We can all learn a lot about communications during the current Covid/Economy/Civil unrest situations. Emotions are obviously running incredibly high and communication can be shrill, inconsistent and fearful. But of course, that only adds to the stress in a self-fulfilling cycle.
As salespeople, you can also encounter high-stress situations during the sales cycle, often near the closing when emotions may be highest. When emotions are running high, including your own when an important sale is on the line, it is often in your best interest to not take the emotional bait and to actually become the calming voice in the discourse.
Often when prospects are upset, a relatively small problem can be wrapped in a larger sense of classic “buyer’s remorse,” so you have to calm them down, remind them of the good reasons they made the decision to buy in the first place, and then work through the actual issue with soothing confidence.
It is interesting, but research has shown that the simple phrase, “I understand” can often reduce a prospect’s or customer’s emotional pitch by 50%. That’s why customer service agents are taught to use that phrase after hearing a complaint but before engaging in more discussion and, hopefully, problem solving.
I am certainly not trying to diminish the present, unprecedented global issues we are all working through. It is simply that we can learn from everything.
And of course, no matter what happens, salespeople have to keep selling through thick and thin.
