In today's episode, Dr. Croner discusses a powerful psychological technique that is easy to apply in a sales meeting and has remarkably effective results.
 
You will learn:

· The power and importance of validation

· How to effectively validate your prospects during sales meetings

 

To build rapport with your prospects and clients, be sure to listen carefully and validate them when appropriate. Tune in today's episode now to learn how.
 

Subscribe to this podcast today and stay up-to-date on the latest in sales psychology.
 

To hone your sales team's listening skills, check out our blog: The Sales Manager's Guide to Teaching Active Listening to Salespeople.
 

At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 80 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
 If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
 
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[soft melody theme music]
 
[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Dr. Chris Croner here. Here's a powerful psychological technique that's easy to apply in a sales meeting and has remarkably effective results.

[00:40]  Let's say you're selling a financial service. And in the course of your conversation, your prospects says "the most important thing to me at this stage is preservation of capital." In other words, I don't want to take much risk.

[00:57]  You nod in agreement. And then, you repeat what he or she just said. Like this. "Okay, so just to be clear, you would like to craft a financial plan that emphasizes preserving your wealth and one that involves little ,if any,  risk. Correct?"

[01:17]  Of course, the prospect will say "yes." And while it may seem like a throwaway line, it is anything but. Because, you have just deployed one of the most powerful forces in psychology . . . validation.

[01:35]  Validation is the supreme compliment you can pay another person. Validation means you are listening closely and that you care about what the other person is saying. And that you are acknowledging what he or she is feeling.

[01:53]  This may sound simple, but it is a step most people miss in relating to each other. For psychologists, lack of validation is one of the first things they look for when people come to them with relationship issues.

[02:08]  So much of the time, people are not truly listening to each other as marriage partners or jumping right to a lecture with their kids without first validating how the child is feeling and why. On the other hand, when we teach people how to validate before continuing on to further discussion, the outcomes can be spectacular.

[02:34]  In every sales meeting, a point or perhaps several points will come up that are pivotal moments when the prospect reveals an especially important need or feeling. That is your opportunity to validate and move much closer to establishing the rapport and trust you need to close the deal.

[02:59]  Look forward to seeing you next time. 
 
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[03:03]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[03:20]  Until next time, take care!