[Client Conversion Tip] – The Power of Agreement

One of the fundamental rules of business is that you are in the business of people, not products or services. People always come before products and services. It is people who make buying decisions not products or services. So this being the case, it is crucial that you understand the science of building rapport with your prospects and active clients.

One of the most crucial mistakes you can do when dealing with your clients is to disagree with them. Clients and customers may or may not always be right, but they are always right in what they believe regardless of what they believe to be true or not. It’s their right, not yours…

Your role as an advisor or provider is to help educate them to see your point of view based on their intrinsic needs. And the best way to do this is to first agree with them.

For example, a client says “I don’t think this product or service will help me” – instead of tackling the objection in defiance to prove your point, you might want to say first “I agree with you…” or “I understand your point exactly…” and then go onto selling your idea of WHY your particular product WILL in fact be good for them (or not). Of course, this would be based on the fact that your proposal meets their core needs.

But often, due to practitioners’ own need to be right, they fall short on handling the objection. And this happens due to a lack of knowledge in sales and communication. This is not a matter of who’s right or who’s not, it’s a matter of who can help who! Either you can help your clients with qualifying questions, or your client can help you by making you realise that you are not the right person for the job or that your product is not a good fit. Either way, a sale does in fact take place.

If you are interested only in sales and not people, your business model is facing imminent failure. People like to deal with people they like and trust. So although the saying goes something like “opposites attract”, well in business, this is far from the truth. People are more likely to move toward people who are like them. So understanding the science of building rapport and personality traits in people will be to your highest advantage both in business and your personal life.

An agreement can only take place when people agree ‘to’ something. But if you start a dialogue with disagreeing, you are likely losing the deal because an agreement moves toward an agreement. So focus first on building rapport and trust by agreeing with your prospects and clients before you share with them your story.

Regards, Dr. Sohial Farzam
(Doctor of TCM – Business Consultant)