How do you view your sales skills and those of your spa or massage practice team? Do you consider yourself and your team effective at persuading clients to consider treatments or retail products that can help their particular needs, whether for relieving pain or improving their skin condition?
Persuading clients to follow your advice is not the same thing as giving them the hard sell. When you persuade something, you are essentially winning them over to your viewpoint or recommendation for them to take action. Persuasion takes time to convey your ideas and address objections or concerns.
Kevin Daum, marketer, author, and columnist, writes about persuasive people's traits in “7 Things Really Persuasive People Do” that ran in Inc. last year. Among the things that he suggests to help you “make your point with style and grace” for sales or other needs – for example, persuading one someone on your team to perform better – are:
Listen
People who are highly effective at persuasion are also good at listening. They need to be able to gauge how receptive others are to their point of view and understand objections they need to resolve. They also listen to find consensus – those moments of agreement on which they capitalize to further the position they are advancing.
Create a Connection
Be likable. Look for common ground to establish emotional bonds and shared objectives. Get people on your side when you are trying to persuade them of something.
Offer Satisfaction
When you discuss something with a client, don’t try to win every point to get your point of view across. Give ground when you can and hold your ground only when it matters. In other words, “choose to be successful over being right.”
Know When to Back Away
Good persuaders let ideas take hold. Give your clients time and space to consider what you recommend so that it takes root and feel good about their decision to try a new type of massage or add a skin treatment to one.
To make your sales more persuasive, I also recommend these additional tactics:
- Talk about what the client may lose by not following your recommendations. There may be times when it’s appropriate to explain how one treatment or one product will only partially solve a client’s issue and that a complete solution will require additional offerings.
- Showcase your expertise. Refer to clients who have been with you a long time, mention companies that seek out a partnership with spa or massage practice, and also talk about any awards you’ve received, requests for speaking engagements, or articles you’ve written for trade or consumer magazines.
When you are persuasive in recommending services and products, you not only benefit from the increase in sales, your clients benefit as well.