All sales advisors know how important it is to give an energetic and positive image to the person you are speaking to in order to close a sale. Regardless of the scenarios of the role plays that I might dream up in the course our training workshops, I must say that I rarely have to deal with introverted and depressive sales people! But to illustrate the importance of attitude in a negotiation, I like to tell this anecdote about what happened to me a few years ago in Germany…
As part of our field support service, I was following a sales team in a series of sales appointments in Hamburg. As always in such cases, we prepare the appointments upstream, I attend them, and then we debrief them together so as to learn lessons from them and find levers for progress going forward. That time, I was following a particularly charismatic sales advisor who brought all his appointments to a close with an expression that escaped me completely and that sounded something like “Mamenwitenso” or “Marsupilenso”…
However hard I tried to open my ears, the phrase remained completely unfathomable to me, but I was impressed by its effect. Each time he said it while energetically shaking the hand of the person he was talking to, the situation systematically seemed to shift in his favour. The prospect relaxed, smiled, and appeared won over in advance. It was as if all of the persuasive talent of the sales advisor was contained in this magic saying, which systematically tipped the sale in his favour through the famous mirror neurons…
By saying this enigmatic “marsupilenso”, the emotional links materialised and an initial deal seemed to be sealed in the handshake.
Eventually, I asked the sales advisor to repeat his phrase to me more distinctly, and I understood he was merely saying “Machen wir weiter so”, which translates as something like “Let’s continue like that” or “Let’s carry on doing it that way.” This closing or parting phrase, while seemly insignificant, actually already marks an agreement between the two parties. Spoken with energy and enthusiasm, it confirms the future collaboration, even if it appears only to refer to the sending of a document. Of course, it doesn’t sound so good in English, so you need to find your own magic phrase to bring an appointment to an effective close!
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