On a scale of 1 to 10, how empathetic are you towards your prospects?
Do you even share the empathy feeling with your prospects?
Or do you just sell to meet your brand’s target?
The common problem is sales reps believe that by just understanding what the prospects’ needs are is sufficient to crack that deal?
What if you were told that this isn’t right.
‘’75% of companies say their top sales priority is closing more deals’’ and so in order to get that done with, sales reps miss out on the main critical factor that can earn them better sales opportunities, empathy.
Let’s practice empathy right now, visualize that your a prospect and you have visited your brand so that your needs can be catered, now you have a sales rep speaking to you over a call and they are just continuing to speak like a sales pitch, the question here is, would you continue with this call?
Would things change if the sales rep would have empathized with you instead?
Wouldn’t it be great, if as sales reps you heard and felt what your prospects want? ‘’What do buyers want from sales pros? 69% say, “Listen to my needs.”
Empathy matters, and it can convert your business from a sales making brand to a more customer approachable brand. When your prospects find the latter about you, your sales actions will be conducted smoothly. Empathy statements can win customers.
What will you grasp from this article?
1 . Meaning of empathy in detail
2. Benefits of using empathy in your sales actions
3. How can you use empathy statements to engage with your leads in 2020?
4. Examples of empathy statements you can get started with
Let’s get you onboard!
Wouldn’t you be more open to a person who genuinely understands what you’re going through?
Wouldn’t you feel better or comfortable when you realise that the other person whom you’re communicating with is able to understand what you are feeling at the moment?
This is exactly what empathy is all about.
Empathy lets you understand what the other person is going through, it gives you the understanding of the pain the other person is going through.
Don’t mistake empathy for sympathy, sympathy is what you feel for the other person but not necessarily feel it in the same way as them.
With empathy, you’re placing yourself in the other person’s shoes and understanding their current emotions are.
‘’50% of all sales happen after the 5th contact, but most reps give up after just 2’’
Do you know why?
Because as a sales rep the concern here was about selling so the important factor of empathy never rose to the communication.
Let’s understand this better with an example:
Say you have contacted a prospect who works at a mid level position and who is under a bad mood or you could say under a stressful mood, now you are aware that the prospect is your potential lead, and your product can solve their queries.
But whenever you contact that prospects, your statements would go like:
‘’Hello Mr. xxx, My name is xxx and we have a product that can help you cater to your needs, would you like to be interested to know more?’’
The prospect just slams the phone down and this happens twice and after that you give up on this lead.
Why did this happen?
The reasons are:
Now let’s turn the tables and see what would happen if you would have conducted empathy in your statements:
‘’ Hi Mr. xxxx, this is xxxx calling from xxxx brand. Sensing from your tone, I understand that today is a hectic day for you which is why I wouldn’t want to take much of your time, I am calling you to inform you that I have something that can ease your hectic days and make your workflows lesser of a hassle, if you are interested I would love to help you in this process so that you are more comfortable in what you are doing’’
The prospect upon hearing this will speak back to you stating about the pressure he has and seeks your help for a solution. You then go on to hear their pain points and start explaining how the product you have can solve their worries.
You know what happens after this, a closed sales deal seems to be happening quickly isn’t it?
So what went right here?
‘’Empathy is #1 rule for “new product innovation success” and for your business this can mean better brand growth, better prospect engagement and even better results and expectations being achieved.
Interesting read: 10 Best Practices in Customer Communication
Why don’t we learn more closely about how empathy can help your brand with regards to prospect engagement?
Technology will rise and it will continue to bring in unique solutions for any kind of business but with the rise in technology, the growth of the digital market, there is one thing that your prospects would still prefer even today, the human touch.
Let’s understand this with an example:
‘’19% of buyers want to talk to a sales rep when first learning about a product’’ and this is coming from an environment where today every business makes use of an automated process.
Your prospects expect an immediate reply from you and to make use of automation in your tasks especially your repetitive tasks makes more sense, but if you plan to engage with your prospects via a robotic form, that isn’t going to go well with a few of your prospects.
Your prospects want that human touch, they will not take the recommendation of a robot.
It is simple, if you had a robot engaging with you and you would want to learn about the product, your preference would be better to speak to a person instead of a chatbot because engaging with a human is more reasonable.
With a human, you could go on communicating and it is more convenient, which is the main reason why your prospects would any day prefer speaking to a sales rep over the call for any investments in a brand.
The greatest thing about empathy is that it makes communication much easier with prospects. It doesn’t sound like a sales pitch and instead, it draws your prospect’s attention towards you much better.
As explained in the example above, if you are going to speak to your prospects with the purpose of just selling, your tone, and the way your communication gives away won’t go down well with your prospects, but if you started to communicate in an empathetic manner, then you could retain the interest of the same prospect one minute longer.
Let’s understand this with an example:
When you receive a phone call from sales, there are two things that you do, one is either you would cut the call or you would retain further in the conversation.
The first part where you ignore the call, this happens because you understand from the first statement that it is a sales call and you have decided that you’re not interested already.
However there are sales calls where you find yourself caught in the conversation for more than a minute, this happens because the sales rep is trying to connect with you and that is holding on to your attention for long.
Empathy makes this possible which is why it is an essential ingredient to sustain your prospects for longer.
If you’re communicating with empathy to your prospects, what happens is your chances of closing a sales deal becomes much higher.
Now when you are hearing your prospects’ pain points, your conversation would be more empathetic when you use statements like ‘I understand’, ‘It must be difficult’ and more others. So when this happens, your prospects will open up more further and that will help you understand better about their pain points.
When you are now aware of what your prospects are, what you will do next is exhibit your product accordingly. You will be able to tell your prospects how the product that you’re selling can cater to them, the prospect will be compelled to invest in your product then.
Let’s understand this better with an example:
Say Adam is your prospect and is having a hard time to convert prospects into leads. He is trying everything in the sales books but is still finding it difficult to manage leads on his website and cater to them quicker.
You being a sales rep hear his problem and understand that Adam is looking for a tool that can help him manage his website traffic and not miss out on potential leads, so that is when you exhibit your solution.
You tell Adam how callback solutions which are your product can help him not to miss out on crucial leads. You explain how his prospects will have the ability to connect with his team instantly or schedule a call later. You then continue to explain the benefits callback solution can have on his business such as:
This lets Adam visualize your product in his brand and he is convinced that he wants to invest in your brand. Here you won your prospect and your sales deals started to increase by a number.
With empathy, another great reason to love it is capturing prospects becomes a lot easier.
Have you noticed that when someone is kind to you, your day becomes better in fact your mood gets better similarly when someone is speaking to you with you in an unkind manner, your next action would be to just ignore them or not speak another minute with them?
This is exactly why empathy is such a great success, it eliminates your need to sound like a robot or a sales pitch but instead makes you more kind in your personality and brings this kind side out more often in your communications.
When a prospect is happy with your brand, they are bound to act like referrals later.
So when you engage with your prospects with empathy, they will be bound to share the word saying that your brand knows how to deal with prospects, they trigger the pain points, they don’t focus on selling instead they want to assist the prospects first and more.
So what happens when their audience hears it?
They will come to you, your brand awareness will increase.
The theory is simple, there are multiple brands present in the market each fighting the tough competition, now when a prospect hears how one brand was able to cater to a prospect, they are bound to come to you.
This is exactly what empathy does for your brand, it creates an impression of your brand in a good manner with every engagement and it’s time you do it for your sales activities to perform better.
The number one rule of empathy is that you need to first understand what your prospects’ pain points are, empathy can only be expressed when you understand what the other person is going through.
It is important that you hear or rather listen well to what your prospects are going through. The more you listen to your prospects, the better are you able to understand what their pain points are and how you can align your product solution according to resolve their issues.
Have you noticed that when you’re smiling or when you are in an angry mood or say dull mood, that affects your tone when speaking?
That is the reason how you are able to understand a person’s emotions or mood. You might not be speaking to your prospect face to face but that doesn’t mean you cannot make them feel comfortable or calmer when speaking to them over the call.
Try the technique of smiling when speaking to your prospect. When you tell your prospect that you have a solution and when you say this statement when smiling, they will instantly believe you and relax themselves.
When you smile your tone is more confident and gives away a more comfortable emotion to your prospects. Smile more, so that you can convince your prospects that your empathetic emotion is genuinely placed so that you can help them better.
‘’Asking questions about your buyer’s goals and pain points leads to better sales success.’’
You need to take authority for your prospects. If they have an issue or complaint they need to understand that they can rely on you to cater to that problem and bring them an efficient solution that solves all their woes.
When you communicate with empathy, the above process can take place.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Have you wondered that when you complain to a brand, there is this person whom you only want to engage with for anything?
You engage with that person because you realize that this person treated you differently, they were able to calm you down, they understood what you had to say and they genuinely were helping to resolve your issue. If you need any clarification, this is the person whom you will contact.
Why is your action towards this person consistent?
The reason is because he or she showed and spoke to you with empathy, they were able to earn your trust and attention and that is exactly how you need to cater to your prospects.
‘’Curiosity, intelligence, and an agile mind are the biggest predictors of sales success.’’
The whole point of selling is to cater to your prospect’s current need and the only way to find that out is by hearing them speak. As mentioned in the first pointer, you need to listen in order to be empathetic. You need to allow your prospects to speak what‘s on their mind so that you can cater to them better.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Say that you’re dealing with an angry prospect at the moment, they are not happy with the glitches taken place with your product. They are yelling and can’t be spoken to at the moment, what would you do here?
Interrupting them and trying to speak will not help, instead, you need to hear them out, you need to let them complete their angry emotion by spilling out all that they feel about the situation, once that is done, they would feel relieved and to make them retain this relieved emotion, speaking with empathy will help them to hear you and understand what you have to say.
When your prospects are speaking to you, never interrupt them, it is a sign of respecting what they have to say. Once they have completed their communication, you can continue further by asking them questions so that you can understand their needs and expectations better.
The reason you need to do this is because when you interrupt you are missing out on vital information that could help you cater to your prospects better. For instance, your prospects would speak about A topic, and when you interrupt they will move away from the A topic and speak on the B topic.
This is exactly what empathy is all about, think like your prospects.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Say you have a prospect that is finding it difficult to capture leads and this is bringing their business down, now if you think that by telling the prospect that they should invest in your solution will help resolve their issues, the prospects will not invest in your brand.
The reason being, the prospect is in a state where a minute investment is very crucial for them hence they need to make the right investment. For them to invest in the right way with your brand, you need to justify the reasons for them. How can you do that?
When you start to empathize with them. When you empathize with them, you are visualizing what would you do if this situation happened to you? What would you be worried most about? Why would you be hesitant to invest? What would be your expectations?
When you are able to do this, you can understand what your prospects are going through and hence cater to them better.
‘’You can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want.’’
When you’re engaging with your prospects you will be aware that there are certain things that are a priority for your prospects which is the main reason they want to invest in your brand, for example, increasing lead count, creating better brand awareness, and more.
When you understand their priority, you can cater to them better, for instance with lead rise, you could help plant your solution in such a manner where your prospects are able to understand how your product can help achieve this priority of yours.
You need to convince your prospects that you care for them and what we mean is showing them the emotion rather than just telling them.
The best way to do this is to empathize with them. With empathy, you are conveniently telling your prospects that you understand them and want to help them reach a solution for their problem.
Never start with your statements with a negative sentence when you have to deal with your prospect’s complaints.
For example: If a prospect complains to you regarding your product, avoid using the lines ‘’I am not sure we can help you with this’’, or ‘’I don’t think there is a solution’’. This can bring your brand under a negative light.
Instead switch to positive statements such as ‘’We can find a solution for this’’ or ‘’We will check this issue out the right way and come to a solution.’’ The more positive you communicate with your prospects the better engagement processes you have with them.
Empathy can never be formed on the basis of an assumption, you cannot assume what your prospects are going through because it will always be uncertain. Only by hearing them or listening to their pain points, will you be able to empathize with them the right way.
Empathy isn’t an emotion that is built in your system, rather it is an emotion that can be developed when you start to practice it, it will take time but you will be able to conduct it well.
To help you get started, we have covered the top phrases that you can begin with on your next sales call:
Aircall in one of its articles had shared a few phrases:
‘’19% of buyers want to talk to a sales rep when first learning about a product. ‘’
And if you begin this engagement with empathy, your sales deals will close much faster than you expected.
Your prospects have come to you because they prefer you better than your competitors, if you are going to engage with them in a manner that makes them feel that you treat them like an ordinary sales pitch, that might not be impressive from your brand end.
You have the tricks, the meanings and the purpose to develop empathy and practice the same to your ideal audience who can uplift your brand from the tight competition.
So tells us, what did you think of this article? What caught your attention about empathy? Which trick do you plan to practice first regarding empathy?
We would love to hear from you, to reach out to us all you need to do is tweet us.
, October 5, 2020, LimeCall Team
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