Surprise! People Just Want What’s Familiar.

Does this ever happen to you?

Your traveling in a new city and find yourself wanting to buy a cup of coffee but you don’t know any of the coffee shops in the area.  I suppose you could do some research or ask a local, you could take your chances on the first place you see, or, more likely you could just go to the nearest Starbucks (If you haven’t gone completely off the grid, there is surely a Starbucks in the area.) Now, choosing to go to Starbucks doesn’t necessarily mean you love their coffee more than any other or you think it’s the best. It’s just that it’s familiar, and it’s human nature to seek comfort in things that are familiar. Interestingly, this same preference for familiarity holds sway in other aspects of our lives as well.

As any good salesperson will tell you, prospects also have a tendency to prefer to do business with people who are familiar or similar to them. So one way that a skilled salesperson will try to relate to a prospect and build a connection is by being adept at something referred to as “mimic and mirror.”

This doesn’t mean you need to go all Marcel Marceau on them. It simply means tuning in to their tone and style and matching it.  An easy way to do this is to key in on their tempo. Do they speak in a slow, deliberate way or maybe at rapid fire, high energy pace? Recognizing their individual style and subtly adjusting your own pace to match theirs can give them the impression that you’re style is similar and since people tend to find their own style comforting, yours too will feel comfortable.

Now I know you’re probably thinking, “That’s all great, but I’m not in sales so why should I care?”

Here’s why. Because chances are you spend a significant portion of your day trying to persuade, cajole or convince people to do things, right? And I bet you’d say that your ability to be successful in this area is important to your overall success. If so, then I hate to break it to you, your title may not be “sales” but you’re selling. So you need sales skills – like this one!

Remember, regardless of whether you’re looking to buy a cup o’ Joe or trying to win over an employee, co-worker, student or prospect – people prefer the familiar.

So be familiar.

This much I know.

-Jeanine