Let us have a deeper look to empathy. When I ask this question “What does empathy mean for you?” to salespeople they respond “Being in the shoes of your customers” or “See the world, the situation through his lens.” It sounds simple to do, but in real life it is so hard to do. Why? Because we need to shift our way of thinking from “I” to “You.”

Salespeople are very enthusiastic to convince the customer of their great products and services. When they do this, they are talking quite a lot and this with high energy, meaning that the customer has no space to deliver his thoughts, feelings about the situation.

Customers will back off and close their brain by simply switching it off. Once that happened your customer is leaving the space where you are in. He/she starts wandering what to do when that salesperson is out. The call will have no outcome, no result and that is a pity for you as a sales.

There are two types of empathy certainly frequent in sales calls namely: cognitive and emotional empathy.

Cognitive empathy

You try to understand the reasoning of your customer, his logic. During cognitive empathy conversation you will say pe “I fully understand your reasoning which is based upon fact1, fact 2 and fact 3”. Your customer will like it. You will gain more trust.

Emotional empathy

You try to grasp the feelings of your customer, his emotional state.During emotional empathy conversations you will say pe “I can feel that this situation is not the way you want to go” or “You are not very happy with the previous solutions from what I hear right now.” Doing this you will build a stronger connection with your customer and off course it will also impact the trust level.        

A question that passed your mind is “What can I do to increase my empathetic skills.

Here are some suggestions:

·       Start observing more: see more, hear more, listen more, feel more.

·       Use the words of your customer.

·       Listen more deeply to what is said and how it is said.

·       Paraphrase regularly.

·       Copy verbal and non-verbal behaviour.

·       Demonstrate sincere interest.

·       Use the name of your customer.

·       Adapt yourself to his/her behaviour style. (Extended DISC profile).

·       State your intentions from the start.

·       Explain more when you ask a question. Tell him/her why you ask it.

·       Summarize at the end of the meeting.

 I hope these tips can help you further to increase your Sales Success.