We've always known that empathy is important in personal relationships. The ability to understand another's feelings or perspective is critical for constructive communication. The result is a deeper connection that can take relationships to an entirely new level. Research has proven that empathy is known in the business world as the most important leadership skill.
In sales, an empathy-based approach can positively impact and motivate your entire team, increasing innovation, engagement, and retention. It can also revolutionize your client relationships, generating higher sales while building and maintaining a loyal client base. Every sales organization can create an environment of empathy and learn how to evaluate sales staff performance to tailor their training to support them through the change. In this blog, we'll explore the advantages of changing your sales system to an empathy-based approach and how to get started.
It's only natural for people to want to buy from people they like. However, trust is an even more compelling driver of sales behavior. Empathy in leadership inspires trust. If your customers view your salespeople as trusted advisors, they are more likely to follow their recommendations.
An empathy-based sales approach means focusing on the customer's needs by asking the right questions, actively listening to their answers, and collaborating with them on solutions. Once you understand your customer's goals, you can share what your organization does in relation to what's important to them. Changing your approach won't happen overnight, but with the right training and support, your sales team can adopt the skills that will help them reach new levels of personal success and customer satisfaction.
Let's look at some of the key changes necessary to adopt an empathy-based sales system.
By switching to the buyers' mindset, your salespeople can tune into their customers' thought processes and experiences. Once the sales rep understands their customer's motivation, it opens the door for collaboration and innovation in finding solutions to their problems. The sales rep can now move into the role of trusted advisor. 70% of consumers' perception of their buying experience depends on how they were treated.
An empathetic salesperson will soon find that closing a sale is much more organic than before. Because they now see from the customer's perspective, they have a sense of their state of mind. When the conversation focuses on solutions, it’s easy to tell when the customer is ready to implement them. Closing a sale becomes the natural end to solving a problem and furthering the customer's goals.
Understanding the customer is only part of the equation. Your team must have full knowledge and a deep understanding of your products, services, and features, as well. That knowledge, combined with the awareness of the customer's pain points, allows them to advocate for what your company does in the context of the customer story. It shows the client that you not only understand their problem but can demonstrate how your offerings mitigate their issues and further their goals.
It’s essential that you understand how to evaluate sales staff performance throughout this transformation process. Using a structured approach with tools that give sales managers the ability to record observations during ride alongs and in one-on-one meetings allows them to identify training needs for their teams. It can also provide a convenient way to track training progress and steer career advancement discussions.
Another way to support your team is by reinforcing the benefits of the new selling process. Leaders can find it challenging to inspire enthusiasm and gain adoption of new sales processes when the team doesn't understand why they need to change. It can be particularly impactful when managers lead by example, exhibiting the same empathy-based approach they want their teams to use with their customers. Part of that includes recognizing progress in salespeople that demonstrate the desired new behaviors.
Empathy can be transformational, both for your organization and for your customers. Showing empathy to your teams creates a sense of belonging that disrupts turnover and creates engaged, satisfied, and highly productive employees. This approach is essential when teams are facing significant changes. You want your leadership to exhibit the same behaviors that you expect your sales team to show their customers.
An empathy-based approach creates a meaningful buying experience for the customer and differentiates you from the competition. It can be the single most important factor that closes the sale and builds a lasting relationship in some cases. Fox Selling System can help your team learn the necessary skills to successfully navigate the transformation to an empathy-based sales system.