Ep. 23: Presentations: Showing Buyers They’re Wrong

It’s a basic tenant of sales, “the customer is always right”, Right? Well, NO. Which bring us to one of the toughest jobs in sales, telling buyers they’re wrong. Now you could inundate them with facts and numbers accompanied by logical and cogent statements of your case, but it’s really not best because our heads aren’t wired that way.

Research shows that the brain tends to interpret words as arguments open to debate, so when your verbiage meets your buyers strong beliefs, his or her brain is likely to go into debate mode and create counter arguments that reinforce his opinion and dismiss yours. So, what works better? VISUALS.

According to a University of Minnesota study, visual persuasion for example a chart or a graph is 43% more persuasive then verbal presentation. The brain perceives images as more trustworthy than words and less open to debate and interpretation. It also grasps images more quickly and remembers them longer because images are the brains native language. And no you don’t have to be an artist, your chart doesn’t have to look perfect to work, because pretty or not our minds trust images more than talk, so say it with visuals, keep them simple and clear and you could be surprised at just how well a picture can persuade.

This Selling Essentials Minute highlights an idea from the Quick Take training program, “Communication: Getting Your Buyer to See the Light”

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