These three components lead to an increase in earnings or value of the company. There are two components to saving time. Imagine you are standing in front of a customer who is up to his neck in water, and you can offer him a service with which he can free up ten percent of his employees. The client will appreciate you for that, of course. And now imagine you are standing in front of a successful medium-sized businessman who is the largest employer in his community. Would you actually offer him to let go of ten

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percent of his employees? Not really! The good man wouldn’t be able to buy buns at the local bakery the next day. But what could you offer him? You could offer him to free up resources that he can use to realize the things he’s always wanted done to make his company even more valuable. cc

Arguing with time savings requires some tact.

Image Benefit Let us move on to the image benefit (cf. Fig. 8.16). This has two aspects: the image gain for a company and the image gain for a person in a company. Image gain for a company can take many different forms. For example, a company can cooperate with another company in the hope that the positive image of the cooperation partner will enhance its own image. Or a company can focus on a green image and thus try to win the hearts of customers and make the company more valuable and profitable. cc

Always consider your customer’s personal concerns, not just the company’s.

Equally important is the image gain for people in the company. Especially in larger companies, employees want to climb the career ladder quickly. To do this, it is necessary to avoid wrong decisions, as there are always snipers in the colleague environment who use an employee’s poor decision to put themselves in a better position. So decision makers will always look to hire suppliers or service providers that have a good reputation. They will try to select companies that you can’t go wrong with, so to speak. There used to be a saying in IT: No IT manager has ever been fired for purchasing SAP software. Because even if the software implementation doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on the fact that you worked with the market leader. cc

Trust is also confidence.

If a customer doesn’t trust you to deliver the required service, you will probably hear a lot of reasons that sound good but are made up. Normally, a customer doesn’t say: “I don’t trust you to do that.”

Image benefit Enterprise

Value growth / Income

Persons

Career / Power

Image enhancement

Fig. 8.16  Image benefits

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Fig. 8.17  Emotional benefit

Emotional benefits Safety Freedom Fun Personal connection Home

Trust Peace of mind Happiness

Self-realization

Emotional Benefit Finally, we want to consider the emotional benefits (cf. Fig. 8.17). One of the most important value propositions here is security. The English expression peace of mind describes very well what this is all about. Admittedly, this may sound a bit pathetic, but it should always be the aspiration in a customer relationship: Because if you succeed in giving the customer the feeling that he can sleep better at night if he decides in favour of your company, your products or your services, the order probability is high and the price only plays a subordinate role. cc

Safety is a good argument for all motivational types.

Emotional benefits also include freedom, and by this we mean above all freedom of choice. This includes, for example, benefits that offer an entrepreneur more opportunities to better design the processes in his company or give him the freedom to offer his customers innovative or even unique services. Personal Contacts in B-to-B Remain as Important as Ever In times of the internet and digitalization, buying from people is more important to many people than ever before. With comparable products and comparable prices, the customer buys from a company from which he also expects an increase in pleasure. Some companies even succeed in assuming a very high position of trust with their customers or even giving them a piece of home, which particularly promotes personal ties. Those who have built up such a position are then often regarded as preferred partners and given preferential treatment when contracts are awarded. This is a state of affairs that, incidentally, is a thorn in the side of many companies. For this reason, there are increasing attempts to decouple purchasing decisions from personal relationships through buying centers – purchasing groups of different employees  – in order to force decisions that are as de-emotionalized as possible.

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Helping the Customer Achieve Dreams and Goals If you manage to convince a customer of your offers or even contribute to the customer being able to realise his dreams and realise himself, you are set as a supplier. Certainly, just as noble a goal as trying to trigger a feeling of happiness in the customer, but if you succeed, it makes you almost indispensable as a supplier. Let us return to the benefit argumentation in the structure “feature – benefit – benefit reason – benefit”. In the following we will show you how to create a valid benefit argumentation for your products or services in the form of a matrix. Visualization Supports Comprehension It is highly recommended to present the benefit argumentation pictorially, as images are always more easily retained in the mind than pure text formats. Images are more or less “shots in the brain”. A clear and above all memorable structure of the benefit argumentation also helps in stressful situations to explain the benefit to the customer in a comprehensible and logical way. Now imagine that your company offers, among other things, the services of a general contractor. Now the question for your customer is: “What do I get out of it?”

8.5.2 Planning and Noting Down Chains of Arguments We have worked out how such a chain of arguments can be presented in a matrix (cf. Fig. 8.18), which you can use to fill in. How should this matrix be read or filled in? You first enter the benefit argumentation chain “feature – benefit – benefit reason – benefit”. The characteristic is, for example, “general contractor” (cf. Fig. 8.19). As described

Feature (We)

Advantage (We)

Fig. 8.18  Benefit argumentation matrix

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

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Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

Low effort for the customer

We offer all services from a single source

We are general contractors

There is only one contact person for all questions and requests There are no other interfaces

Optimization of its internal processes Concentration on its core competencies Our customer can develop better solutions for his customers and strengthens the satisfaction of his customers

Time and cost savings Securing turnover Increasing the value of his company

Competitive advantages for our customer Our customer strengthens its market position

Fig. 8.19  Benefit argumentation matrix general contractor

above, it must always be possible to substantiate a feature. You must therefore be able to demonstrate that your company is actually active as a general contractor. Then you derive the advantages offered by a general contractor from the characteristic “general contractor”. In this case: “We offer all services from one source. There is only one contact person for all questions and requests” or “there are no other interfaces.” The next step is now to find the benefit reason. This is the step from the salesperson’s point of view over to the customer. Now you need to work out what the benefits named above actually do in the customer’s operational business. Do this for each benefit. In this step, you need to think your way into the customer’s structures and workflows to find out what the benefits you have to offer actually do in the customer’s organization. Here are just a few examples: The customer can optimize its internal processes. The customer can gain competitive advantages. Your argument is only complete when you have arrived at the benefit. And now you derive from this connection what this brings to the customer. One of the benefits described above must be found here (commercial benefit – image benefit – emotional benefit). In this example, this would be “time and cost savings”, “securing sales” and “increasing the value of the company”. Enter the argumentation chains into the matrix in such a way that you can easily read each strand from left to right. (Side note: The term “securing turnover” is a combination of commercial and emotional benefits). So if you want to communicate these chains of reasoning to your client, it might sound like this:

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Example • “By awarding the contract to us as a general contractor, you receive all services from a single source. • You have only one contact person who is available for all your questions and wishes. • There are no further external interfaces. This reduces your coordination effort and allows you to keep your internal processes lean. • This allows you to fully concentrate on your core competencies and create better solutions for your customers. • This will give your company a competitive edge and increase customer satisfaction. • This will strengthen your market position, save you time and money and secure your future sales. • In the long run, you can continue to increase the value of your business.” Effect of Benefit Arguments in the Private Customer Sector Another example from the automotive industry: We once tested the following four listed variants once together with a German car manufacturer. Example Imagine you have taken your vehicle to an automotive repair shop. During the service work, the employee discovers that your brakes need to be renewed. Now he has several options to offer you a brake renewal: 1. Call with feature argumentation: “Hello, Mr. Mustermann, we noticed during our service work that your brakes are worn. Should we replace them right away?” 2. Call with advantage argumentation: “Hello, Mr. Mustermann, we noticed during our service work that your brakes are worn. We have just jacked up the car and could do the work directly. Should we renew the brakes right away?” 3. Call with reason for benefit: “Hello, Mr. Mustermann, we noticed during our service work that your brakes are worn. We have just jacked up the car and could do the work directly. You wouldn’t have to come to the workshop again and would have new brakes immediately. Would you like us to replace the brakes right away?” 4. Call with benefit argumentation: “Hello, Mr. Mustermann, we noticed during our service work that your brakes are worn. We have just jacked up the car and could do the work directly. You would not have to come to the workshop again and would save time and money. Plus, you’d have new brakes immediately. and be perfectly safe on the road again. Do you want us to replace the brakes right away?” That variant 4 had the highest success rate cannot be surprising. In Chap. 4 you learned how different people tick. In this chapter we first showed you how to build up a structured benefit argumentation. The supreme discipline is now to combine the two methods in such a way that the customer says to himself: “This is just made for me” (Sect. 8.7). But first, let’s take a look at how to use the benefit argument to make a sound objection.

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8.6 Objection Handling Faultless No matter how well you conduct a sales call, there’s one thing you’re unlikely to avoid: objection handling. There are many good reasons for your customer to raise objections: • Your customer may already be convinced by your offer, but would like to check again whether you are really well versed in argumentation. • The customer is not yet convinced by your offer and wants to know where there is a catch. • The client may simply want to pressure you to improve their negotiating position. • The customer has an offer from a competitor and wants to make sure that he chooses the right offer. • The customer is not the sole decision maker and the client still has to resell your offer in-house. Now he is looking for the best arguments. One could certainly list many more reasons, but we have named the essential ones. There is a whole range of objections that the customer can raise. There is always the popular objection: “Your offer is too expensive” or “We have been buying from the competition for years”, “Your company has not been on the market that long, so we are anxious” and so on and so forth. cc

Change your perspective on objections from your customer.

Many sales people really flinch when the customer raises his objections. This is completely counterproductive and, above all, not necessary at all. Because objections from the customer are a blessing for the salesperson! If the customer has real – and not just pretended – objections and you are able to refute them, you will take away their fear of doing something wrong. The topic of security is one that we have already covered many times in this book. Salespeople often get nervous because they are not at all prepared for really good objection handling. By the way, this is not only the fault of the salesperson, but at least to the same extent the responsibility of companies that often do not train their employees well: What should be the result of a sales meeting when a nervous salesperson, who is not well prepared, meets an anxious customer?

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8.6.1 Unsuitable Objection Handlings From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

Now there are a whole range of ways to deal with objections. The trouble is, most of them are inappropriate! Please don’t take this as arrogance, but many sales people have set themselves standards that they stereotypically use in customer discussions. Often, however, these are only suitable for lecturing, reprimanding or bullying the customer. Most customers will react allergic. The literature offers little that can be used on the subject of price negotiations. Many salespeople prefer to have blanket statements that they can learn by heart and then recall in the customer meeting. The literature takes this into account. Some of these standards are even quite funny. For example, there are trainers who like to give the following example. The customer says, “But the competition is cheaper than you!” To which the salesperson replies, “They must be.” Admittedly: That’s really amusing. But the fact is: such platitudinous sayings will be of little or no help to you when you are sitting across from a clever negotiating partner. It’s a bit like going to the doctor: if you’re ill, you’d like a pill to take and everything’s fine. That doesn’t work in medicine or in sales. Memorized blanket statements won’t get you anywhere: A cat that ate a parakeet can’t sing either.

If you have trained yourself to handle objections well, you will appear competent to the customer. We will not go into the unsuitable methods here, but most salespeople tend to answer objections immediately because they assume that they will make a particularly competent impression. It is often the case that quasi-standard objections come from customers. If you know where you are vulnerable, you should address this point directly and of course rebut it straight away (Sect. 6.1.4). This is another way of gaining the customer’s trust, because you do not hide behind negative information, but openly address possible problems and refute them at the same time.

8.6.2 The Appropriate Objection Handling However, there is a much more effective and, above all, relaxed method. The only drawback: you need to be absolutely sure of the argument and practice, practice, practice.

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The combination of mirror technique and benefit argumentation offers you a perfect solution for objection handling.

cc

What you can optimally use in objection handling is a combination of the two methods “mirror technique” and “benefit argumentation”, which you already got to know on the previous pages (see Sects. 6.2 and 8.2). First of all, we will look at the idea and process of objection handling including the “mirror technique” and “benefit argumentation” using a systematic structure. Afterwards you will learn by means of an example how to put this form of objection handling into practice. Let’s start with the system, which contains a total of six steps (see Fig. 8.20). 1. The objection (cf. Fig. 8.21): Of course, it is first important as a salesperson to listen actively in order to correctly pick up on the customer’s objection and any overtones. Let’s look at the classic among objection treatments: “Your offer is too expensive.” 2. Converting (cf. Fig. 8.22): After the customer’s objection comes the phase of converting by the salesperson. Imagine that the customer is a person in need of help who is only asking you one question with the objection. What possible questions could be behind the objection “Your offer is too expensive”? Among them are these: –– –– –– –– –– ––

“Do you have an estate, too?” “Do I get anything extra?” “Why are you more expensive than the competition?” “Can you provide a quote that fits my budget?” “What justifies that price?” “What is the added value of your offer?”

Of course, the questions all boil down to something different. To the question, “Why are you more expensive than the competition?” the answer will have to be different than the response to the question, “What is the added value of your offer?” Accordingly, it is not very effective to immediately have an objection handling ready. Objection

Convert

Mirroring

Answer

Treatment

Validation

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Fig. 8.20  Single-wall handling with mirror technique

Objection

Convert

Fig. 8.21  Starting point objection

Objection

Fig. 8.22 Convert

Convert

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3. Mirroring (cf. Fig.  8.23): Now comes the phase of mirroring. As we have already described above, mirroring is the ability to grasp the other person in his or her feelings and to communicate this to him or her mimically, gesturally and verbally. We now interpret what the customer has said and reflect this in our words. Start your sentence with: “If I understand you correctly, you want to know from me …”. Misinterpretation of the customer is prevented by mirroring. It does not matter at this point whether you have interpreted the customer correctly or not. Because the beauty of the moment is that people can’t stand to be misinterpreted. So that means if you have misinterpreted the customer, they will have the urge to set the record straight. We learn through mirror techniques what the customer’s point actually is. We then have to be able to deal with that. 4. The answer (cf. Fig. 8.24): In addition to all the expected and anticipated objections (Sect. 8.6), the customer’s answer may of course also contain surprises. However, if you are well prepared, you will not be put off. Once you have learned what the customer’s objection actually is, you can borrow from benefit verbalization and present the argument with conviction. In doing so, you address the customer’s real objection. 5. Objection handling (cf. Fig.  8.25): Objection handling with benefit argumentation gives you the opportunity to dissolve possible mental obstacles in the customer’s mind by showing how he will benefit from the proposed solution. 6. Back up (cf. Fig. 8.26): A commitment does not always mean complete conviction. After that, you can calmly ask the customer if he feels comfortable with your answer. Important: Listen to your feelings at this point. You’ve learned that there are different kinds of “yeses.” If you have the impression that the customer is not completely convinced: Please politely follow up again. In this way, you ensure that the customer’s objection has actually been dealt with to his or her satisfaction. Let us now turn to a concrete example of objection handling with the mirror technique and benefit argumentation. Assumed case: You have presented your concept of general contracting to the customer. The following dialogue could take place like this or very similarly in practice. Objection

Convert

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Convert

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Fig. 8.23 Mirroring

Objection

Fig. 8.24  The customer’s response

Objection

Convert

Fig. 8.25  The customer’s response

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8  Step 6: Argue Appropriately Objection

Convert

Mirroring

Answer

Handling

Validation

Fig. 8.26 Save

Example • Objection from the customer: “Your offer is too expensive.” Inner dialogue – you talk to yourself. • Turn the objection into a question, “What might the customer want to know?” • Mirror the customer’s objection, “If I understand you correctly, you want me to tell you what value you’re getting from us.” • Possible response from the customer: “Indeed. I’m curious about that now.” • You can now handle the objection in this way – remember the example in Sect. 8.5.2? You can now use this example in the same way or in a modified form: • “Awarding your contract to us as a total contractor will help you save significantly on costs, which will put any higher bid amount into perspective quite significantly. • You receive all services from a single source and have only one contact person who is available to you for all questions and requests. There are no further external interfaces. • This reduces your coordination effort and allows you to keep your internal processes lean, saving time and money. • But even more important in this context is that you can fully concentrate on your core competencies and create better solutions for your customers. • This will give your company a competitive edge and increase customer satisfaction. • You strengthen your market position and secure your future sales. • In the long run, you can continue to increase the value of your business.” • So I think commercially we are more of a low cost provider for your company. • Back up again, “Is this a convincing answer to your question?” And now we are back to professional preparation. The more often you have played through such situations and the better you have prepared your benefit argumentation, the more relaxing and, of course, successful the customer meeting will be. It is anything but easy to implement this system. It actually requires a lot of training. But it is worth it! cc

Anticipate conversation situation and practice, practice, practice!

8.7 Arguing Emotionally It’s All in the Connection! Now that you have just learned how to combine the mirror technique and benefit argumentation, let us show you how to combine benefit argumentation and motivation typology. One of the essential core principles in this book is: The more positive emotions are addressed, the more likely the purchase decision will be made in favor of a certain idea, product or service.

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Without Empathy No Understanding for the Customer So in a customer conversation, it’s critical to mentally sit in the customer’s chair, synchronize with them, get into their emotions and thoughts – put yourself in their shoes, so to speak – and then ask yourself, “What’s in it for me?” cc

Two methods unfold the full effectiveness.

If we consider the two roles of “salesperson” and “customer” and assume that we are dealing with four different colour types each, there can be 16 different type encounters (cf. Fig.  8.27). In our opinion, the combination of benefit argumentation and motivational typology is the supreme discipline in selling. If you master the combination of these two methods, you will be able to tailor all argumentation for your customers in such a way that the customer thinks: “This is just made for me!”

Fig. 8.27  Combinations of different call types

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8.7.1 The Red Customer Let us first consider the red customer (see Fig. 8.28). He is interested in the direct path to success. Status, honor, fame and victory are the driving forces of the red customer. Therefore, the argumentation for this customer should also be structured in such a way that he can formally grasp his future successes. The red man is only interested in facts and the fast way to the goal. Since the Red assumes that he knows everything better than the others anyway, he must be given the appropriate space for his presentation in the sales talk. If a yellow salesman meets a red customer, he must be careful not to bore the red customer with too much flowery talk. The green salesperson must be careful not to appear too introverted, otherwise the red customer will quickly lose interest in the conversation. Because he wants to surround himself permanently with people who will bring him forward in the best dynamic way. The blue salesperson should refrain from boring the red customer with too many statistics and details. The red customer prefers the most important facts and figures, which show him how to reach his goal without further ado. The red customer is only interested in details if they could have a decisive effect on success or hinder success. The red salesman must be careful not to force his opinion on the red customer. Otherwise he will only arouse the fighting spirit of the red customer. If both sides then only want to prove that they are right, the conversation may quickly be doomed to failure.

Acknowledgment

Wealth

Challenge

Achievement

Status

Fame Activity

Victory

The red customer

Fig. 8.28  Motivations of the red customer

Image

8.7 Arguing Emotionally

113 The red customer

Feature (We)

Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

Low effort for the customer

We offer all services from a single source

We are general contractors

There is only one contact person for all questions and requests

There are no other interfaces

Optimization of its internal processes

Time and cost savings More profit

Concentration on its core competencies

Our customer can develop better solutions for his customers and strengthens the satisfaction of his customers Competitive advantages for our customer

Securing future turnover Image enhancement

Our customer strengthens its market position

Fig. 8.29  Benefit argumentation for the red customer

How should our example “benefit argumentation general contractor” be structured so that we actually reach the red customer? The argumentation chain in Fig. 8.29 shows the red customer how he can secure the success of his company in the short, medium and long term and improve his image even further.

8.7.2 The Yellow Customer The yellow customer wants to be excited (cf. Fig. 8.30). He likes to reflect on everything that is new. He finds this exciting and it stimulates his creativity. The yellow customer likes to imagine the possibilities behind a new idea and revels in a positive future. In contrast to the red customer, however, he does not subordinate everything unconditionally to his own success. When the yellow customer implements something new, it is very important to him that he has fun and enjoys it together with those around him. It is important to the yellow customer that the hearts of others fly to him. The red salesman and the yellow customer will get along quite well with each other, because the yellow one likes to orientate himself on a reference person. Since the red one always knows what is good for the other one, he will be able to convince the yellow one if he also refers to the things that are important to the yellow one. The blue salesman must also be careful with the yellow customer that he does not come up with too many details and sober facts and forgets to inspire the yellow customer. Of course, this also applies to the green salesperson, who would be well advised to use his dry sense of humour again and again. When a yellow salesperson and a yellow customer meet, the yellow salesperson

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Team spirit

Innovations

Pleasure

Openness

Fun

Relations Creativity

Idealism Freedom

The yellow customer

Fig. 8.30  Motivations of the yellow customer

The yellow customer Feature (We)

Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

Low effort for the customer

We offer all services from a single source

We are general contractors

There is only one contact person for all questions and requests

There are no other interfaces

Optimization of its internal processes

Time and cost savings More fun at work

Concentration on its core competencies

Our customer can develop better solutions for his customers and strengthens the satisfaction of his customers Competitive advantages for our customer

More success and joy in working with customers

Securing future turnover Image enhancement

Our customer strengthens its market position

Fig. 8.31  Benefit argumentation for the yellow customer

must make sure that he leaves room for the yellow customer to tell his story. Incidentally, this again applies equally to all salespeople. No matter whether it is easy for them or not: they will have to cope with the fact that the yellow customer talks at length, and especially when he is enthusiastic about something. How should we now construct the “general contractor” benefit argument for the yellow? The yellow man can very well find himself in the argumentation shown in Fig. 8.31. He can revel in successes and imagine how he delights his customers.

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8.7.3 The Blue Customer The blue customer loves details and sound presentations (cf. Fig. 8.32). The most important thing for him is perfection. The blue customer is already thinking about how processes must be set up so that they will ideally still function smoothly in a year’s time. The blue customer is rarely satisfied – not even by himself. If you think you can go to the blue customer superficially prepared, you will hardly have the chance to sell him anything. Perhaps, if you are the only supplier in the market. The blue customer doesn’t love being pressured and trying to force a decision. In this case, the blue customer will also keep up appearances and politely bid the salesman farewell, but still never buy from him. This is exactly what the red salesman must pay attention to when he meets the blue customer. As already mentioned, the red salesman has always thought everything through beforehand and knows what is good for the other person; but if he overdoes this with the blue customer, he will have a hard time winning him over as a customer. The yellow salesman should go to the blue customer well-prepared, and should rely on details, facts, and proof of quality rather than on his own enthusiasm. The yellow salesperson will very quickly be categorized as incompetent by the blue customer. The green salesperson and the blue salesperson will generally do well with a blue customer. Both have usually thought things through in detail and know what is important in the daily process. The problem with these encounters is more about the salesperson actually closing the sale and not getting lost in the details.

Safety

Discipline Control

Justice Quality

Family

Structure

Order

Cleanliness

The blue customer

Fig. 8.32  Motivations of the blue customer

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8  Step 6: Argue Appropriately The blue customer Feature (We)

Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Benefit (Customer)

Low effort for the customer

We offer all services from a single source

We are general contractors

Optimization of its internal processes

Time and cost savings

Easier controlling Error minimization

Security in the processes

There is only one contact person for all questions and requests

Complaint rate can be minimized

There are no other interfaces

Our customer can reduce additional demands from his customers

Our customer can increase the quality of his solutions for his customers and bind his customers in the long term

Safety

Securing future turnover

Fig. 8.33  Benefit argumentation for the blue customer

So what could our benefit argumentation for the blue customer look like? The most important argument for both the blue and the green customer is safety. For the blue customer, quality is more important, while for the green customer it is important that no errors occur that can be blamed on him and damage the overall structure (cf. Fig. 8.33).

8.7.4 The Green Customer The green customer should not be underestimated (cf. Fig. 8.34). As already mentioned, the green type is just as much a security person as the blue type. However, the green type is more concerned with the human element, whereas the blue type is more concerned with procedures and processes. The green type does not have to stand out but thinks things through quietly for themselves and usually knows exactly what they need and how products and services must be designed so that they actually fit their needs. If a red salesman now meets a green customer and wants to explain to him how the world works, the client will literally “close up”. No matter how hard the red guy tries. If the green one doesn’t want to, then he doesn’t want to and also switches to stubborn. It is similar with the yellow salesman. If he only focuses on enthusiasm and not on depth, the green customer – as well as the blue one – will very quickly classify him as a “talker”. Maybe the green salesman is amused by the rousing manner – but this does not increase the sales chance at all. The blue and the green salesmen will get along with a green customer – as already described above – in principle well, since details and functionalities are extremely important to both. The problem with these encounters, however, is that the salespeople actually close the sale and don’t get lost in the details.

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Sustainability

Safety

Thrift Trust

Day Dream Relaxation

Harmony

Silence Stability

The green customer

Fig. 8.34  Motivations of the green customer. (Own representation)

The green customer Feature (We)

Advantage (We)

Benefit reason (Customer)

Low effort for the customer

We offer all services from a single source

We are general contractors

There is only one contact person for all questions and requests

There are no other interfaces

Benefit (Customer)

Time and cost savings

Simplification of processes; Quieter working

More fun at work

Minimization of sources of error; Reduction of rework

Security in the processes Peace of mind

Simplification of communication and thus better collaboration internally and externally

Safety

Our client can take more time for team building or employee development

Fun working together

Fig. 8.35  Benefit arguments for the green customer

The most important argument for both green and blue customers is safety (cf. Fig. 8.35). For the green customer, the human aspect is more important. It is important that things work and that the overall structure of the company is not endangered. As already mentioned in Chap. 4, the motto always applies in a sales talk: “The worm must taste good to the fish and not to the fisherman.” You can read about the drastic experience that led to the optimisation of the methodology in Chap. 9.

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Benefit Argumentation Forms the Basis The benefit argumentation is the basis for any communication with the customer across all areas. This is not only true for sales and marketing, but also for the PR department and even the HR department should be practiced in benefit argumentation. Being able to connect the benefit argument with the motivation typology is – as already mentioned – the supreme discipline in sales. If the customer realizes for himself “This is just made for me!”, this is the best way to success. cc

Thinking with the customer in mind and benefiting the customer.

To do this, you need to be able to tell your customer’s story, not your own. This way you will tailor the value proposition to each individual customer and have a much more personal and successful communication with them. If you are a guarantee of success for your customer, you will build a long-term and strong business relationship with them. You will also significantly increase your success rates when acquiring new customers if you can quickly find out your customer’s motivational situation and gear your entire argumentation to it. cc

Knowing is not knowing and knowing is not applying.

At this point, it should be politely noted that we’ve had hundreds of sales people in our seminars, more than a few of whom said, “I’ve heard it all before somewhere similar.” No one could apply it. Unfortunately, it is necessary to train this system again and again and to work on oneself. Because here we are talking about changing the language, and that cannot be changed by hearing it once. Short & Compact

1. A suitable benefit argumentation is the basis for any sales communication. Ideally, it is developed by the company and implemented by the salesperson. 2. It is important for a company to actually provide the decisive difference in performance and to enable the employees in customer contact to present this difference to the customer in such a way that it can be experienced by him. 3. Through benefit argumentation, the salesperson justifies the sales price in a comprehensible way and ultimately makes himself and the customer the winner. 4. You have learned a method for developing benefit arguments for your company, your products and services.

Reference

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5. You have become acquainted with a method of dealing with objections using a combination of the mirror technique and benefit argumentation. 6. Furthermore, you can now combine benefit argumentation and motivational typology in such a way that you are able to tell your customer’s story rather than your own.

Reference Homburg C, Schäfer H, Schneider J (2006) Sales excellence: vertriebsmanagement mit system. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden

9

Step 7: Reward Each Other: and Let Customers Buy Easily

Abstract

In this chapter, we finally get to the topic of rewards – if the sales conversation has been successful up to this point. It will become clear that rewarding is not one-sided, but bilateral – equally valid for the salesperson and the customer. The responsible part of the emotional network in the brain, the reward system, as well as its functioning  – always with a view to sales success – will be explained in detail and made available in a targeted manner. The special role played in particular by the anticipation of the expected reward of the work is also a topic. The goal is to confirm and secure the deal. We will focus all previous measures and strategies on this one moment. At this point, at the latest, you will realize how important it is to treat the customer with respect and appreciation. With the right preparation for the conversation, you will be able to make the customer even more successful in order to gain his actual agreement. You will see that this is not a separate closing technique as usual, but that the overall process outlined so far enables you to “just let the customer buy”. The first impression counts

Assess customers

Synchronize and connect

Gain trust

Create solutions

Argue appropriately

Reward each other

Just let customers buy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

It’s all about the customer’s future! You remember the sales philosophy: “Lead the customer to his more attractive and successful future.” In this chapter you will now learn what this applied philosophy does to the customer. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4_9

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9.1 Is It Worth It? There is an old sales adage that says: It is no problem to sell something to a customer once, but it is an art to build a mutually successful long-term partnership. The key here is to tailor benefit arguments for each individual customer. From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

I personally became aware of this in the early 1990s in the following situation: We had set up the first German sales agency and our biggest customer was a well-known German car manufacturer with whom we had done good business for years. I received a call from the Hamburg sales office asking if we would be able to set up an outbound call center to acquire new customers at the branch. Of course, this was a great request, which also fitted in perfectly with our service portfolio. I flew to Hamburg to meet with the sales manager at the time – let’s just call him Mr Held (nomen est omen). Mr. Held was a red tie wearer, as was I, which also reflected his motivational type quite well. I was, however, only because I knew that sales managers at our client were most likely to be reds and thought to myself, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Within no time at all, we had been talking ourselves drunk about how great it was all going to be and how we “heroes” were going to conquer the Hamburg market together, since we were both consummate  – cocky  – professionals in our field. Euphoric as I was, of course, I wanted to take the job right away, but Mr. Held told me that he could not make this decision alone. I would still have to talk to the commercial manager, Mr. – let’s say – Blau, but he was not in the house that day. So two weeks later I flew back to Hamburg. I was already greeted by Mr Blau’s secretary with the words: “You must be Mr Weber, I’ll let Mr Blau know immediately.” The secretary opened the door and there he sat: brown suit, yellowish shirt, green tie – rubber tree! On Mr. Blau’s desk was a resubmission folder with not a shred of paper peeking out of it, and three pens lying on the table as if “sorted”. Since I had been studying motivational typology for some time by this time, I thought to myself, “If you don’t try it today, you’ll never try it.” Mr. Blau – indeed a representative of the blue type par excellence – approached me and asked, “Tell me, Mr. Weber, how long will our appointment last?” To which I replied, “Mr. Blue, how much time have you allotted?” He was not a little surprised to be asked this question by a red tie. He: “One hour.” Me: “Then the appointment will last exactly one hour.” In this hour, I told Mr. Blau how we are designing the call center, how the processes will run, how we recruit employees, what influence the branch office has on recruiting, how we report to him so that he can control all essential data at any time. After 55 min I said goodbye to Mr. Blau and started my flight home to Nuremberg. I had not yet landed in Nuremberg when we already had the signed order at the company. If I had told Mr. Held Mr. Blau’s story, he probably would have hit his forehead on the tabletop from boredom and fatigue. If I had told Mr. Blau Mr. Held’s story, he would have thought to himself, “And you flitzpiepe want to organize all this? No way!” I had told the story twice: in the blue version and in the red version.

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Fig. 9.1  Is it worth it?. (Source: Africa Studio/shutterstock 549449080)

If we succeed in showing customers their benefits and pointing the way to their better successful future, then this is the basis for a mutually long-term future that brings success. In this way, both sides will reward each other. The red guy wanted a partner who shared with him the goal of conquering the market and securing his image gain in the company, and the blue guy wanted the security of having a partner with whom nothing would go wrong and on whom he could rely. At this point it should be noted that the reds always want to make a good impression – the blues not a bad one. It is now well established that the mere prospect of a positive experience, such as winning money, leads to the release of dopamine and thus activates the human reward system (see Fig. 9.1). You can read more about this in Sect. 9.2. Perhaps it is time at this point that I (Paul Weber) outed myself as an extreme yellow with a large red component. The yellow one wants – as described in Chap. 4 – that the hearts fly to him. Therefore, I am really serious about the success of the customer. cc

No matter what your motive is for offering your client the prospect, they will most likely reward you with an order.

9.2 The Reward System When faced with the choice between an immediate feeling of well-being (= “like”, having a desire for something) or a delayed feeling of well-being (= “want”, the anticipated desire for something in the future), people often opt for the first alternative. Why? Emotions are hardly controllable. Their “seat” is deep in the brain, primarily in the limbic system (Sect.

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3.2.1), which acts largely unconsciously. Rewards are closely linked to emotions, so there are mostly unconscious reward processes going on in every person’s brain. If you want to know exactly, here is some additional knowledge. The nucleus accumbens in the mesolimbic system is the exact seat of the human reward system. The reward system is therefore also called the “mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic reward system”. Dopamine acts logically:

From Brain Research

The widely ramified reward centre in the brain is complicated and no less simplified than can be illustrated below. Take a look and try to understand that rewarding works like an electrical circuit (Nolen-Hoeksema et al. 2015) (cf. Fig. 9.2): • An external trigger (a sight, a scent, or even a serious promise in a sales pitch) causes the limbic system to react. It generates an urge, which the frontal brain registers as a conscious desire. The frontal brain then automatically instructs the body to satisfy this desire somehow, to take possession of the object of desire, so to speak. • Regardless of whether the reward is immediate or there is a prospect of reward, special brain cells (= dopamine neurons) trigger the release of the so-called “happiness hormone” and neurotransmitter dopamine. This in turn creates a feeling of well-being. • The brain therefore rewards itself when it is successful and thus creates the prerequisite for further learning successes. Therefore: Nothing motivates more than success itself. Limbic system Connecon to the frontal brain

Olfactory bulb

Mesolimbic system Black substance

Fig. 9.2  The reward system

Dopamine neurons

9.3 Using Anticipation in a Targeted Way

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• A learning success, e.g. joy about linking old knowledge and new insights, leads to further learning reinforcement and more success – in this case the brain rewards itself by releasing so-called messenger substances, especially tiny amounts of dopamine molecules. • If this process does not work, there are consequences: With negative feelings not only children learn worse, but also adults. • However, as described, dopamine neurons also react in a predictive, i.e. anticipatory, manner: stimuli that promise possible or actual rewards activate them. This activation is necessary because the reward system does not kick in automatically. Consider for a moment the consequences for the sales conversation: Negative facts, talking points, or statements cause the reward system not to kick in. Far too often, this effect is not taken into account. Therefore, reflect consciously: When were you last rewarded? How do you reward yourself and others, e.g. your customers? When did you last reward others and yourself? What is your purpose in doing so? When have you recently looked forward to a reward in advance?

9.3 Using Anticipation in a Targeted Way The brain’s reward system is stimulated by experiences with feelings of success and happiness as well as by positive expectations. Even the mere expectation of a positive effect of medication contributes significantly to its effect. This explains the so-called placebo effect. In Parkinson’s patients, for example, placebo tablets have a symptom-reducing effect, and their intake is associated with a powerful increase in dopamine – in the striatum in the basal ganglia in the cerebrum, should you want to know exactly. Have Good News Ready! Good news in a sales conversation can trigger euphoria and happiness in the counterpart. Good news is therefore extremely beneficial for the mood during the conversation. Even the prospect of a reward triggers positive feelings in both conversation partners. As a result, both salesperson and customer are much more motivated during a conversation and the charisma has a more positive effect on the other. cc

You can achieve such a charisma by visualizing positive things in preparation for the conversation, so that you can make them clear when the time comes.

However, doing something too often is counterproductive. This also applies to rewards. The positive effect is perceived as less. The body gets used to the dopamine release, which is why it craves more and more over time. Above all, positive surprises and new good news are therefore particularly beneficial for the effect of dopamine.

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Reward selectively, but not excessively.

Good news and positive information must also be heard. Therefore, it is advisable to follow this agenda: 1 . Positive things must also be clearly named as good and desirable. 2. Often the positive statement is unnecessarily relativized by small restrictions – “a little”, “something”, “a little”, “quite well”. Conjunctives also have a similar effect: “would have”, “would be”, “would have to”, “should”. 3. Between one’s own clear statements, listening is required, not passively, but actively following. 4. Feedback shows active listening: It is best to always clearly state what was liked and what was successful. This reduces any unwanted scope for interpretation on the part of the interlocutor. Because we all know: Everyone always hears what they want to hear. 5. Verbalizing what positive effects an action or step might have clarifies and reinforces the prospect of reward. 6. If the reward is surprising, it has an even more positive effect. 7. Don’t give anything away  – don’t inform people briefly about the positive news “between door and door” before the actual conversation, but rather consciously take the time to convey it. 8. Again, consider the habituation effect. If promises of rewards have already frequently not been kept, then certainly no dopamine release will occur. cc

Only promise what you can deliver.

You should therefore really – in the truest sense of the word – only promise what you can deliver. With good products or services, this is certainly no problem.

9.4 Watching the Pupils How far the negotiation or the sales talk has progressed can usually also be clearly seen in a visible part of the brain, the eye. As a “window to the soul”, the pupil offers revealing information (Wegner 2002). This is known, for example, to poker players who want to avoid exactly this and wear dark sunglasses. Otherwise the dilated pupils in the anticipation of victory might give away the hand in advance. Pupils provide information about the extent to which the mental energy of a conversation partner has already been used up. The customer’s task in a sales or distribution conversation is to follow all details attentively and with concentration, for example, in order not to be taken advantage of or to miss information. This means a considerable cognitive effort, which is represented or reflected by narrower pupil widths. Thus, when this effort subsides, an important part of the decision has already been made. The pupils dilate because brain activity measurably decreases or fewer brain regions are involved (Smith et al. 1999, p. 389ff.) Interestingly, this also applies to highly intelligent people who can solve mental tasks more easily and with greater perseverance.

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The decrease in cognitive tension is due to the so-called “law of least effort”, which the brain follows for reasons of organization and efficiency. A customer who has already made a decision and is looking forward to the conclusion reveals this by relaxing, which is visible through the dilatation of the pupils (cf. Kool et al. 2010, p. 665ff.). For this reason, it is also advisable to maintain eye contact.

9.5 And Just Let them Buy Easily Customers do not necessarily want to be sold something, especially not in Germany, where selling is not always seen as something positive. Since many salespeople just do not use the conversation strategies described above and do not have the goal of leading the customer into his more attractive and successful future, many customers prevent the sale from being closed. True to the Franconian motto: “You’re right and I’m quiet!” you agree with

From the Sales Practice: The Sales Professional Tells

Through an agency, I once received an inquiry about sales training for a company that modernizes steel mills. I could already tell from the enquiry that this would be a dream client. Highly intelligent and technically highly trained engineers who, because they know that selling is not their profession, also have the humility to want to learn something. The issue was that this company had obviously sent out their request to five vendors and initially only wanted to evaluate written proposals. The difficulty I saw in this was that all training institutes always use the same or similar buzzwords. How would the client know who would offer them the most value? So I more or less “coerced” my agency to set up a face-to-face appointment on site, which was successful due to good personal contacts. And so I sat across from two bosses and a lady from HR. There was immediate sympathy on both sides and we worked quite quickly to find good solutions. My suggestion was that the company should first book only one seminar with me. One of the two bosses told me that all the providers had submitted a well-structured concept and that they did not want to book just one seminar. I answered him that he could still buy quite a lot from me, but that initially a seminar would have several positive effects for both sides. For it would give the client company the opportunity to see whether I was the right trainer for the company, who would fit in with the people and use methods that would be understood by the participants. This approach would offer the greatest possible security that the seminar would be a success. And of course it would also be important for me so that I could see how I would have to tailor my program so that it would fit the needs of the seminar participants in the best possible way and so that the company would not make any bad investments. One of the two bosses thought for a moment, looked at me with a smirk, and said, “That’s right!” It was clear to me at that moment that this company was going to be a repeat customer of mine. And so it came to be.

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the salesperson. In fact, the customer often says: “You are right, but …”. This means nothing other than: “Let’s end the conversation now, please” (cf. Voss and Raz 2017, p. 130ff.). This also works in the private environment: Another experience was our son Tom. While our older son Ben had decided at some point that it made sense to study for school, the younger of the two was a bit more resistant. Whenever my wife and I tried to persuade him that it was important for him to study, we always got a “You’re right”. At one point he told me that he wanted to have his own business when he grew up, just like his parents. When A-levels were coming up, I said to him, “If you don’t get your A-levels on the first pass, you’re going to be sitting here studying for them again next year”. “But if you pass your A-levels this year, you can do exactly what you want to do next.” After a moment’s thought, he said, “That’s right!” And oh wonder – he began to study really seriously and was probably amazed at himself that he had mastered everything so well. So if you can show your counterpart his benefit figuratively, the answer will be “That’s right”. cc

The magic formula to get from the customer is a convinced, “That’s right!” Then you have actually managed to get the customer to follow your arguments.

What Happens After the “that’s Right”? Now it is crucial to make a contract out of the consent in the interest by both parties. Because even if the customer has given his consent, he has not yet signed. After the approval, act as if you had already received the order. Everything you discuss with the customer from that point on, phrase it as if the contract were already in the bag. Subjunctives have no place in your language now, nor does “the little word if”, a conjunction. Questions you ask the client now are as follows: “With whom do I plan the next steps?” Or, “Do you train your colleagues yourself or should we do it?” Now start by encouraging the customer to sell themselves on the solution. For example, ask: “Where do you yourself see the greatest benefit for your company?” If the customer gets on board with this, it’s one last small step to get their signature. And there’s another benefit: If your contact is not the ultimate decision maker – and that’s not always to be expected – then your contact still has to sell the concept to the decision maker. On the following day, customers have already forgotten more than 50% of all arguments that a salesperson has presented (Scherer 2014). The more involved you are in something, the better it sticks in your brain. So if the customer needs to resell your offer, they will be more involved per se. If you are then clever enough to develop the arguments together with the customer, you increase your chances of success enormously (Pflug 2020). For this reason, I can only strongly recommend that you send the customers who have immediately signed with you another order confirmation in the follow-up, in which the

References

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benefit arguments that result for him and his company are summarized once again. It is true that many salespeople are afraid to show the customer again and again how they can contribute to his success. But the motto here is, “Performance becomes value when it’s sold.” And every once in a while, you have to sell yourself and your performance. Short & Compact

1. The prospect of a reward causes people to release dopamine, the so-­called “happiness hormone”. 2. If you succeed, quasi as a reward for the customer, in leading him into his more attractive and successful future by means of motivation typology and benefit argumentation, you activate this reward system. 3. The more surprising and compelling your message is to the customer, the more likely you are to activate their reward system. 4. Sometimes being affected can actually be helpful in sales. 5. The customer’s actual agreement is his verbalized “That’s right.” 6. After this agreement, you assume that the order has been placed and concretise it, e.g. by signing and/or confirming the order with the most important arguments.

References Kool W, McGuire JT, Rosen ZB, Botvinick MM (2010) Decision making and the avoidance of cognitive demand. J Exp Psychol Gen 139(4):665–682 Nolen-Hoeksema S et  al (2015) Atkinson and Hilgards’s introduction to psychology. Cengage Learn, Andover Pflug K (2020) Praxishandbuch vertrieb business to business. BoD, Norderstedt Scherer H (2014) Jenseits vom Mittelmaß: Unternehmenserfolg im Verdrängungswettbewerb. GABAL, Offenbach Smith ME, McEvoy LK, Gevins A (1999) Neurophysiological indices of strategy development and skill acquisition. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 7:389–404 Voss C, Raz T (2017) Kompromisslos verhandeln: Die Strategien und Methoden des Verhandlungsführers des FBI. Redline, München Wegner DM (2002) The illusion of conscious will. MIT Press, Boston

Appendix A: Afterword

Having read through this book, you have learned a lot of new things and repeated familiar ones (repetition is learning, too!). You now know what you can do to steer sales conversations through appropriate behavior so that they take the best possible course. What’s more, you now also knowthe reasons and what is the neurophysiological background. Now we have two final requests: • Firstly, practice the procedures and strategies presented, ideally in role plays with colleagues, until they have become second nature to you. Please do not be discouraged if, despite your best efforts, a conversation does not go well. Routine helps you to be or become really convincing. • Secondly: Should you wish to further train the procedures and strategies you have learned with professional support and in greater depth, please feel free to contact: SalesPerformance GmbH, [email protected] Now, in conclusion, all that remains for us is to wish you MUCH success and all the best!

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023 P. Weber, H. Böttger, Sales Meets Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38324-4

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