You’re Losing Sales Without A Conversational Strategy

Relational selling is the only thing that makes you different from your competition. They sell all the same stuff you do. You cannot compete on that unless you are the cheapest. 

And we both know the biggest players aren’t the cheapest. So what is it that has them capture more money? More clients. More often? 

Selling relationally. And that means you’d better be damn good at making conversation. 

The relationships between businesses and customers are changing. In this fast-paced society, consumers expect companies to be uncomplicated and effortless to deal with. Like romantic partnerships, meaningful connections are a product of minimizing friction between the two parties.

How? Better conversations.

By engaging in actual conversations, you are providing immediate and personalized answers. This lets you establish trust by demonstrating your empathy and competence. If you want the “high-quality” customers, you want the people who are relational in nature, not transactional. That means doing relational stuff, like talking. 

Can you imagine trying to get a gal out on a first date without a bit of banter? Or your kids to do what you tell them to do, without understanding why. Even when you’re going shopping for a new mattress or Chesterfield, you have a gab with the salesperson. 

Conversations give you insight. They tug on your intuition. If I’m being frank, they are a test. A test to see if you’re trustworthy. 

Are you going to treat me with empathy?
Do you know your stuff?
Does the situation feel right? 

Conversations are human, and any chance to humanize your brand makes for a better buying experience. In a commoditized world where we all sell the same stuff, the way you make the buyer feel is your only differentiator.

What is a Conversational Strategy?

A conversational strategy is how your brand casually communicates with its audience. This can show up in customer service emails, phone calls, blog posts, social media, advertising, and (no surprise) in-person meetings. 

To make your conversational strategy effective, pay attention to the four elements that appear in casual conversation:

Making a Connection

The legend, Dale Carnegie, taught that the most interesting person in any room is the person who asks their audience about themselves. It’s truly amazing how interested Mrs. Customer is interested in Mrs. Customer.

The point of any conversation beyond the small talk is to forge a connection between you and your audience. Your aim is to deescalate the protective walls that people have built up to protect against the unknown. 

So you want to feel approachable. The faster you can make a connection, the faster you get past the resistance. You can do this by employing a couple of simple tactics. 

1. Ice Breakers. You know how much a polar bear weighs, right? Enough to break the ice. 
2. Stories. Cause my uncle’s friend’s sister's cousin had an old truck like that one you’ve got in the driveway, and it was the coolest thing ever. 
3. Compliments. Am I crazy to think someone who takes care of their home as much as you obviously do is probably looking for a long-lasting solution? 

Empathetic conversations become so obvious when you know what to look for. When you find ways to make people feel right about you, moving forward becomes a lot easier. 

The Value Vault

Prospects reach out to you because they hope you can deliver value for the pain they want to kill or the pleasure they seek to feel better. 

The simple ingredients of value? Offer people something worth more than their money, energy, or time investment before, during, and after the sale is made. 

• Do you make it easy to buy from? 
• Do you have no-brainer options? 
• Are you hard to get a hold of? 
• Do you have a good warranty? 
• Do you come across as competent? 
• Do you control the sale to convince someone to buy, or do you let your buyer feel in control and persuade them to buy? 
• Is the thing you sell worth more than their money, effort, and time, or less?
• Is what you're selling something that makes them feel better?

Value is a direct result of YOUR investment in THEIR value vault of precious resources. 

You earn interest on your investment in the relationship when you show your customers that you want them to be heard and understood. 

Want to make a deposit in their value vault? 

• Show them that you know you’re there to SAVE them money, not spend it. 
• Share how you will SAVE them time with fast, thorough service, generous warranty periods, and competent repairs. 
• Help them feel right about you with a humorous, yet respectful approach and confident encouragement that you will remove their stress and anxiety with a durable solution. 

The Ingredients of Trust

“Trust always begins with empathy, soon after followed by competence.
The buyer will decide to buy from you once you’ve earned their trust.
They will act on that decision when you deliver superior value than the alternatives.”

One-dimensional marketers follow the AIDA principle. Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. While fundamentally flawed, it served as a reasonable guideline for getting someone to do a thing. 

People tend to follow this familiar flow when having a conversation, although there is a better model to follow to create raving, loyal fans. For this, I created: 

AIDED: Attention, Interest, Decision, Engagement, and Delight. 

Where does trust begin? At the Interest Phase. 

With a display of empathy. In the words you choose, the experiences of others, and the way you show up to do business. 

Once you have established that you are non-threatening, you need to show your worth. This is demonstrated by your actions and behaviors. From the questions you ask and the context you provide, people will make the decision to trust you.  

This is why salespeople of trusted brands have an easier time selling. Their good advertising helped them establish empathy and trust before the appointment began. 

But that doesn’t mean they get off easy. Great salespeople are very effective at reestablishing empathy and competence in their sales approach, leveraging conversational strategy to put their prospect at ease and instill confidence in what is about to occur. 

Why A Conversational Strategy?

Well. Money. 

More specifically, if we are to reverse the equation and look at the money, energy, and time that we hope to optimize as sellers, conversational strategy simply makes sense in the most beautifully counterintuitive way. 

“So you want me to spend MORE TIME with the customer
before we even make any money with the hopes of making more money?” 

It amazes me how much of a struggle sellers have with this concept. I certainly appreciate how disingenuous people would see that as a waste of time, but most people get that trust takes time and a little more effort early on makes for much smoother sailing when it comes time to close the deal. 

If you think about it from the customer's perspective, what you’re really doing is selling feelings. They’re not going to buy until it feels right. So build on the foundation of that. 

Get them feeling right. It’ll pay off. 

The ROI of Trust

You’re working for free until a sale is made. Investing your time and effort into a conversation will close more deals on the first visit. That’s money. And for less effort and time in the long run. 

Seriously, how often do you close a customer on the second attempt? Heck, most of the time, you don’t even get the chance for a second run. 

Great conversations pay off, putting more money in your pocket sooner. 

And not just today, but tomorrow too…

Build Lasting Relationships

I love Essential Home Services because you're building lasting relationships. It’s not a gross hit-and-quit-it sales model. Does it mean you’ve gotta put in more effort? Sure. But it also means getting more out of the effort, and for a whole lot less as the connection deepens. 

How much less money are you spending to contact your previous customer? 

How much effort does it really take to get them booked for a check-up? 

How much time do you need to take to set the expectation for the call and get them to accept your recommendations? 

Great conversations are ripe with context, nuance, and even unspoken permission to do things the way you agree they should be done. 

This isn’t entitlement. It’s earned privileges. 

When to Use A Conversational Strategy?

Conversational strategies aren’t just used during the sale. They can show up everywhere. 

• On social media
• In email campaigns
• In text messaging
• On phone calls

Take an interest outside your own self-interest. 

Strike up a conversation. Remind them you’re alright. 

Nobody likes the impetuous teen incessantly sticking their hand out, demanding you fund their youthful hijinks. 

“All things being equal, people do business with people they like.
All things being not so equal, people do business with people they like.”
—Jeffrey Gitomer, The King of Sales

Let’s Chat!

Conversational strategy is as natural as every conversation you have with your loved ones, employees, customers, or friends. 

What I’m saying is, you already know how to do it. 
Sometimes, though, it’s hard to get a conversational strategy together that you can replicate and deliver consistently with your team. These are the kinds of conversations I enjoy having with smart operators looking to stand out with their business. 

What to talk about it? Give me a dingle. We’ll have a gab.