In our consulting and coaching of sales professionals, we have become keenly aware of what is preventing affluent people from moving forward with a purchase decision.
In my latest book, 100 Proven Ways To Acquire and Keep Clients For Life, I describe in deep detail why the consumer today wants to do business with an individual and company that demonstrates thoughtfulness, kindness, caring, and empathy.
Thoughtfulness, kindness, and caring are familiar to us because we recognize and experience them from time to time in others. But empathy is a completely different behavior.
Empathy is understanding someone’s situation, issue, or feelings—not to be confused with having compassion or sympathy, which are feelings. Empathy requires taking the time to engage, ask, deep probe, and listen with a prospect or client to hear their story and to see things from their perspective.
Unfortunately, the lack of a real understanding of what people want and why they want it is more prevalent than we like to admit. Most sales training suggests you should begin by telling people what you do, what you think are issues, and how you solve them. It is far more effective to find out what the prospect thinks and seek to understand why that is of importance to them.
“I am curious, what are three things you would like to be sure we discuss today?” is arguably the best opening to discover and understand.