Clients love to set you up and get you to “do some groundwork” first before deciding on moving forward with you. They want to see a proposed strategy or outline first of the work you’ll do for them, or maybe have you “just do a preliminary plan” first.

Don’t fall for this trap. You’ll wind up doing work you should be getting paid for.

Instead, use the little used “Let’s Pretend” strategy, often taught by students of Sandler training.

Here’s an example of a prospect requesting you do some “groundwork” first:

Prospect: “I’m really impressed with what I’ve heard so far. I’d like to see a preliminary plan and strategy for the next six months, along with some costs and timeline for completion.”

Do not simply agree to this! Instead, play “Let’s Pretend.”

You: I’d be happy to work on a preliminary plan. Let’s pretend for a moment that when I come back with our preliminary plan, you are completely comfortable with our approach, the estimated costs are within your budget, and the completion dates meet your deadlines. What would happen at that point?”

In a matter of seconds you’ve done all the “groundwork” and the “preliminary plan” form them, at least virtually.  If the prospect isn’t wiling to make a committment to an action, you probably shouldn’t committ to doing the work. Unless you are charging for it.

Getting paid for your efforts isn’t something new.  It should be part of your strategy.

When you call a prospect for the first time, keep in mind you are typically interrupting him or her from something they are doing that they consider to be more important than anything you are about to say.

Everyone is busy.

For this reason, you should almost always expect some sales resistance, if you have the best service or product in the world.

If a prospect is quick to shut you down and says something at the very beginning such as, “Thanks for calling, but I’m not interested,” or “We’re not really looking for something like that right now,” you shouldn’t take it seriously. Your prospect doesn’t know enough to truly judge how good your product or service can be for his or her company. It’s a knee-jerk response, a robotic response to any sales offer.

Confidently come back with these words, “That’s all right. Most people in your industry felt the same way when I first called them. But now they’ve become our best customers, and they recommend us to friends.”

When your prospect hears these words, they will immediately stop what they are doing and start paying attention.  He or she will almost invariably say, “Oh really? What is it then?”

*Adapted from Sales Trainer Brian Tracy, The Psychology of Selling

Each and every one of us has a systematic way to encode our sense of time in our respective minds. When you utilize the subtle yet powerful aspects of language, you can shift your customer’s perceptions and guide them in your persuasion.

This is perhaps one of the most fun concepts I learned while studying Neuro-Linguistic Progamming (NLP) many years ago, particularly when applying it to selling.

Your objective in using language is to put your product or service in their future and their objections in their past. Closely pay attention to how the customer is speaking of your product or service.  When you detect how specifically they are speaking, you can shift your words and lead them to follow you in language and in mind.

Is your customer speaking of your product or service in conditional terms? Are they saying such things like, “I would like to own this product,” presupposing there is some limiting condition present that is stopping him or her? Are they speaking phrases that indicate they are buying (in the present)? An example is “What we’re wanting is..” Are they using past tense phrases such as “Well, we were thinking about buying this…” indicating they may not be buying today?  A possible response to this may be, “So you’re now thinking about buying this…, do you mind if I ask you a question?

Why end the sentence with asking if you can ask a question? Because it distracts them from realizing what you just did – acknowledged what they said but rephrased into the present tense. But instead of focusing on that, their mind will go to answering the question you asked about asking a question.

In a future post I’ll write about how to make your customer see their decision to buy with you, something that’s already been done and already in their past (in their mind).

All of us have a metaphorical bucket representing how we feel from moment to moment. But how do we keep that bucket full and keep ourselves brimming with positive energy that not only improves our own lives but the lives of others around us?

Are you using what you’ve learned in your NLP training to shine a light on what is right in life instead of what is wrong?  How do people “feel” when they are around you? What impression do you create? What impression do you leave?

Richard Bandler stresses that NLP is nothing more than an attitude that has left in it’s trail some great techniques that have been developed as a result. This attitude of curiosity stems from the desire to understand people, how they ‘work’ (perfectly) and how to improve lives.

If our lives as practitioners of NLP is to improve those around us, than it’s worth modeling people like Tom Rath.

You can do this from reading his book “How Full is Your Bucket.” I could write a long review but it doesn’t need it. It’s an easy to read book, to the point, and if you practice the principles your interactions with others (including your customers) will improve. He’s also the author of Strengths Finder 2.0 and several other books. Here a video to give you a taste of his book.

NLP is full of fancy jargon, and you need a glossary of terms when attending a NLP Practitioner Training just to make sense of it all. “Presuppositions” are no exception, even though most think they know what it means.

Presuppositions are simply the linguistic equivalent of what most people call assumptions. But with a little more art and science to it when used on purpose.

Whenever we are communicating, we use presuppositions that assume something is already true; every sentence we speak in our everyday life has a presupposition in it. In most cases, we tend not to consciously recognize what we have presupposed, and instead concentrate on what is directly stated. Thus, presuppositions are unconsciously accepted as being true and the listener will act as if they were true.

Naturally, that’s the powerful part.

Think of it like this. Every sentence you speak contains a noun and a verb, so, with each sentence you speak you actually presuppose that something exists (noun) in the past, present or future.  You also presuppose that some action did or did not take place, is or is not taking place, or will or will not take place.

Great salespeople know how to use this to their advantage.

Some of my favorite “presuppositional” categories are:

Cognitive qualifiers: “Surprisingly, interestingly, amazingly, fortunately, luckily, happily, curiously, uniquely, naturally, obviously, etc.”  Everything that follows this word is assumed true as the focus is on the word (the cognitive qualifier) that starts the sentence assuming it so.  For more info on Cognitive Qualifiers – click here.

Presuppositions that shift space (in the mind of your prospects): “Along side of that, stacked on top of that, in addition to that, adding to that, instead of that, in front of that, inside of that, outside of that, behind that, underneath that, between that, above all that, etc.”

Presuppositions that shift time (in the mind of your customers): “look back on, in the future, right now, before, once, look ahead, finally, after, long awaited, everlasting, accelerate, presently, yet, carry through, then, when, now, etc.”

Presuppositional words that say something is factual, actual, or the truth: “actually, genuinely, unquestionably, surely, certainly, proven, obviously, self evident, valid, absolute, clearly, surely, naturally, etc.”

Presuppositional words of power: Realize, aware, notice, discover, uncover.

Future posts will have some examples of these, but this should get you thinking and more importantly, creating.

Metaphors. That’s the secret.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Using metaphors appeals the your prospects or customers right brain. It helps them visualize, instantly relate, and connect the dots to what you are saying or recommending. And it’s memorable.

The process behind a recommendation that’s rephrased framed with a metaphor is actually simple.

First, ask yourself: What am I actually recommending?

Second, determine the problem your recommendation will solve.

Third, run through various possible metaphors, selecting the one that communicates most clearly and vividly what you’re urging.

For example, let’s say you are recommending that your team goes through some team building training to improve collaboration on projects. The problem to be solved is lack of communication, morale, and productivity. Here is a sample metaphor you could use:

“It will move us from a company of stray shooters to a team of marksmen.”

Here is another example. You are recommending someone replace their current software system with the one you are selling. The problem is the old system is too slow. An example of a metaphor you could use is:

“When we’re done, it will be like replacing a horse and buggy with a Porsche.”

How can you work on this? Just follow these steps each time:

Step 1 – List out a recommendation you’ve recently made to a client.

Step 2 - What problem does it solve ?

Step 3 -What metaphor can make that recommendation more vivid in your customer’s mind?

Resource: You learned how to construct metaphors in your Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner training. David Gordon’s book on Therapeutic Metaphors is a great place to start, and while not overtly so in the book itself, it’s just as practical for business applications as it is therapy.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) arms us with the language tools to develop our skills at making our products and services (sound, feel or look) interesting. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get caught up in what do I say versus what do I ask so I can learn what they want most out of what I’m selling.

What matters to your customers? Answer: Not what you are selling.

What matters to them is what your product or service will do for them. That’s it. What’s in it for them.

Does it matter how long your company has been in business? No. Unless you can tie it to a reason that is compelling enough for them to benefit from the company longevity (or brevity).

Does it matter if you are bigger or smaller (or more or less experienced) than your competitor? No. Unless you you can wrap it around how it impacts them in a way that contributes to why they’d buy your product.

In sales we sometimes mistake our primary role for presenting, packaging, and telling our story. This is only because we forgot to remember it’s about asking questions, the right questions to figure out which benefit is most important to your prospect.

The next time you are in front of your customer, remember to say something similar to: “One of the things my customers have found is really helpful in prioritizing what’s most important is to ask you to complete the following sentence regarding this product/service.” “All I really care about is _______________________.”

Another way to say it: “Let me ask you one more questions to help prioritize your needs. In terms of why you are buying this product/service, how would you complete this sentence: “All I really care about is _________________________.”

Your customers will thank you for it. And  you’ll know what to focus your presentation on.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) gives us amazing linguistic ingredients for crafting our language with purpose in front of each customer we approach.

What type of language shifts submodalities and uses presuppositions of TIME?

from now on, then, when, while, endless, everlasting, prolong, past, yet, stop, still, in the meantime, in the future, long waiting, look back, before, after, once, anytime now, now, finally, presently, elapse, accelerate, and the list goes on.

Example: “After you see the results, you’ll look back feeling even more confidence then you did when when the decision was made.

What type of language shifts submodalities and uses presuppositions of SPACE?

in front of, along side of, in place of, above, aside from, in addition to, below, increase, instead of, disappear from, between, closer, behind, bring forward, against, beside, bigger, blow over, across, in back of, bring together, add more, inside of, and the list goes on.

Example: What if you could see along side of every problem is a solution, in fact many solutions?

Resource Book: An Insiders Guide to Sub Modalities

One of the foundational skills of NLP that you begin to hone in NLP Practitioner training (and beyond) is that of pattern detection. Once your sensory acuity sharpens, you can start to apply your new pattern detection skills in a variety of ways.

One of them is in identifying when someone is lying.

A person’s mouth is just one thing to watch when someone might be lying. Whether it’s a subtle covering of the mouth while making a statement, swallowing or gulping at a seemingly inappropriate time, or an inappropriate smile or facial express, all are used to calibrate against a lie.

These tiny physiological signals involving the mouth, often unperceived because they occur so quickly and seem natural, are at times what can be called unconscious “micro-signals.”

Throat clearing in response to a question or statement usually signified disagreement to something that is said or asked, or an uncomfortableness with an unprepared answer to follow.

Gulping is usually a sign of nervousness, which should lead you to question the reason or source for that nervousness.

One of the more obvious signals (but most often overlooked) is when someone tries to cover up their words. Literally. A person will cover their mouth with his or her hand as if scratching or yawning. If someone finds an excuse to rub their lips, scratch their mouth or nose, run an index finger under their nose, or in some other way cause their hand to come between lips and face, it’s typically an outright lie being spoken.

NLP gives you some powerful tools to apply to dealing with resistance. It’s just a matter of actually breaking the process down, understanding what is happening, and having the flexibility to apply what you know.

To start with, there are a few things to consider when dealing with resistance. Most people approach sales prepared to have to face objections hoping they have enough rebuttals (or “come backs”) in order to “win” the close. While it’s indeed useful to have some persuasive responses when addressing a concern (a.k.a. objection), it’s makes for a much smoother transition into a close when you’ve taken preventive measures first. Overcoming objections should be “when all else fails.”

Let’s break down this process into 3 areas: 1) Adopting the Self-Responsibility Mind-Set, 2) Inoculating Objections and 3) Overcoming Objections.

1) Adopting the Self-Responsibility Mind-Set

Think of another person’s resistance as something you’ve created. It’s your fault. That’s right. The first step is to accept responsibility for their resistance. This is because the other person can only resist something you’re doing or saying, or something you haven’t done or haven’t said (or addressed) yet. Is this true all the time? No. But it’s a much more useful and empowering belief to have in an interaction. Most importantly, this mindset keeps you in control of the outcome. 

You are the only one in complete control over your behavior, what you say and do. So it’s important to regard resistance as your problem, not the other person’s. This way…you are still in control. By assigning blame to them, or categorizing the other person as resistant, you are forfeiting control to them to determine the outcome of your conversation.

In part II we’ll discuss “inoculating objections” 

Realizing there are a lot of “general” NLP Blogs on the Internet, I decided to start one specifically centered around applying NLP to business.

Joe Soto

I’ve been studying NLP since 1992.

When I learned of NLP I immediately went to the bookstore to find any books on the subject. I found two that looked strange but claimed to be about NLP. One was Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming by Richard Bandler and John Grinder and the other was Using Your Brain–For a Change: Neuro-Linguistic Programming by Richard Bandler. Both were edited by Steve Andreas as the material was taken from live workshops on NLP.

My sister happened to be visiting me during the time I purchased the books and I immediately walked her through one of the excercises in Using Your Brain For a Change. The excercise was the Swish Pattern. She told me she had a habit of over 30 years of biting her nails and she’s always wanted nice nails.

So I told her that I was going to help her overcome that habit. I had her close her eyes and I read the steps in the Swish Pattern to her. I didn’t know what to look for, I was clueless to calibration. I simply asked her how she felt afterwords and she said, “Great.”

With no formal training, and only steps outlined in an excercise in the book, I was able to help her achieve her desired outcome. It’s been 17 years since then and everything I see her she shows me her nails.

This was enough to convince me there was more to NLP than I had originally thought and it became the trigger point for my now 17 years of studying and applying NLP.

I’ve since studied under the direction of people like Richard Bandler, John LaValle and Steve Andreas, just to name a few. I earned my NLP Practitioner through NLP Comprehensive and my NLP Master Practitioner, NLP Trainer, and DHE (Design Human Engineering) certification throught the Society of NLP. 

My applications of NLP have been primarily in business and more specifically in management and sales.

It’s my hope to share these applications and insights I’ve learned over the years and to learn from the readers in return.

Enjoy,

Joe