Boardrooms—where buying committees in suits thrive while making big important decisions based on cold hard facts about important things like employee benefits. They are a plethora of spreadsheets, basis points, and pro forma.
It’s not a place for emotion, or is it?
For all the facts and figures that are scrutinized when making decisions about their employee benefits, it is people—sisters, brothers, dads, and daughters—who fill those big cushy leather seats and make decisions. They have hearts, problems, hopes, and dreams. They have emotions.
And as much as they would like to think that their boardroom decisions are based solely on hard data, the reality is that emotion plays a significant part in forming the opinions that drive their decisions. Most experts agree that emotions are the dominant driver for decision-making.
Selling in today’s commoditized world creates an even greater reliance on emotional connection. As products and services become harder to differentiate, buyers go with their gut.
This is particularly true towards the end of the sales cycle in finals presentations when buyers have selected finalists and are consciously or unconsciously asking questions like: Do I like these people? Can I trust them? Do I want to work with them?
Ironically, when sales teams prepare for a presentation they predominately focus on the data, assuming that the facts and figures will close the deal.
There is very little discussion about the emotions that they want to foster in the people in the room. Even when there is a sensitivity to the importance of emotion, it can be hard to figure out what to do about it, and too easy to get absorbed back into the data. Data is safe, comfortable and familiar.
Emotions, on the other hand, can feel risky, uncomfortable and unconventional.
So, what can you do to connect with the emotions of the people in the boardroom? Here are four simple techniques.
1. Be conscious of the emotions that you want to foster
When we coach deal teams, we often conduct what I call the “reviews exercise.” This is when I challenge the team to think about what they want the prospect to say when they leave the room.
Most immediate conversations are gut reactions rather than a dialogue on the content.
Examples of this may be “I feel like we can trust them, they really seem to love what they do, they would be fun to work with, they’ll take good care of our employees.”
Just being intentional about the desired reactions will go a long way in helping you to foster the right emotions.
2. Use emotional words
Words like excited, awesome, confident, and passionate are a few examples. They demonstrate your emotion, which in turn can help you make an emotional connection.
Just today I was interviewing someone on the phone for an upcoming project. At some point during the conversation, he said, “I absolutely love my team.” I became acutely aware that I had an emotional response to that statement. I immediately liked him.
3. Incorporate emotional images
Images of people and animals can be powerful tools for fostering emotion. From the minute we are born we are wired to focus on faces.
Faces expressing happiness can make a person feel happier. Baby faces evoke some of the most powerful emotional responses. Studies show that we have a chemical reaction when presented with a baby’s face.
This response transfers over to images of cute animals as well. I use babies and animals frequently in my presentations and they often inspire an audible “ahh…” reaction from the audience.
4. Tell stories
There is no better way to connect emotionally with people than through storytelling. Stories that incorporate people and their emotions are powerful.
I recently coached a team where a woman told a story about how she had helped a client with her personal finances right after the woman had received a terminal cancer diagnosis. You could hear a pin drop when she told the story. The audience was left with a renewed appreciation of how important their decision is and a feeling that their employees would be in good hands with this financial advisor.
Yes, emotion does belong in the boardroom and plays a more important role in decision making than most people think. Being conscious of the emotions you desire to evoke and using images, emotional language and stories will help you to win more business.
Nadine Keller is President and CEO of Precision Sales Coaching & Training. Her firm has provided strategic programs for tens of thousands of sales professionals with measurable results. Her expertise crosses sales, marketing and communications with a focus on helping organizations drive sales behavior to achieve their goals.
Keller is an avid writer and speaker. Her most recent work is a book titled Make it All About Them: Winning Sales Presentations published by Wiley in 2013.
Nadine Keller is President and CEO of Precision Sales Coaching & Training. Her firm has provided strategic programs for tens of thousands of sales professionals with measurable results. Her expertise crosses sales, marketing and communications with a focus on helping organizations drive sales behavior to achieve their goals. Keller is an avid writer and speaker. Her most recent work is a book titled Make it All About Them: Winning Sales Presentations published by Wiley in 2013.
