Small Talk Is a Big Deal in Business

By Leng Hu

In most cases,a salesperson will resort to two ways of communicating with their customers—one is the explicit way,with the topic focusing on the product itself,and the other is quite implicit,with the topic totally unrelated to the product.The explicit way is the main channel,which determines the success of your marketing strategies,and the implicit way is the psychological one,which determines how far you can delve into the inner world of your customer.Only by a successful mixture of the two ways can a salesperson close a deal in the shortest period of time.So,what kind of topics should be covered in the implicit way?Simply put,small talk.

Chatting about one’s past experiences helps you understand the potential demand of a customer,because past experiences are the deciding factors of what sort of products and services a person favors.For example,when someone from a humble background becomes well off,they often pay great attention to improving quality of life,yet they’ll never splurge with money.If we can probe such kind of information,we might as well take“quality” as the focus in promoting a product.For instance,you can say,“This redwood furniture you picked will definitely lighten up your living room.When you invite your relatives and friends over,I’m sure they’ll be deeply impressed.”By such a way of expression,you’ve seized the potential demand of your customer to boost their ego and show their economic status.In doing so,you’ll have a higher probability to close the deal.

Chatting about the current living conditions of your customer will help you win them over,because people’s status-quo often determines how much they need a certain type of product or service.For example,if your customer is a richly bejeweled lady,it could mean that she might have raked in a large sum of money recently,so the top priority is not the highly cost-effective products,but those with which they can show off to others.In this case,think about recommending products with a flashy appearance and low cost performance,and the customer will have a stronger desire to buy them.

銷售員和客戶的溝通，往往走兩條路線：一條是明線，談論的話題圍繞產品；另一條是暗線，談論的話題和產品無關。明線是主線，它決定著你營銷行為的走向；暗線是心理線，它決定著你對客戶內心世界的探索面積。只有兩條線都走好，才能在最短的時間內完成交易。那么，暗線要圍繞哪些話題去走呢？兩個字——八卦。

八卦過去，是為了了解客戶的潛在要求。一個人青睞什么類型的產品或者服務，往往和他們過去的某些經歷有關。比如，有的人出身貧困，那么在經濟狀況改善之后，他們會注重提高生活檔次，但也不會大手大腳地亂花錢。如果我們能夠窺探出這類信息，不妨在向客戶推銷的時候，把營銷重點放在“品質”二字上，比如可以這樣說：“您選購的這套紅木家具，能夠讓整個客廳煥然一新，如果您有親朋好友拜訪，會給您掙回不少面子。”這樣的表達就是抓住了客戶想要改變自身形象、展示經濟地位的潛在需求，順著這個思路進行溝通，成交率會大大提高。

八卦生活現狀，是為了更好地說服客戶。客戶當前的生活狀態決定了對某一類產品或者服務的需求程度。比如，客戶是一位戴著珠寶的女性，和你交談的時候還有意無意地展示它們，那就意味著對方最近賺了一筆大錢，所以對方需要的不會是性價比很高的商品，而是奢華的能夠拿出去炫耀的東西。這時候，你就要推薦那些性價比不高但是閃耀度很高的商品，對方購買的意愿會增加。

八卦家務事，是為了鎖定核心目標。作為銷售員，你要明白一個道理，手里揣著錢的人未必是最終的決定者，他們也許是奉命行事，而躲在他們背后的那個人才掌握著話語權。所以和客戶聊天的時候，可以側面打探是剛結婚還是剛戀愛，然后從對方對戀人的描述中窺測出他們之間的關系：如果話語權不在他這邊，就要從討好戀人的角度進行營銷。比如，一位男客戶想要購買一個拉桿箱，你就可以趁機推銷一款時尚的女包。如果客戶處于熱戀期或者蜜月期，他很可能會有購買的意向，說服難度很小。

八卦愛好，是為了尋找溝通的切入點。如果我們去客戶的公司拜訪對方，發現桌子上擺放著一些營養品，那就意味著客戶對養生之道比較關注，這時我們以此為話題和對方聊天，會讓對方很感興趣又不會排斥我們的推銷。我們甚至可以將產品或服務與養生保健聯系在一起，這樣既能強化客戶的購買欲望，又能夠縮短彼此的心理距離。

（摘自《銷售心理學：直抵客戶內心需求的成交術》天津人民出版社）

Chatting about household chores can help you to pinpoint the target.As a sales rep,you need to know that those who have money in their pockets are not necessarily the decision makers,but merely act under orders,and it is the one behind their back that has the final say.Therefore,during the conversation with a customer,you can take a roundabout approach to ask if he or she is married or just in love,and speculate about who’s in control in that relationship from their description of their partner.If your customer doesn’t get the upper hand,you need to market a product from the point of pleasing the other party.For instance,if a male customer wants to buy a trolley case,you can take the chance to recommend a fashionable lady’s handbag to him,and if he is still in the first stages of a relationship,or in a honeymoon period,it’ll be pretty easy for you to sell the handbag to him.

Chatting about hobbies can help you locate an entry point for conversation.For example,if you pay a visit to your customer’s company and see some nutritional supplements on the table,it could mean that the customer prioritizes health,and using such a topic to break the ice may quickly arouse his or her interest and they may not be annoyed by your sales promotion as a result.Moreover,you can even link your product with health maintenance.By doing so,you can not only stimulate the customer’s interest to buy it,but also bridge the psychological gap between the two of you.

(FromMarketing Psychology:Marketing Strategies Leading You Straight to Your Customer’s Heart,Tianjin People’s Publishing House.Translation:Zhu Yaguang)