I first heard the concept of “mirroring” in a sales podcast, where the interviewer and the interviewee talked on and on about the psychology behind this high effective sales skill. Now, you are probably wondering: what is mirroring? Essentially, mirroring is when the salesperson replicates the movements or actions of the customer to increase trust. If this technique seems advanced, that’s because it is. Salespeople spend months to even years being able to execute this skill consistently and genuinely. The reason mirroring is attributed to a higher potential for success is because of the raport building area of the sales process. People respond better and trust people that are more like them, even down to mannerisms. Using this to their advantage, salespeople mirror to build this sort of trust.
Since not many customers know about mirroring, this makes it easy for salespeople to mirror undetected. Not only that, but the customer most likely doesn’t know that the salesperson is “trying” to act like them. So when is enough mirroring? At what point can advanced salespeople transition into a close? After enough trust is built through mirroring, the salesperson may then try his own mannerism very discretely. This could be the scratch of a head or twiddling of your fingers. If the customer then repeats that movement, then you have successfully built enough trust. (Incredible how psychology works, right!) Quite like fishing, you must be patient in this process. You may have to throw out your line a couple of times to get a nibble, but ultimately you’ll be able to reel in a good one!
BoweryJE22
Wow, that’s actually really cool! I think it can be dangerous sometimes to mirror someone though, because I can easily see a salesperson making the mistake of focusing too much on mirroring someone and not enough on connecting with them. That is a very interesting/useful tidbit to use, though, with future sales.
Fascinating. However the danger does lie in the fact that the salesperson could be spending too much time and effort on trying to mirror than actually make a good sale. However I think it’s a skill that can be learned and when done in the right amount can make for a successful salesperson.
I once had a car salesmen try mirroring on me. He tried to speak/act in ways that had previously worked on people my age. I wasn’t super impressed, however, because it felt a bit fake and generic as if he did this with all millennials. If mirroring can be done well though then that would be a great tactic in sales!