One Weird Sales Booster

Selling is based on emotion. People buy based on emotion and they back up the purchase with logic; therefore, you must sell to them emotionally.

There was a famous acting teacher by the name of Stanislavski who taught something called “the method.” A method actor recalls feelings from his personal experience so he is actually feeling what his character is supposed to be feeling. He isn’t acting as if he feels a certain way, he is actually feeling that way based on a recalled memory.

You can use the premise of method-acting to “become” your prospect. By feeling what they feel, thinking what they think, talking the way they talk, and by really getting to know them and feel them, you will AUTOMATICALLY sell more.

So how do you do this?

In order to really feel and understand on a deep level what your most perfect person wants and needs, you have to really experience what they’re feeling.

You have an advantage if, at one time, you were just like your prospect. For example, this was a simple exercise for me when I was selling to magicians because I was a struggling magician.

I knew how it felt to have a dream but not to know how to book enough shows to make that dream come true. I knew how it felt to be working at a lousy job instead of performing. I knew how it felt to be jealous of other magicians who were making a full-time living performing. I knew how it felt to lie awake at night, staring at the ceiling in fear because I didn’t have enough shows booked to pay the bills.

Because I experienced all these feelings, when I wrote sales copy, or recorded audio or video, or spoke to other magicians on stage or over the phone, they knew I understood them. They could feel it. Many commented that it was like I was under their kitchen table, listening to them talk to their spouses.

Think about how powerful that is!

Your marketing, selling, and communication take on a whole new level of depth, power, and persuasion.

The need for “slick” closing techniques fades away because your prospect trusts you to help them solve their problems or get the results they desire.

Additionally, if you know what your prospect is feeling and what they want, you can put together an offer that is virtually irresistible. Most people do just the opposite. They create a product or service and hope it resonates with their prospects.

On the other hand, if you were never actually in your prospect’s shoes, if you weren’t one of them, then you need to use The Method to feel the real emotions your prospects are feeling.

If you are thinking, “But I don’t know what my prospects are feeling,” you MUST find out. Knowing your prospect is the foundation of successful selling.

Let’s do an exercise that, quite frankly, isn’t a whole lot of fun BUT one that will give you a visceral understanding of what I’m telling you.

Shut your eyes and go back in time to a place where you felt pain, frustration, anger or sadness, so much so that you would have paid almost any amount to get rid of the pain or frustration, to solve the problem.

See yourself at that time. If you’re not good at visualizing that’s fine, just feel like you’re going back in time.

What are the thoughts running through your mind? What are you saying to yourself? What pictures are you making inside your head? Take time to really FEEL the emotions.

Next, open your eyes but maintain the emotions you’re experiencing, become your prospect and finish this sentence:

“If I could just ___________.”

How you finish that sentence, in the emotional state you’re experiencing as your prospect, is the solution that they really want and desire. And that is precisely what you want to sell them.

Going back to my magician example, my prospect would have finished that sentence by saying, “If I could just make enough money from booking shows so I could quit my lousy job and perform full-time, I would be happy.”

What is your prospect feeling? How do they finish that sentence?

You might be thinking this is an esoteric exercise. While it’s true that you won’t find it any “101” books on selling, it will make a huge difference in how you relate to your customers, clients or patients.

Do this exercise. How you relate to your prospects after doing this will astound you.

You will have empathy your prospect can actually feel. Your prospects will know that you truly understand them on the deepest level. With that understanding comes trust — and with trust comes a boost in sales.