Mirroring to Maximize Income
The January-February 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review reported a customer interaction study by Celine Jacob. When retail salespeople were asked to mirror customer's speech and behavior patterns, they sold 17% more. If this works so easily when selling an MP3 player, don't think of how much this could help when interviewing for a job, asking the boss for a raise or selling your project to upper management.
Mirroring and Matching Behavior
Matching and mirroring posture is easy, just adjust your body to match the person you're speaking with. Watch two friends talking over dinner and you'll notice that they do this automatically. The trick is to do it when you first meet someone. Are their arms crossed? Cross yours. Is their weight on the left or right leg? Shift your weight to the other leg so that you are a mirror. When sitting, are they leaning forward or back? Match their posture.
Mirroring and Matching Speech
Matching and mirroring speech takes a little more practice. Are they speaking fast or slow? Match their rhythm and tempo. What's their tone? Match it. If their tone is "angry," match it and then lead them into a calmer tone (this is called pacing and leading).
Never paraphrase. Use the other persons words. If they say concrete, don't say solid, repeat the word concrete. I know one consultant that matches his client's RFP's word-for-word and closes over half of his proposals.
There are even more subtle uses of language based on the five motivation styles. It's possible to learn how to speak these other "languages" and achieve even greater levels of rapport and influence.
To learn more about matching and mirroring , order Motivate Everyone.
Rights to reprint this article in company periodicals is freely given with the inclusion of the following tag line: "© 2008-2024 Jay Arthur, the KnowWare® Man, 888-468-1537,
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