How do you sell with empathy?

A few years back I worked with a super ambitious young AE (you know, the type who had read all the books on how to do sales and who understood all the steps towards a closed won deal). He (unfortunately) had this image in his head on what he thought a top professional Sales person looked like, and this actually was his biggest obstacle to being successful. He was always in some kind of Caracter and didn't show who he actually was. The minute he dropped "the act" and truly wanted to connect with the person on the other side of the table - that is when he became a real success. The client felt seen and understood and trusted the AE to build the best solution for them and guide them. People connect with people first. Skills come second.

True empathy is hearing the questions and concerns they have not even consciously acknowledged. You can then helping them recognize these and assist the in gaining clarity about them. With a consultative sale approach-you can then help them process these issues and provide solutions with what you offer or help to solve their problems with your solutions.

Being there for your client every step of the process, listening to their individual needs, embracing their apparent diversion from the company's formatted sales goal but still coming up with the most suitable solution to their problems. Fair enough sales has evolved over time, with models like client segmentation and customization. At the end of the day tapping into one's life is far more fulfilling than just being a vessel for a single business transaction.

Sales companies are investing enormous time and effort in building up fully integrated solutions (including products, services) and being only empathic does not give the genuine power and result in sales and profitabilty. Real salesman has to be also projective enough to find the right angle for promoting and selling the solution. The best result is empathy versus projection for the intuitively and experientially felt right proportion, usually 50:50.

Selling with empathy great but must come after building trust with customers. If customers don’t trust you, they’ll not believe that you feel with them. Also, it’s important to understand that no one can ever fake it, as customers can see through us and easily find out if we really feel with them.

Selling with empathy is important because: 1. It can easily differentiate you from other sellers. 2. It generates favorable first impressions 3. Increases the liklihood of referrals or recommendations 4. Creates a better experience for the buyer

Empathy is the key that unlocks the entire sales process. Especially if you're selling into a complex organization, empathy helps you ask the right questions to understand the myriad factors that the buyer must navigate to enable the organization to purchase your solution. Without empathy, the buyer is going it alone. With empathy, the buyer has you in their corner to help them. When you can do that, you can get more signed contracts because the buyer will actually be able to buy.

People thrive on feeling important. By listening empathetically and creatively you can create the sale that is the win / win.

You never have to actually pitch if you do it well. If you have listened well enough -your “pitch” is how you can help them solve the problems you have helped them clarify.

Practicing empathy in everyday life by asking great questions, listening and being curious make being empathic during the sales process natural.

Empathy starts with seeing the buyer as a whole person. To develop empathy, remember that the client is dealing with dozens or hundreds of other things: their boss, their team members, changing corporate initiatives, changes in their industry, and their ever-growing inbox. Not to mention their personal life: things going on with their family, their children, etc. Even though your solution is the most important thing to you; it isn't to the buyer. When you remember that, you develop empathy because you begin to position the solution in terms that squarely benefit the client; you begin to "lead the client" to make it easier for them to take next steps; and you save them time.

I teach sales and business development professionals two simple tricks. First, use Feeling Questions, but understand feeling questions scare folks because they require the person asking actually to care about the response. This is important. When your sales prospect answers, they give you a little piece of themselves. They’re entering a vulnerability zone by offering up something emotive to you. They risk you not approving, lacking interest, or worse, being turned off and ghosting the rest of the conversation. But honor that and amazing stuff happens. Second, ask “Tell Me More” questions. Too often, people ask closed questions and the response is "yes" or "no" or similar conversation-ending answers. "Tell me more" leaves the door open.

We spend a lot of time teaching sellers about the buyers' mindset, as well as the factors at play inside the organization that may be affecting the sale - what we call "Navigating the Jungle." Understanding what's going in the buyer inside and outside, and sharing real-world examples of how to help clients navigate their own organization, builds empathy.

Making calls together and illustrating how you create that rapport and consultative solutions sale and then having /helping them to engage in the process. Nothing replaces real world.

We train sales reps to stay with emotion as it comes up throughout the sales conversation. They are trained to acknowledge, listen and reflect rather than only focusing on the script. This is practiced during role play sessions.

Agreed completely on customer experience. But most importantly -are results and positive outcomes realized. Empathetic-consultative -solutions oriented selling should have the outcome of exceed the targets and outcomes that most expect.

Some results are easy to measure: deals closed, time to close, etc. What's more important is how the sales process built the relationship with the buyer. Did it demonstrate what it would be like to work with you after the sale occurred? Did it set the right expectations? Did it feel good to both parties? These are factors that lead to future sales, upsells, and long term value. There are many ways to close a deal; only selling with empathy can build a long term relationship.

Focus on the person not the thing between you. If you put your client/prospects’s agenda ahead of yours you will be doing work that very few sales professionals actually achieve. This is hard for human beings, we are programmed to focus on ourselves first. Be different.

In my opinion it’s pretty basic. Selling with empathy is listening to what the person across from you needs and then selling your product, if and only if, it can actually help them solve their problem.

The best thing you can offer your salesperson as a manager is if you create clarity about the real purpose of the company and support it with a background system so that the salesperson feels confident and trusts his managers. There cannot be two separate value spaces - for external customers and for internal customers. There is always only one and the same! First, trust must be created within the company, assumptions created, and then the seller can create and build a trusting relationship with the customer.