Empathy is normally not a skill you think of when you think of sales. Normally people think of terms like outgoing, cold-calling, pushy, etc.. Empathy is actually a very important skill when it comes to being a great sales person.
According to Wikipedia, “Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.“
Empathy means you have the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and be able see the world through their eyes. It allows you see if there is a problem with your customer, that they might not even see yet.
Empathy also builds trust- it shows your customer that you care and want to help them, which is very important when making a sale.
Empathy makes you a differentiator- Being empathetic will help you as a salesperson stand out from the other salesmen trying to make the same sale. It shows the customer from the beginning you care about them and your main priority is to help them, not make the sale.
So how do you develop empathy? Some people are naturally more empathetic than others, but it’s a skill everyone can learn to have. The most important thing to learn about being empathetic is to make sure you listen. Listening is key when making the sale because you can hear exactly what the customer’s pain is and better be able to relate to how you can fix it. This way you can know maybe you product or service isn’t right for this situation and there is a better fit out there.
BoweryJE22
I definitely agree! I am naturally an empathetic person and I believe that empathy helps you in a sales process. If you believe in the product and really care about the customer, then your empathy helps the other person see that you know what they are feeling and they are not lying to you. I think that we can all become better listeners and if we do, we will become better salespeople.
I agree with you that empathy is important in sales. Listening to the customer shows that you care about what they are saying. Empathy is definitely hard to develop but, as you said, it is a great skill for salespeople to have. Taking the time to listen to others every day is important in developing empathy.
Being in the other person’s shoes is so important, especially with sales. Most of the time, people don’t want a sales person taking up their time due to the stereotype salespeople carry. Understanding that and proceeding with care is essential in sales.