14 Customer Persuasion Skills in Business and Over the Phone

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

People still believe that the ability to persuade customers is an innate gift. And that anyone who has this gift will surely succeed in life. It's true that some people are born with this skill — but if you're not one of them, don't be discouraged!

You can absolutely learn how to persuade customers through the many books available today. All you need is knowledge of these techniques, the ability to apply them in practice, and a bit of confidence.

The skills you will learn today can be used not only to persuade customers but also in everyday communication with people. Especially in customer interactions, customer persuasion skills will help your negotiations succeed and come across as more convincing.

Customer Persuasion Skills in Business

In business, selling is critical because it is the work that generates the company's main income. The higher the value of the product, the greater the persuasion skills required. So what are the customer persuasion skills in business? Let's find out!

Agree Before Negotiating

This is a very basic persuasion skill. Before starting the conversation, you should make the customer feel positive through your stories. Then, before the negotiation begins, establish your working agreements. If your agreements land well, everything that follows becomes remarkably simple.

Example:

You want your customer care team to work only during office hours. You could start with: "Mr. ABC, our support team will handle and resolve all of your issues during office hours. So could you please give me your personal information and the type of product you'd like support with?"

Always Look Your Customer in the Eye

This is a very important customer persuasion skill. Never keep secrets when talking with customers; you need to make eye contact with them. However, not everyone realizes that by looking intently into the other person's eyes, you can extract additional information from your customer without having to ask again. You can use this technique whenever you feel their answer was incomplete.

Persuading Customers Through Listening

A capable salesperson is not the one who talks the most, but the one who knows how to listen to the customer. And when necessary, they can guide the customer with open-ended questions. To build a proper open-ended question, start it with one of the interrogative words: what, where, how, which, why, when, and so on.

Examples of open-ended questions:

"What do you think about…?"; "How do you feel about…?"; "Which product feature matters most to you?"

To Persuade Customers, Be Confident by All Means

Surely at some point in sales consulting, you have felt unsure about what you were saying. However, next time, try not to let it show in your tone. Naturally, this isn't easy, but there are ways to fix these problems.

Here is a list of the main things to do to build sales confidence:

Research the Product You Are Selling

It's very hard to play the role of a confident salesperson if your knowledge of the product and the competition is superficial. Unfortunately, many salespeople skip this and end up with weak product knowledge and low confidence when advising customers.

Study Sales Scripts

This lets you know what to say next in a conversation with the customer. Prepare scripts in advance for a variety of situations.

Study Nonverbal Communication

Your facial expressions and gestures say far more about you than your words. Your customers are always observant people, so master the art of nonverbal communication. Speak sparingly and keep a trustworthy expression.

Develop Your Speaking Skills

This is a very broad topic. To start, record your conversations, then listen back to what you said and analyze it. In addition, you can watch talk shows, seminars, and so on to learn communication skills from the hosts. This helps a great deal too.

Use Emotion

Emotion is crucial in sales. Statements that convey your emotion will make customers listen to you and trust you more. In particular, emphasizing key points in your sentences also makes customers focus on you. Use emotion more — it is one of the core persuasion skills of the world's greatest salespeople.

Use Proof — Feedback from Past Customers

During a conversation with a customer, casually mention one of the big clients you are proud of. However, you must not identify this customer explicitly — just bring them up as part of a story. This customer persuasion skill is very important because it acts as a form of validation for your entire service. You can also use it to get closer to your customer. Instead of mentioning your customers, mention yourself (or your colleagues) to share the most authentic impressions.

Example:

"Two of my colleagues went on vacation with this package and they were thrilled. They're meeting up again next year."

This method is often used in advertising — for example, in the slogan "Most dentists recommend XXXX toothpaste."

In real life, even a reference to friends or neighbors plays an important role. This is how Joe Girard, the world's greatest salesman, built his sales through referrals, as he detailed in his book How to Sell Anything to Anybody.

Use Compliments to Persuade Customers

This is one of the persuasion skills that is especially effective with female customers. When using this skill, you need to talk about the benefits of your product. Start with arguments that evoke positive emotions and feelings.

Example:

"I think this bag really suits you. It has plenty of compartments for cards and cash, room for a lipstick or two, and it's compact — it really flatters your figure."

Create a Shared Secret Between You and the Customer

During the sales stage, you should use phrases like "to be honest…" or "this is confidential information…". This is a fairly common customer persuasion skill, and if you use it well, closing the deal becomes much easier. It also brings you and the customer closer together, since you are both keeping a secret.

Example:

"To be honest, the promotion for this product has ended, but I'll make a special request to extend it just for you."

End with Important Information

Plenty of research has analyzed the fact that the last information we receive is what the brain retains the longest. So in a conversation with a customer, you should save important information — such as a discount code — for the end rather than opening the conversation with it.

Example:

"Our staff will advise you on every aspect of using this program. Installation is completely free. And most importantly, you get a 30% discount on all of our company's services."

Customer Persuasion Skills Over the Phone

The phone is a wonderful channel for communicating with customers and selling. Moreover, at most online stores, orders placed over the phone make up a significant share of total purchases. So customer persuasion skills over the phone are just as important as persuading customers in business.

Let's explore the customer persuasion skills over the phone below!

A Professional Greeting Is a Very Important Persuasion Skill

Of course, you can use fairly familiar templates like "Good afternoon, you've placed order # at {store name}". But understand that this is truly boring — to a customer, you are no different from your competitors. Develop a greeting that is interesting but not overly formal. And of course, don't forget to introduce yourself and your company.

Use the Customer's Real Name to Build Rapport

This isn't strictly a persuasion skill, but using the customer's name will make them like your brand more. The fact is that everyone loves personalized messages, and people see this approach as a sign that your company truly focuses on meeting their needs. Also, don't forget to thank the customer for their time once the conversation ends.

Monitor Your Pace and Manner

This is a classic mistake: when asked about something in-depth, salespeople often lose their composure and start speaking too fast and unclearly. As a result, the customer may be confused and fail to understand what the salesperson means. So during a phone conversation, monitor your speaking pace and delivery to make sure the other party understands you accurately.

Use Scripts to Persuade Customers

Depending on the type of customer, you should prepare a specific communication script that fits the situation best. This lets you focus on the customer instead of thinking about other things. In Western online stores, this is standard practice, but in our country it is only just starting to gain traction.

Stay Focused on the Topic of the Conversation

Sticking to the topic is very important; steering the conversation elsewhere can come across as unprofessional and reduce your credibility. When customers raise several issues, sort the same-topic questions you can answer together. If a question falls outside your scope, tell the customer that a specialist in that field will call back and advise them later.

This not only helps you appear professional on the phone with customers, it also increases your ability to persuade, because their issues are handled by experts in the field.

Use Customer Management Software

Using software is also an important skill for persuading customers. Software is the tool that stores customer information for you, so you can grasp their needs even before your first conversation. It also helps you understand your own company's weak points. The proof is that with customer management software, you can access all information about all your customers, see what their common needs toward the product are, and understand why deals fall through.

There are many customer management software options available today, but you can consider SimCRM's sales management software. Beyond helping you grasp customer information, this software can also compile other data such as sales, profit, and more.

You can sign up for a trial by clicking the button below.

Conclusion: This article has surely given you enough knowledge about customer persuasion skills over the phone and in business. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment below! SimCRM will answer you right away!

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