How to increase your sales through connection and influence

The secret to securing a new client is to connect with them before you try to sell to them. If they don’t feel you understand their specific situation and their problems they will never work with you. This is true even when you know their situations are similar to ones you have seen before. This is about them knowing that you understand them - not them understanding your solution.

Connecting with clients is about letting them feel that they have been heard. Selling to them is about showing them you understand their situation and offering a solution. Below are three ways to make connecting and selling easier.

1: Make it about them.

The start of any sales conversation needs to focus on your potential client. It’s a conversation about their problems - not your services.

Find out about the problems that are affecting them. What are the main issues they face? Are they trying to deal with a poor credit history, suspicious of banks from the Royal Commission or simply concerned about what having a mortgage means? While it may seem simple to you, if they have low financial literacy, taking out a mortgage will keep them awake at night - this is a major problem for them.

When you focus on your potential client they feel they have been heard and that you understand them. This creates the connection you want.

Treat this conversation the same as a doctor would. Before a doctor gives you their diagnosis they ask you a series of questions to find out what is going on. Without the questions the doctor won’t know how to treat you, and you won’t follow their advice.

Resist the temptation to tell them how good you are. If in the first 15 minutes you find yourself talking about what you do, how good your company is or any other benefit you offer you are killing the chance to connect. Make the beginning all about them.

2: Solve problems.

The first step in solving a problem is diagnosis.

Let the client know what their circumstances mean to them and to the institutions that loan money. Link each issue they have to what it will mean. Is it that being self-employed means they won’t be able to get the great rate they were expecting?

Or is it that needing to borrow more than 80% of the value of the property is opening to them to lenders mortgage insurance? Do they then understand that the insurance covers the bank and not them?

Set each diagnosis out step by step and be prepared to take your time. While you understand what each problem means and how it impacts the borrowing power, most will not.

When you diagnose thoroughly the client will feel you truly understand their situation. This builds further connection.

Again, treat it like a doctor would. After the doctor has asked all their questions, she then explains what is going on and what needs to be done to fix your ailments. If she was to simply hear your symptoms and write a script without discussing it with you the chances of you taking the pills would be dramatically reduced.

Once you know their problems you can advise of the best solution for them. Adjust your conversation to address the problems they have identified. Once again, this is a focus on them and not you.

While you may think that the deal from a particular bank is a great deal, if it doesn’t address their problems then it’s not going to resonate with them, and they will feel that you have not connected with them. This reduces the trust you want them to have with you.

3: Lead them.

Most people don’t know how to buy your services. After all, how often does the average person take out a mortgage? So, make it easy for them to buy you.

What is the next step? If you’ve had the conversation above on the phone, it is a 30-min interview at their home, over the phone, or at your office? When they come along, what will they need to bring with them?

Step out the timelines that you expect to be able to take them through the application process. This is about managing expectations. They may think that it only takes a few hours for an application to be processed, but yet forget that it takes 4 days for the application to reach the top of the pile! Managing expectations helps keep unnecessary calls and other activities to a minimum.