In this blog, we explore effective persuasion techniques for different decision-making styles. Learn how to tailor your message to improve your chances of success. Be adaptable and boost your persuasive skills as a business developer.

Indecision can be caused by the omission bias, where people evaluate inaction more positively than action, even if the outcome is the same. To address this, salespeople should remove the fear of buying by providing safety guarantees. They should also identify the causes of indecision, such as too many options or lack of knowledge, and address them accordingly.

In the age of abundant information, buyers have access to multiple resources about a product or service, which can lead to indecision. The most effective way is to curate resources specific to the customers’ needs, aid them in reaching their conclusions, empathize with the complexity of their problem, and prioritize information for their needs. This blog discusses how salespeople can avoid overloading prospects with information and build trust and confidence in their decision-making.

Stalled pipelines can be a common problem in sales. To overcome this, sales teams can use the technique of micro-commitment, which involves getting prospects to make small commitments along the sales journey. This builds trust and momentum, making it easier for the prospect to eventually make a larger commitment, such as a purchase.

Internal stakeholders are any person who has a stake in the buying decision and can influence it positively or negatively. There are four roles an internal stakeholder can take on. It's crucial to identify these roles and their motivations during the sales process to maximize the chance of closing a deal.

Social penetration theory suggests that, as relationships develop, interpersonal communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more intimate ones. As people grow closer to one another, positive reinforcement through positive interactions enables them to achieve deeper levels of intimacy. With this very basic understanding of social penetration theory, we can more systematically plan out discovery questions with increasing sophistication that matches the relationship development.

There are many widely available and intuitive tips for building trust. For example, be honest, keep your commitments, be helpful, show people that you care, etc. Those are all correct but I also believe those are tips and tricks for general human beings to become good citizens. However, the ultimate strategy of trust building by sales people is first to become an expert in the field and then use that expertise to consult with the buyers for their individual needs. In other words, the salespeople who build trust most effectively can demonstrate their subject expertise and the ability to consult with their prospects.

An internal customer is a person within an organization who receives a service from an internal employee. Most of the time, they are people whose work directly affects the productivity of another worker. Nowadays decisions about B2B sales are rarely made by one person, so to understand the motivations of the internal customers of your buyers will help you more efficiently navigate the buying process that is otherwise invisible.