Over 36 million viewers watched Lady Gaga’s performance at the Oscars last week and the Academy honored her tribute to Julie Andrews with a standing ovation. What made her rendition of Sound of Music so riveting? In a word: Commitment. She didn’t pause to see if her audience was accepting of her, she never slowed to gauge if heads were nodding, she didn’t move her body slowly, she boldly projected her voice, tattoos and all, with full force and complete confidence.
You need that same commitment, that unabashed confidence, more than any other factor to expect your customers to purchase today. Follow these three rules to project confidence to your customers. Failure to do so will jeopardize your earnings.
- Limit the Fidget. Research shows when we fidget, we appear less authentic. Resist the temptation to tap, touch or pat when asking for the deal.
- Quote Price in a Low Confident Voice. When we’re insecure we subconsciously revert to a higher pitched voice. Pitch voice appears inauthentic to our customers. When you quote price, don’t stop to seek approval. Lay out the terms in a solid confident tone of voice.
- If You’re Not Afraid to Lose, You’ll Never Win. In the new book, “Feeling Smart,” by Eyal Winter, the author maintains that an individual who can credibly persuade his opponent that is insistent on a particular outcome-even at the cost of self harm-gains an advantage. In other words, if you can persuade the buyer that you have no intention of reducing the asking price – even if it means sinking the deal -you are much more likely to close the deal. But… you have to mean it.
Everyday you engage in a performance with your customer.