8 Under the Radar Hypnotic Selling Techniques

What do we mean “Under the Radar”?

Getting under the radar is a way of sneaking in through the back door without anyone noticing. The Stealth Fighter plane is famous for evading the enemy’s radar systems so it can drop its bombs with precision accuracy. Harry Potter is legendary for his invisible cloak which allows him to sneak anywhere un-noticed.

Now if you, like me, believe wholeheartedly in ethical selling. In other words only selling something to someone who genuinely needs it and can afford it. Without a hesitation of doubt…then you need some selling under the radar tips because you can use them with the belief that you’re legitimately helping the customer along the path of the sale.

Now that’s really important to get off my chest because it’s true to say that I honestly believe that if you have the slightest doubt whether to proceed with the sale, then you shouldn’t. Find a customer who truly needs your product or service.

Just like a rolling stone…someone needs to give it a little push first and then it travels a path. Customers sometimes need a little push along the right path and these tips will help you do just that.

Lets start with “under the radar” tip number 1, truisms.

Truisms

A truism is a statement or sentence that is, without doubt, true and most people will find themselves agreeing to it. They are a great calming skill and all you're doing here is confirming to the customer what is true in their minds and allowing them to go into a state of comfort where there are no hidden surprises.

Simply say things that are true for the customer, Keep them global at first such as

"Its a beautiful day today isn't it?"
"Parking’s a bit tricky in town at this time?"

Then later on you could use some truisms you've found out about the customer such as:
"Your family is a real priority to you aren't they?"

"From the information on the form you obviously keep yourselves fit and healthy"
"Getting a service that will save you time is important to you, don't you think?"

As the customer relaxes and sees that your product is right for them...introduce some specific truisms such as:

"So you agree your budget for the package is just under £600 per month?"
"You'd like to complete the forms now?"

Notice that I've tagged some of the questions at the end with what we call a 'yes tag'.

Yes Tags

These are little words at the end of the statements to get a positive "yes" from the customer. Useful to gain a commitment to move the sale along. Yes tags come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and I just know you've used them before without knowing what they were called...haven't you?

Examples of yes tags...

Haven't you
Aren't you
Don't you
Isn't it?
Won't you.

Just put one at the end of a truism, statement and your customer will want to nod their head in agreement.

But I'm sure you'll agree, won't you, that overuse is dangerous Chocolate is lovely in small doses - too much and you can become very queasy indeed...
...don't you think?

Embedded Suggestions

This one does sound rather rude, doesn’t it? And this is the under the radar tip that is closely related to hypnotic selling.

You see, so much in our lives is automated. Our bodies and minds are on auto pilot constantly as we try to make sense of the signals we’re being bombarded with continuously. We do this because if we had to consciously focus on absolutely everything, we’d probably explode. Our conscious mind can only deal with between 5 and 9 senses at any given time, much less if you’re a man!

So everything else is dealt with admirably by our sub-conscious or behind the scenes brain processing. This is why brands are so powerful. We see Robinsons on the juice bottle and automatically buy it. We’re in the pub and see Stella on show and order a pint without giving it anymore thought, well I do anyway.

This rule of life helps us to understand why all these under the radar tips work but specifically embedded commands.

These are words or short phrases that we slip in with our normal conversation that are ignored but subliminally processed by our customers to have an effect. Here’s some examples:

“I, like many other people, enjoy driving”
“Buy now, Mr Smith, you’re wondering what benefits this product gives you…”
“You, like me, enjoy getting value for your money”
“I’m hoping you’ll want to place an order right now, but before you do…”
“Buy the way, let’s have a quick summary of the benefits of this plan.”

So there are 5 examples for you of embedded suggestions. You’ll notice, like many other people reading this article, that I mis-spelt buy. It should be by. But the reason I did this was to show you that some words have more than one meaning and the brain has to process all the various meanings before it arrives at the right one. So the customer is thinking about buying without knowing it.

Also I really want the customer to like me, so I embedded the phrase in and at the same time drove home the fact that I like lots of people. The other phrases are just suggestions that I openly stated.

These all slip under the radar or into the sub conscious and start working for you.

Negation

These are similar to the previous tip but slightly different so they need a separate category. If I said to my 8 year old son, Euan…don’t worry about the carol concert this afternoon, what do you think he’ll think? That’s right he will worry because I’ve suggested he shouldn’t but just by suggesting this I’ve reminded him of his fears.

Likewise if I said to you now please don’t ever consider eating an apple. You’ll consider eating an apple. You can’t stop yourself because your brain has processed the positive before obeying the don’t command.

Use this in sales to make suggestions that you don’t want to be accused of later. For example:

“Don’t think for a moment that you need to decide to go ahead today”
“I’ll not be asking for the order today”

Good aren’t they? You don’t have to get excited about all of this right now, do you?

And and But

Vicky Pollard is making the word “but” celebrated in comedy circles. Yeah, but, no, but yeah, but no….

Surprisingly the word but has enormous powers as it draws your attention.

Unfortunately we use the word “but” to draw someone’s attention to a negative.

“The product will work here but the feature set isn’t quite appropriate.”
“The benefits are numerous but my fee is £x”

The trick is to replace the word “but” with “and” to minimise the impact, or turn the sentence around so the word “but” illustrates the positive. For example:

“The feature set isn’t quite appropriate but the product will work here.”
“The benefits are numerous and my fee is £x”

Simple but extremely effective…beware of the word “but”

Because

Let's look at the power of 'because'. This is something that's important to understand because when you do, many things will become clear about why you and other people do what you do.

Research done by Langer, Blank and Chanowitz in 1978 produced some very surprising results. They were testing the theory that if we ask someone to do something, we will be more successful if we supply a reason. Which is true. However, along the way they discovered something even more powerful.

They persuaded 94% of people to allow them to cut into a queue at a photocopier by saying “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Copy machine because I'm in a rush?”. When they made the request only, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Copy machine?” the rate went down to 60%. At first they thought that the difference was down to giving people a good reason, that they were in a rush. Not so.

They continued the experiment by now asking “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” 93% complied, even though there was no real reason stated! No rush, no emergency, just the word because.
But “why” I hear you all asking. My daughter Bethan is going through the “why” stage where every other word she uses is why. After a while we as parents, look to an easy answer and quickly get into the habit of using “because”.

So how can we use this in selling? Simply use the word “because” whenever you ask them to do something.

“Mr Smith, would you allow me to ask you a few questions about your current situation because I would like to find out which of our products would be most suitable for you.”

Physical Anchoring

Anchoring is a term used to relate something to something else. Our world is full of anchors or reminders. The smell of fresh cut grass, the sound of church bells ringing, the voice of a loved one. These things trigger a memory and that memory floods back into our minds and we can enjoy those same wonderful feelings we had before.

You can use anchoring in selling by establishing a physical movement or sound for a particular instance and then re-ignite the moment later to allow the customer to re-visit the feeling or thought they had. I’d better give you some examples.

You start the meeting and during your “signposting” you assure the customer that they don’t need to worry about making hasty decisions but you will ask them at the end of the meeting whether they want to go ahead or not. You say “on one hand you could say yes (holding up your right hand) or on the other hand you could say no (holding up your left hand). Warm up the anchor a few times by holding up your right hand everytime you say yes during the conversation. That way they get used to the gesture which now means “yes”. So when you ask them at the end of the conversation whether they would like to go ahead you raise…guess which hand?

One I like to use is the pointing figure. Not pointing right at your customer because that’s rude but pointing slightly in the air. I use it with the phrase “do you get my point”. So when I’ve explained something to my customer I ask them do you get my point and raise my finger (this is my pointing finger by the way – but you knew that didn’t you?).

Later in the meeting when I’ve explained a particularly good benefit I just raise my finger in the same way and nodding to the customer and yes…they get my point. It’s fun.
Tonality is important here too. Lowering your tonality indicates an instruction or a command, so you can lower your tone when making a request or suggestion. This works well with embedded suggestions.

Stories

These are, without doubt, the most powerful way of moving the sales process along, with the customer firmly behind you all the way. Telling stories that’re linked to the sales message are brilliant because they are remembered. They are full of sensory data – images, sounds, feelings and simply carry the customer with you.

Your stories don’t have to be long – the best ones are short and to the point. But they do need a connection or link to a point you want to make. A good story will engage the customer and you’ll be amazed by the attention they’ll give you. Stories about previous customers work well when describing benefits of your product or service. Describe how the customer used your product to overcome a problem, for example. Illustrate a time when you used the product to help you liberally sprinkling within your story the various benefits of your product. Put a plot into the story, a journey maybe…possibly a twist in the tale and you’ll have your customer glued to the spot savouring each and every word you utter.

Practise your stories so they trickle off your tongue and feel like poetry.

Summary

So there we have 8 “under the radar” tips which you can use when selling your product or service. Try one or maybe two next time. Feel the reaction and try some more after that. But like anything in life, and indeed it is one of life’s truisms…you have to try…so I wish you all the best in your future selling.

Paul is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK.

He specialises in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small.

Sign up to my weekly eZine of sales and coaching tips and get a free report on getting the best out of 2009 plus a free hypnotic relaxation MP3 to download. www.archertraining.co.uk

01452 730276

paul@paularcher.com

Blog – www.paularcher.com

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