Any successful business would tell you that at the heart of all their efforts, client relations is one of the biggest factors in their success. And why wouldn't it be? Our relationships determine how business grows and how successful it would be. But this is not an easy thing to crack. Good thing there is NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), to provide us with some tips on how we can improve this pivotal part of a business. As much as a lot of what we do involve science, it only follows that there is a scientific way of approaching this goal. And more interestingly, it is an approach that dares to touch the subconscious of the mind.
What is NLP?
Neuro-linguistic programming sounds so complicated to pronounce which probably explains the wider use of its acronym — NLP. But it is really simple to understand it. Think of it as your personal manual that shows you how to successfully use your mind to achieve the best of everything that you do.
Most of us were taught the information we need to succeed in our chosen careers but were never taught the other important things like how to feel good, change our moods easily, or how to communicate with great impact and create strong relationships that would solidify our success in life. This is where NLP proves to be essential.
The Conscious and Subconscious
With NLP, you would have the capability to use your conscious mind to expand your cognitive capacity and your less often tapped subconscious mind. Though these are two completely different worlds, their combined strengths would allow your brain to use up to 90% of its capacity. This increases the power of your mind nine-fold and will allow you to conquer your career goals with confidence.
The NLP Elements that Make for Successful Persuasion
Let us dissect the things that NLP will help you develop and correctly use for your day-to-day interaction with your customers.
Strong Rapport
A solid rapport is one thing that makes a lot of business transactions a lot smoother with less stress and pressure that usually drives both parties a little crazier than expected. On top of this, the element of mistrust is eliminated and nobody feels that they are ignored.
NLP aims to teach you how to quickly and effectively build the much-needed rapport with your customers to develop the kind of positive business relationship that you would like to instill in your prospective clients.
Simply put, you just need to match the speed and tone of your voice, body language and language structure of your client to make him feel that you are the kind of person he would like to work with. As the relationship develops, the other important aspects of relationships improve as well like trust, which is an element that is essential in creating the win-win deals that you need.
Representational Systems
The three major communication styles are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. And even if this is the case, people tend to use one style more than the others. This represents only a third of what you could actually do. However, with NLP you would be able to confidently assess the style that matches your client's and adjust accordingly and quite easily. Such a skill will definitely improve the effectiveness of your communication with your client and therefore greatly improving your rapport with them.
Meta-Programs and Strategies You Have to Catch
People can hear everything but they listen to specific things that they truly want to. Everyone has this capability and with NLP you would be able to focus on what people are saying and hear what they really want to tell us. Such a skill would enable us to identify a client’s strategies, which would allow us to know the right way of structuring a business transaction that would ultimately make them feel very comfortable about the whole situation. To further illustrate, by knowing their buying strategy, decision-making strategy, and convincer strategy you’ll find out if you are faced with an impulsive buyer or someone who needs a certain amount of conversation before they loosen up and buy from you.
Those without the proper NLP training would use what their instincts tell them and this might not work all the time or for everyone they encounter. Every client has his own buying strategy and the more you zero in on it, the bigger the chances of getting that sale. By detecting your client’s meta-programs, you can configure the sale information that you have to the best approach for them.
Like there are people who are very visual and appreciate seeing things more than reading them and such clients would need compelling visuals to stimulate the thought process you desire for them.
Another benefit of having this skill is the ability to find out the client’s frames of reference that give you a better understanding of their decision-making process. There are some clients who find word of mouth as a reliable source of information before considering a potential sale. On the other hand, there are people who have an internal frame of reference which takes out a third party in the decision-making process.
VOM (Values/Outcomes/Motivation)
By using valuable
NLP techniques, you can actually elicit the values of your clients in terms of knowing what is important for them and link them to what you are selling. Such leverage is the one thing that would make a person agree with you or buy your products.
Motivation is a relative thing. But, there are two ways people are motivated. First is towards a goal that is being desired and the second would something that is away from a situation that we do not want to be in. NLP empowers you to keep your motivations in balance, leading to a consistent performance and positive sales results. This is done by giving you the skills that would allow you to assess and adjust your motivations to produce the desired sales results.
Check out these insights on Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, and his clever approach which could also holds true in NLP.
To learn more how NLP can impact your business by harnessing client relations, join us in one of Jacky Lim’s Sharing Session. This two-hour intimate session will provide you with a glimpse of the many NLP techniques that you can use to unleash breakthroughs for you and your sales team.
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