Winning Business With Psychology

There are many ways in which the strategic application of the principles of psychology can help in your everyday life, and winning business is certainly one of them.

If you consider the fact that psychology is, essentially, the study and practice of understanding people better, it makes sense that psychology can make you more able to behave in a way which benefits you. Of course, that does not mean that you want to come across as manipulative or Machiavellian, but a little extra tool in your personal business development box is no bad thing!

Finding the Contacts

You can use psychological principles to help to find suitable contacts – the first step in building business. Rather than simply follow up a lead, why not try to understand a little more about the person before you call them? A cursory Google is certainly in order, but check out details such as where the person has worked in the past and to whom they’ve awarded contracts. It’s also worth seeing if they use social media such as Twitter, and you’ll quickly get a more realistic view of their personality, interests and current focus.

Making the Call

Once you’ve got your lead and you’ve found out more about the person you are going to call, you need to psyche yourself up to say the right thing. Winning business is often down to the old cliché of being in the right place at the right time, so the timing of your call is crucial. This is another area where the principles of psychology can be employed. Think about the time that most suits your potential client – if they’re a head chef, just before service is unlikely to yield a positive response. Similarly, first Monday morning or last thing on a Friday is not good for corporate clients.

In terms of speaking to your potential client, you must prepare yourself mentally. Sounding desperate is just as off-putting as arrogant, and aggressive never works well. As you have already found out information on the person, you will have a clearer idea about the type of language and approach that is suitable. You can also try the ‘mirroring’ approach that is a cornerstone of the popular Neuro-Linguistic Programming school of psychology – this basically means that you allow your target to guide the conversation and you reflect the tone, pace and style they use.

The Presentation

Once you have achieved your goal of gaining a meeting with your new client, you will need to prepare for this next step. You will already have an idea of what is expected from you as you will have spoken to them and researched the company. Take this presentation up a level by hitting the right balance between mirroring the client and being unique. It’s certainly a tricky balance, but one which works terrifically well in winning business.

The idea is that the client feels comfortable with you, and already sees you as ‘one of them’ because you act and sound in a way which tessellates well with the employees already. You then need to bring in accents of your own character and approach to show that you are a valuable addition to the team, and that your service or product will be beneficial to them. Make sure you practice enough to not come across as fake though!