What is phase 2 of brain-friendly selling? – Maximising your customer’s comfort

Grant Leboff: In the book you talk about the second phase of Brain Friendly Selling and you talk about maximising comfort, which I think some sales people wouldn't have heard of before. What do I mean by that?

Simon Hazeldine: What I mean by that is that is uncomfortable brains don't buy. Sales people know this instinctively, which is why sales people of old, will do some sort of 'rapport building conversation' maybe look for something in the customer's office like a golf trophy and ask a question, which is really embarrassing if the customer is in someone else's office so I wouldn't do any of that!

We're going to make them comfortable because when the brain inside the customer's head meets a new salesperson or a stranger for the first time, the more primitive region in the brain is in a minor form of threat response. It's that uncomfortable feeling before you get to know somebody and it's that primitive part of the brain. So we're going to get that bit of the brain to feel comfortable and to calm down, which makes the rest of the brain receptive to our sales process and methodology. And so the first thing is this kind of connects thing, so it's meeting them, and this is just good old fashioned, first impression management. How you look, a firm handshake - not too much pressure. Open body language, so you're appearing non-threatening. Torso smiling - it's like incredibly simple, but amazing sometimes when I'm out with sales people, they look like they're incredibly miserable. Smiling makes you look non-threatening to the customer's brain. And then also don't burst that bubble - proxemics; don't get too up close with them. Be respectful of that kind of distance.

So the old adage; you never get a second chance to make a first impression - so make that impression. Then do the reading of the person and looking at their personality style, as we discussed in another video. So you then 'chameleon' you start to adopt towards what you're seeing. So you observe them, you identify, then you start to adapt and then that's usually starting the meeting off very good. And then the third part is about giving the customer's brain a strong sense of control. So sometimes people have salespeople coming to see them they'll feel a bit negative, they don't want to be pitched at. They don't want to be sold at. So I would usually say something like, Mr. or Mrs. customer, this is the first time we've met, so the process Ideally, I'd like to follow, if it's OK with you. So I'd really like to understand a bit more about your business or your organization and understand, and have a look at that. Maybe some of the challenges you're facing that we spoke about on email. And then if, a little later on, if I think we can help what I'd like to do is maybe have a conversation about, perhaps, how we might be able to work together... or not.

And I sometimes use the 'or not' phrase because that takes all the pressure away from the customer and they know they're in control of the meeting, and because they have control, they feel they have a sense of control. In fact the salesperson is often guiding the meeting, but the customer feels comfortable. The brain relaxes, the brain is, therefore, far more receptive and you can ask, for example, more probing questions of someone if they're feeling more comfortable with you.

Grant Leboff: Yeah, I think that's something a lot of sales people miss. And it's something I've always spoken about, and what was interesting in the book, is this idea of control and making sure the customer feels in control, because you're not going to get very open responses, are you, to questions if they don't feel in control of the situation.

Simon Hazeldine: They are in control of the end of the day because they're going to make the decision to buy or not, and sometimes salespeople are quite shocked when I suggest they say; 'my understanding of the purpose of today is for you to decide if you want to carry on talking to us or not' and when you say that to a customer, you'll often see the customer sit up and they'll go 'now that's unusual' because although that is what is going to happen, normally a salesperson doesn't verbalise that fact. When you do and you say, you're going to have the choice, the customer will then relax. You are only saying what's reality anyway.

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