In Pink’s book that we have been reading, Pink talks about the idea of mimicry in sales; that if we mimic the expressions and posture of the people we are selling to it will make our selling process much more favorable and effective. I can see the reasoning behind this, but I have to admit I find it a little hard to believe. So I decided to go looking for the evidence and I found a research paper put out by The Journal of retailing and consumer services, in which a study was done in a retail setting to try and understand the relationship between mimicry and sales. They basically set up a retail situation where they used mimicry techniques, both verbal and behavioral techniques. They also did the same thing while not using these techniques. When the customers left the store they were asked to evaluate the store and the sales person that aided them in their purchasing process. In this study they found a direct correlation between mimicry and increased sales, and mimicry and a higher evaluation status of both the store and the salesperson. So basically when mimicry techniques were used, the customer was a lot more likely to make a purchase, and a lot more likely to follow the salespersons advice on which product to purchase. Also the evaluations show that mimicry provides a more positive outlook, from the customers perspective, on the selling situation. The sales people that used mimicry techniques were liked to a much higher degree than those that did not. This study is very interesting, and my hunch is, that there are a lot more studies similar to this that prove Daniel Pink’s point about sales and mimicry. The take away; when in a sales situation it’s a good bet to mimic your prospects behavior and verbal countenance. The research paper I reference can be found here.
BoweryJE22