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persuasion

A Simple Persuasion Strategy to Increase Sales

SalesLegacy

Wouldn’t you like to know if there was a simple way to greatly improve your sales results? There is. This simple persuasion strategy will boost your sales.

Tap into commitment and consistency.

A financial planner recently spoke to the engineering group that I lead. He uses dinner meetings to conduct seminars and meet prospects as many financial planners do. We were talking about his work before the meeting started, and I was curious about the participation rate for his seminars since I’m the volunteer that makes dinner meeting reservations for my group.

I was shocked when he told me his participation rate. He told me that 30 percent of the people who sign up for his dinner programs actually show up for the meeting. That means he is paying for 70 percent of the dinners that he guarantees and no one eats them. What a waste of money. Over time he has learned to cut back the number of reservations he makes.

There’s a better way for him to save money.

What is commitment and consistency?

I suggested he use a simple persuasion strategy to increase attendance--it’s called commitment and consistency. What this means is that if people commit, either orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment. This is because we want what we say to be congruent with our self-image.

I told him to ask people a simple question when they sign up for his programs. Instead of saying, “We’re looking forward to seeing you at the dinner meeting," he should ask, “Would you call us to let us know if your plans change and you’re unable to attend the dinner?” When a person answers, “Sure I will,” commitment and consistency begin working.

What happens is the person unconsciously makes a commitment to the financial planner by announcing out loud that he will call if his plans changed. Unconsciously, he will feel badly if he decides not to attend without giving a cancellation notice.

Don’t take my word for it. This strategy has been used to decrease no-shows at restaurants that take reservations. One restaurant decreased its no-show rate from 30 percent to 10 percent by simply changing the way it talked to its customers. Instead of saying, “Please call if you have to cancel,” they now ask, “Will you please call if you need to cancel?”

Will you incorporate commitment and consistency into your selling? I hope you answered yes.

Profile: Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and sales consulting company. She works with business and sales professionals to increase sales and earn larger profits. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips. Maura focuses on sales strategies and tactics that lead to better sales results. Maura is a sales expert for WomenSalesPros. She is part of their group of top sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams.She speaks internationally on influence, selling skills, and strategic selling at trade association and sales meetings, demonstrating how her principles can be applied to get results. She successfully worked for over 20 years in the male-dominated oil industry with two major corporations, beginning at Mobil Oil and ending at Chevron Corp. She was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. and was one of Chevron’s top five salespeople in the U.S. having sold over $9 million annually. Maura writes several columns to share her sales philosophies. She's been quoted in the New York Times, Selling Power, and Entrepreneur.