The 5 Paths to Persuasion

The Art of Selling Your Message
by Robert Miller and Gary Williams (09000)

A two-year study of 1,700 executives found that there are actually only five general types of decision making styles in use:

1. Followers (36%)
–who make decisions based on how other highly successful people have made decisions in the past.

2. Charismatics (25%)
–who get enthusiastic about new ideas but rely on others to think through all the details.

3. Skeptics (19%)
–who automatically distrust anything they hear, especially if it conflicts with their view of the world.

4. Thinkers (11%)
–who need to methodically work through all the advantages and disadvantages before making a decision.

5. Controllers (9%)
–who have to be hands-on and involved in every aspect of the decision-making process.

If you accurately identify the preferred decision-making style of the person you’re selling to, you can then tailor your sales processto provide them with more of what they need and less of what won’t influence them to act. This will ensure your message gets its best possible reception which, in turn, will lead to your being more persuasive and getting more business done.

The 5 Paths to Persuasion

Creating Win-Win Situations through Selling

(16422) Dave Lakhani says:

To be persuasive when selling, don’t just give a dry and lifeless recitation of features and benfits in the hope that someone will accept your ideas and agree to buy. Instead, use the ISELL persuasive selling process in this way:

I Identify qualified prospects Spend your time working with those who need your product and are a good fit. Don’t waste your time with just anyone who will talk to you, but have some simple screening questions to ask that will show you who’s able to buy and who is not.

S Start your story Make sure people are ready to listen and that it’s a good time for them before you launch into your attempt to persuade. Link what you’re going to tell them with the important issues they have already mentioned. Get things off to a good start.

E Educate, answer and encourage Build curiosity by asking good questions and then educate them as you answer those questions. Encourage them to ask more probing and specific questions as you go along to increase their interest. Provide high quality information.

L Lead them to their best decision Break the big decision down into manageable chunks and have them agree to these minor points throughout the discussion. Clear the stage so they can make the major decision, specify what the next logical step is and then ask them to move forward decisively.

L Let them buy Don’t keep talking when the person is ready to buy. That’s a recipe for disaster, as you can talk them out of buying. Whenever the person has convinced themselves this is the right thing to do, stop talking immediately and get the order signed, take their money start drawing up the contract. You might take the opportunity to up-sell by offering them add-on products and services. Keep in mind your goal is never to complete a one-off sale but to move the other person into a cycle that will generate multiple opportunities for them to buy additional products from you in the future. Therefore, when the other party agrees to buy, give some though to what you can do to lay a good foundation here for the future.