When it comes to sales: Our brain is wired to ‘run’!

So today I’m talking about my favorite subject; listening! 

Starting with the true basic of sales… the dreaded 2 ears 1 mouth quote. You should listen for twice as long as you talk…. Because we all know that the best sales people are good listeners rather than good talkers. 

You need to put an end to conversational narcissism if you want to achieve more. 

The spotlight should always come back to your client and I’ll tell you why. 

(And surprisingly; it’s not just that we’ll find their hotspot if we let them talk and we listen more.. actually it’s even bigger than that).

Have you all heard of the Amygdala? 

It’s a part of our brain that sits in our temporal lobe within our limbic system that controls emotions and fear. (It’s shaped like an almond .. no real relevance to that except Amygdala is Latin for Almond… in case you care!)

Anyway; if you were on a little trek in the woods and a bear suddenly jumped out at you; before you could even say; ‘oh crap, that’s a bear’… your amygdala would be instantly alerted and this would trigger your fight, flight or freeze response! 

When this happens it dampens down many other parts of your brain so it can focus single handedly on saving your skin. 

One of the areas it disrupts is the prefrontal cortex; this is partially responsible for listening: it’s the part of your brain that puts everything together for the purpose of rational thinking and decision making. 

So if we want our clients to hear us properly, think rationally and make a good decision; we need their Prefrontal cortex fully mobilised so we need that amygdala to pipe down! 

Our amygdala is inactive and quiet when we feel safe and our prefrontal cortex is fully active under these conditions. 

To feel safe; we don’t just need to be bear-free. Interestingly; studies have shown that when deeply held beliefs are challenged; this triggers the amygdala in exactly the same way as a physical threat would. So there is good reason to avoid; politics, religion and any such other strong beliefs in fact; anything controversial or confrontational! 

To feel safe; we need to feel understood. 

To feel safe; we need to feel that we matter & are important. 

To feel safe; we need to feel listened to. 

If we can put our clients in a position where they feel safe; then they are

1) more likely to actively listen 

2) less likely to be defensive 

3) more likely think rationally

4) more likely to make a good decision

5) more likely to buy today 

If we put our clients in a position where they don’t feel safe then their amygdala will be active and they will likely flit into fight, flight or freeze! 

Remember how we ALL feel about sales people; we’re ALL scared that we’ll be tricked into buying something we don’t want… We all run when we see those clipboard people in the high street! 

Are you a fight? – ‘I don’t need that, go away’

Are you a flight? – ‘I’m sorry I’ve got to run, I’m late’ 

Are you a freeze? – pretend to be on your phone! You know who you are!!! 😂

So be aware that we’re often going in on the back foot… their amygdala is already alert as soon as they realise we are there to sell them something so what can you do today to dull that amygdala? 

How can you ensure your client’s feel safe?