Communication with clients is a process through which relationships between people are realized, and an important component that makes up almost the entire human life. But communication is not just a conversation between people, but a whole communication system consisting of communicative parties, their mutual influence, ethics, communication techniques, and other components. In everyday life with close people, a person does not think so much about what intonation he has, the tone of his voice, and how high-quality information he conveys. But when the communication process is closely related to work and directly depends on it, then a person must master certain techniques for communicating with clients, methods of conveying information, and be guided by certain rules and ethics.
A person dealing with consumers must make communication a way to achieve a goal. Professional communication and communication skills always have a final positive result for the seller and the client who has satisfied his needs and purchased the service. Achieving mutual understanding, eliminating disagreements, attracting a person as a regular consumer - these are the main goals of communication with clients of a company that tries to preserve its reputation.
Psychology of communication with clients
Sales communication with clients is the main tool for attracting buyers. To properly structure the negotiation process, sellers need not only to be sociable, but also to master the basics of communication psychology.
The first impression is of great importance: further interaction directly depends on it. At the first meeting, a company employee forms an opinion not only about himself, but also creates an image of the company as a whole. Improper behavior can frighten the buyer and the company will lose profits. Therefore, you should approach each meeting responsibly and prepare.
The following tips will help you conduct successful negotiations:
- Before the meeting, clearly formulate your proposal. Try to anticipate the client's possible questions so you can be prepared to answer them.
- Evaluate your appearance: it should be neat and tidy, and if the company has a dress code, then comply with it.
- When you meet, look your interlocutor in the eyes, offer your hand first and greet weakly, then introduce yourself first.
- Do not violate a person’s personal space, keep a distance of about a meter.
Friendliness and respect for your comfort zone will put your interlocutor in a positive mood. After this, you can start a conversation.
Find out what a sales funnel is and why your business needs it
Classification of conflicting personalities
Based on the above, we can distinguish a classification of conflicting personalities:
- Demonstrative personalities. Their goal is to constantly be in the spotlight, enjoy success and admiration.
- Original personalities. They are unable or unwilling to take other people's views and aspirations into account. Their actions are characterized by bad manners, unceremoniousness and often rudeness.
- Uncontrollable individuals. This personality type often lacks self-control regarding their statements, actions and behavior.
- Ultra-precise people. Problems arise when communicating with a given type of person, who tends to make inflated or fictitious demands. Those people who do not meet their requirements need re-education.
- Rationalists. These are not only prudent people, but also always ready to conflict, especially if the conflict will help them achieve their goals or solve specific problems
- Weak-willed conflicting personalities. They do not have their own thoughts and beliefs, and therefore communication with them requires less spiritual and physical effort. It is enough to simply convince them of the correctness of their own statements or the legitimacy of their own actions, but they perceive not only positive ideas, but also negative ones.
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There is another classification of conflicting personalities:
- Aggressor. This person is characterized by constant dominance over others. It often loses its temper, even if there are no worthy reasons for this. Such a person considers it normal to be rude to each other or say unpleasant words.
- Complainant. A peculiar type of conflict personality who is ready to cry and blame others for his problems and failures. He himself does nothing to overcome them.
- Maximalist. It differs in that when communicating it uses the characteristics of everything that happens around. At the same time, he distinguishes only black and white colors, that is, only positive and negative actions. It is difficult to argue with him, to find a mutually acceptable solution, since he has an aspiration - to achieve his goal, and immediately.
Ethics of communication with clients
A polite and respectful attitude during communication is always pleasant, so the ethics of business communication with a client becomes an important assistant in building a productive conversation.
Politeness is the main component of ethics. It must be demonstrated not only through words, but also through tone of voice, manners, and actions.
It is also extremely important to show respect to the interlocutor: monitor intonation, listen carefully, show interest, answer all questions. Under no circumstances should you interrupt, be distracted, put pressure on, or insist on making a decision right now.
The conversation should be relaxed, the information should be understandable. The interlocutor needs to be given time to think. The main thing is moderation in everything.
Add positivity
According to the basics of psychology, it is seriously recommended to compliment difficult interlocutors. The main thing is that it does not look like ingratiation. Anyone can appreciate direct and honest friendliness, but no one likes sycophants. In addition, ingratiation can be perceived as a sign of weakness, and even then the opponent will definitely begin to finish you off. To avoid this, follow these rules for dealing with difficult people:
- Maintain dignity in everything.
- Smile openly, but not ingratiatingly.
- Don't try to calm your interlocutor, just talk to him in a positive way.
- Tell the truth. If you give a compliment, it should at least be similar to the truth.
Rules and principles of communication with the client
There are basic rules that should be followed in communication, regardless of the company’s field of activity:
- Show an individual approach, focus on the client’s needs. The buyer should feel cared for, a desire to help, and not just sell.
- Speak to the client in a language that he understands so that the interlocutor does not doubt his competence. The ability to speak correctly with clients will save time on explaining terms, and thereby allow you to talk more about the benefits of the offer.
- Maintain a businesslike nature of communication: do not be late for meetings, answer calls and letters in a timely manner, take work issues and requests seriously.
- Maintain an impeccable appearance not only at the first meeting.
The principle “the customer is always right” is a very reasonable one, but you need to remember that there are exceptions to every rule. It is better to refuse manipulative clients, because they will not only waste your time and nerves, but can also damage your reputation.
Visibility and accuracy of the information received
Text channels support the communication format familiar to users. Consumers love that, unlike a phone call, they don't have to spend a lot of time explaining what they want. All you need to do is send the required file: geolocation, link, picture, etc. This is especially true for people under 25 years of age who prefer visual information.
In any situation, the client can express emotions in the same way as during “live” interaction using stickers and emojis.
Text communication saves customers from pauses, forced “wait on the line” while the operator is looking for an answer or thinking, etc. That is, clients can receive exactly the information they ask for. For example, major brands like Hyatt and BMW already support Facebook Messenger, offering all the same information and services as traditional channels.
To summarize, I would like to note that businesses have great potential for interacting with consumers in the digital environment and developing e-commerce. In Russia, 86 million people use the Internet (almost 70% of the population!), and the mobile audience is 50 million. Already today, half of online purchases are made from mobile phones or tablets.
According to a study by Accenture Strategy, 68% of Russian consumers experience severe frustration if they find it difficult to interact with a company, and 70% change suppliers at least once a year due to poor service. Therefore, text channels are a great opportunity to provide good service.
Digital channels provide accessibility for businesses to communicate with customers where it is convenient for them, because they access the network from almost anywhere, at any time. They also allow you to personalize communication and make it “live.” Use every opportunity to make it as comfortable as possible for consumers to communicate with you - connect text channels that may be useful to your target audience. Only then will their loyalty grow and they will want to come back to you again and again.
Standards of communication with the client
Rudeness or improper behavior of staff can be costly for a business owner: it can affect profits or damage their reputation. To avoid this, many companies are developing and implementing customer communication standards that help employees avoid unpleasant situations and be as customer-oriented as possible. Standards are a set of rules and prohibitions that must be followed, as well as communication scripts. This is most relevant for sales managers, call centers, large companies, where it is impossible to control every employee, and the interaction of departments must be clear.
High-quality communication with clients is the basis of any company’s work and the key to high earnings for employees. It is necessary to maneuver between the interests of the client and the company. You need to speak the same language with the client, but not stoop to his level if the client swears or is rude. Just being a sociable person is not enough. These skills need to be learned and honed. The ethics and psychology of communication with the client will come to the rescue, which will allow you to create a good first impression and win over your interlocutor. By following the basic rules of communication with a client, you can build a productive business conversation and achieve your goals.
We talk about how to create a constant flow of customers into a business using social networks and the power of the Internet at an open online meeting.
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How to Deal with Difficult People
Difficult people have negative effects on us because their negative emotions are transferred to us. If contact with a difficult person cannot be avoided or we do not want to break off relations with him forever, we can try to neutralize him.
American psychologist D. Scott in his book “Methods of Conflict Resolution” suggests:
- determine what type “our” difficult person is;
- remain calm and neutral so as not to be influenced by the negative emotions emitted by him;
- Depending on the type of conflict person, choose a “key” for him.
Nir Eyal. Hooked
The book was also published under the title “Buyer on the Hook.” She studies the characteristics of consumer behavior; why some products attract their interest and others do not, how consumption of certain products becomes a habit. The author breaks down the process of habit formation among buyers into four stages and examines each of them in detail. Convenient and practical guide.
But we would like to remind you that in order to successfully run a business, it will not be superfluous to obtain basic knowledge of economics, read textbooks or the works of classics.
Promotion of your services
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How to use social networks to find clients? Among the huge audience of social networks there are also potential clients of freelancers. Another question is how to find and “hook” them? We will talk about this in our article.
Free advertising: how can a freelancer promote his services? How to promote yourself with limited resources? Read our article.
What is a sales funnel and why is it needed? How to set up effective sales and put deals on stream.
Seth Godin. Purple cow
This book is important because its author is one of the most successful Internet marketers, a former vice president of marketing at Yahoo!. The main message of the book is that, on the one hand, customers want to buy cheaper, but on the other hand, they want to be surprised. This is the meaning of the title of the book: if you see a purple cow, you will not forget it, and even tell others about it. The commercial offer should be just as surprising and unusual.
Godin explains how to achieve this.
Heidi Halvorson and Tori Higgins. Psychology of motivation
Full title: “The Psychology of Motivation: How Deep Settings Affect Our Desires and Goals.” The authors analyze not only the psychology of the buyer: the book generally tries to explain all people, attributing to them two types of motivation. The first motivation is the fear of failure, the second is the thirst for success. Simply put, we have a slightly adjusted gradation for pessimists and optimists, transferred to the types of clients in psychology.
The value of the book lies precisely in the application of these two motivations to sales strategies and personnel management. If you believe that human behavior can be reduced to two types of motivation, then this book is for you and about you.
