Peter Freeth has written a series of articles for UK Recruiter magazine, based on his experience in helping recruitment consultants and other sales people get better results, more consistently.
Peter uses a variety of tools when coaching including NLP, and the content of the articles is based on practical experience with recruiters in a wide range of recruitment and search businesses.
You can read the articles on NLP and also on making sales calls easier.
How to love making your sales calls
Part 1 - An introduction
In this series of articles, Peter Freeth will be exploring the many ways that recruiters can use the techniques and principles of NLP to achieve better results, more consistently.
I suppose the first thing I should do is explain why NLP is relevant to you, and what it is.
First of all, many recruiters are already using NLP techniques in everyday communication, candidate profiling, influencing, marketing and in hundreds of other applications. NLP is relevant to you because it allows you to access the skills and resources you already have in a way that makes it easier for you to get consistent results. NLP is not about you learning a whole different way of operating – if anything, it’s a way for you to concentrate more easily on what already works for you. Of course, NLP does contain a lot of tools and techniques that you can pick up and use, I’m just guessing that you already use many of them without knowing it.
NLP is not new – it’s not a complicated system dreamt up by someone in a dark cave somewhere, it’s simply a method of modelling and replicating unconscious, behavioural skills. Over the past 30 years or so, excellent performers in many areas have been modelled to produce techniques. Therapists were originally modelled for their ability to help other people change. Since then, athletes have been modelled for their ability to motivate themselves and reach peak performance states. Sales people have been modelled for their ability to build great relationships and influence the outcome of negotiations. Actors have been modelled for their ability to access states – I heard that Mike Myers uses it to access the different characters he plays in the Austin Powers films. I spend a lot of time working with teams in companies, modelling the high performers and transferring that model to everyone else in the team, so that everyone can get the same results.
You might be wondering what “NLP” stands for – Neuro Linguistic Programming, which simply means that it’s the study of the relationship between your brain, your language and your behaviour. It also implies that any unconscious behaviour – something that you can do without having to think about it – is a series of simple programs that can be run without conscious intervention. Driving a car is a good example of a series of programs – changing gear, knowing where to steer etc. – that you mostly control consciously. If you have ever ‘missed’ part of a journey or had a conversation with someone whilst driving, you’ll have an experience of unconscious behaviour.
So how do recruiters use NLP now? They use it to make sales calls easier. They use it to find out what’s really important to the client. They use it to find out how the client will make a decision. They use NLP’s profiling toolkit to carry out psychometric profiling in real time, conversationally. They help candidates to access resourceful states for interviews and presentations. They help clients make good decisions. And they use it to maintain the motivation and focus that are so important in recruitment.
Next month, I’ll be getting in a right state – helping you to access your high performance states, and influence the states of your colleagues, clients and candidates.
Part 2 - State
Our state – our physical and mental condition at any given moment - drives everything we do - affecting your thoughts, your ability to think, your physical condition and even your long term health. Some people find that their state is highly influenced by the people and events around them, whilst other people find that they can exert a high degree of control over their own state.
In fact, both are true for everyone. We are social animals, and we respond very quickly to other people’s states just as the whole flock of sheep will be nervous if there’s a predator around. We all also have techniques that we regularly use to manage our own state, ranging from exercise and music through to talking with friends and eating chocolate.
Take a moment to think of what you do now to manage your state. Do you rely on external influences such as music and a change of scenery, or can you generate your own internal state change just by saying something to yourself or recalling a memory that makes you feel good? It doesn’t matter which you use, and most people find a combination of both to be really effective. The important thing for you to remember is that your state is under your control, no-one else’s.
Here are a couple of ways that you can have even more control of your state than you already do.
The first one is easy – move. Do anything that involves physical movement – stand up, stretch – anything. Don’t just sit at your desk wishing you felt better, get up, walk around the office, look out of the window.
The second is more specific and might take a bit of practice. First, you need to decide what will be the most useful state to be in for a given outcome. That’s not necessarily happy or confident; there are times when you might be more effective by being curious, confused or even angry. Once you’ve chosen your state, remember a time when you experienced that – a specific memory. Now, allow yourself to recall that memory in as much detail as you can, remembering the images, sounds, feelings, tastes or smells. As you take time to fully explore the memory, make the picture bigger and brighter, the sounds louder and the feelings more intense. This might sound strange, so give it a go and see what happens. When you notice the feeling has reached its most intense, think of a word that represents it – whatever comes naturally to mind – and think of something else that you can attach to this state. Some people find colours work well, others music, whilst others find a particular aspect of the feeling works well.
How would you use this process? Well, advertisers use it all the time to link their brand name to an emotional state. It’s a natural process that’s part of the way we form long term memories and learn emotional responses, so we might as well use it. You can even use it to ‘anchor’ positive states in clients and candidates, by having them tell you about really good recruitment experiences that you then anchor with a word, voice tone or gesture. Of course, that’s a more advanced application that you might want to have a go at once you’ve really practiced this on yourself.
For now, just practice all the different states that you can easily access to make yourself more resourceful, enjoy yourself more and get into the right frame of mind to be really effective at anything you want to do.
Next month, we’ll be talking about rapport – the medium through which we can communicate most effectively and build great relationships with other people.
Part 3 - Rapport
The next time you’re in a bar or restaurant, look around and notice who is in rapport. Spend a few moments observing what happens between two people who are in rapport with each other and notice the way they move. It’s almost as if they’re sharing the same thoughts, communicating without words and enjoying a deep mutual understanding.
When two people are very close, it seems that their thoughts are synchronised. In fact, they are. They are thinking in the same way, about the same ideas, and there is a general agreement state between them. When you’re in rapport with someone, you are more likely to agree with them than disagree. If there are ideas that you disagree over, you are more likely to look for the other person’s point of view and to try to understand their beliefs. When you don’t have rapport, even the most minor disagreement will create a rift between you that can be impossible to bridge.
You can read a lot in books on how to create rapport, what you need to do, what you need to say and so on. It’s all rubbish! Focussing on what you need to do is the exact opposite of what you naturally do when you create rapport. In order to develop a trusting, close relationship with someone, you just have to pay more attention to them instead of yourself. When you meet a client for the first time, instead of worrying about what to say, thinking about how you look or come across, think only about them, what they want and what’s important to them. You’ll find that by naturally focussing on the other person, rapport will be almost inevitable.
Almost? First impressions are important and you already know that you just won’t naturally see eye to eye with certain people. Maybe you’re just very different types of people and for some reason you don’t hit it off. There are many reason for this, and fortunately one of the most common is one of the easiest to correct.
We use our senses, not just to take in information from the outside world, but also to think. What colour is your front door? What does your phone’s ring tone sound like? How soft is your toothbrush? To answer these questions, you think using your senses. People tend to prefer one sense over the others, so some people tend to think in pictures, some in sounds or words, and some in feelings and sensations. As soon as you realise it, it’s obvious.
Look at the people around you. Looking up, drawing pictures with their hands, talking fast, using words like perspective, view, bright? Visual. Head tilted to one side, hands conducting or emphasising, talking evenly, using words like wavelength, amplify, tune? Auditory. Head down, eyes closed, hands still, talking slowly, using words like feel, touch, grasp? Kinaesthetic.
People who are strongly rooted in one sensory system tend to find communication difficult with someone in a different system, just like speaking to someone in a foreign language. See what I mean? Hear what I’m saying? Getting to grips with it?
If you’ve already thought of people who fall into these categories, you can begin to understand how they see, hear or feel the world differently to you, and you can use that information to communicate with them more easily. That alone will deepen the rapport that you have already created by paying more attention to them.
When you get onto someone else’s wavelength, the results can be amazing. You’ve probably had the experience where you really hit it off with someone, where it’s as if you’re part of the same picture. You’ve probably wished you could recreate that at times – and now you can.
Next month we’ll be exploring outcomes – the art of getting what you want.
Part 4 - Outcomes
Are you the kind of person who naturally sets yourself goals and targets? If so, you may already realise a very important thing about success. You tend to get what you want if you know what you want.
That might sound obvious, but just for today, pay attention to how often the people around you say what they don’t want. “Do you want to go out for lunch?” … “Well, I don’t want to be too long”. How about “OK, and I need to be back at 1:30”. Much more useful!
How about getting a decorator to paint your living room “not blue”? Your brain is an analogue computer, which means that there are no opposites or negatives. What is the opposite of black? What about the opposite of tomorrow? The opposite of a zebra? The opposite of Wednesday?
You get the idea. So, what other important things can we bear in mind when setting goals? Well, it really helps if the goal is actually something that you can achieve. I don’t mean something like climbing a mountain, I mean something that is under your direct control. Getting a job is not under the candidate’s control, because it involves the client making a decision. How could you rephrase that goal so that it is more controllable? How about “to get the skills I need to be considered for that job”. So if a goal is not entirely under your control, you need to refine the goal so you can exert as much influence as possible. If you don’t, you will waste time and energy on something you cannot influence.
Next, we have to convert the goal into brain language – something that is directly represented in your senses. Let’s say you want to be a millionaire before you’re 40. You might think that is really specific but it’s actually quite vague in terms of something your brain can get to grips with. What does a million pounds look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? And when is ‘before 40?’ Next week? Next year?
What will hitting your target look like? What will you see? What will you hear? And what will you feel? You might even taste or smell something. For example, you might see yourself looking at your results, hear your clients and candidates sounding happy and feel a sense of achievement. Whilst you might think that sounds vague, it is something that your brain can understand and you be more likely to achieve it. If you are used to setting yourself SMART objectives, then the combination of the two will be irresistible.
Finally, we have to make sure your goal has no unpleasant side effects. Often, people think about something they want but fail to take into account the consequences of achieving it. Whilst they don’t think about the consequences consciously, they are very aware of them at an unconscious level and the person will sabotage their own attempts to achieve the goal. For example, imagine you have a candidate who wants to get a promotion. They are driven by the desire for more money or recognition, but they always seem to trip themselves up at interview. You might find that they are not considering the extra responsibility and pressure that can come with promotion, and until they resolve that they will prevent themselves from succeeding in order to protect their unconscious needs.
If we take all of these 4 criteria together, we end up with a principle known as Well Formed Outcomes. When a goal is positive, under your control, based in sensory experience and congruent, you are very likely to achieve it, even more easily than you could have imagined. Just pick something simple like running an errand at lunchtime or doing some admin work and think of it as a well formed goal, and you might surprise yourself with how easy it becomes. Then you can move onto more interesting goals like your second million or your other house in the Bahamas.
One final tip: write your goal down, and tell other people about it. You will find that it takes on a life of its own and grows beyond even your wildest dreams. But always remember to be careful what you wish for…you might enjoy it too much!
Next month we’ll be looking at how you can use language, creatively and persuasively.
Part 5 - Language
How much do you ever think about the language you use? Words just come out naturally for most of us, revealing far more about our state, needs and intentions than we would often like to let on.
In general, we don’t remember learning to talk. You remember school, and you remember learning to drive, so you know how you learned and you can easily recognise the habits you picked up during the learning process. We learned to walk and talk so early on that we don’t know how we learned to do those things. If you’ve ever trained in martial arts or dance you may have created a different perception or awareness of the movement of your body and they way you walk may have changed as a result. Yet very few people ever give a second thought to the power of language.
Language is central to NLP – it’s the L! By language, I don’t just mean words, I mean the whole physiology of communication including voice tone, facial expression and so on. You may have heard that words are only part of the way we communicate and you may have heard 7% quoted as a figure for the verbal content of communication. Whether you agree with the figures or not, we can at least agree that words form part of an overall communication process rather than being separate to it.
In NLP, there are two main language models – the Milton Model and the Meta Model. The Milton model is based on the vague language used by a hypnotherapist, Milton H Erickson. He used language that his clients would insert their own meaning, and it’s the same form of language used in scripted political speeches so that the speaker can appeal to as wide an audience as possible and yet still say something meaningful on a personal level. Here’s an example. “Many people, these days, are wondering when they will be able to explore the personal goals that they dream about. As you think of one of the goals or ambitions you have – perhaps it’s something you’ve never told anyone else – and you begin to imagine how it feels to have achieved that, you can easily realise the importance to you of pursuing a dream like this.” At this point, you might know exactly what dream I’m talking about and be already enjoying thinking about it.
The Meta Model is a very specific form of language, the complete opposite of the Milton model. Meta just means ‘above’, like super or ultra, as the Meta model is a ‘model of models’ i.e. it incorporates a number of other linguistic models. If I were to use the Meta Model to pick apart the Milton example, it would be something like “Which people? Which days? Which goals?” You can see that the Meta Model needs to be used with a great deal of tact. The Meta Model is an excellent tool for getting to the real specifics of a situation and probing very quickly and deeply into what someone is saying. I guess that might be useful when interviewing! We take so much of what people say for granted, yet in order to process language we have to interpret it through our own experience. We interpret words like soon, often and very through our own perceptions – which are usually different to the other person. So, when someone says they’ll do something soon, or that they have a good relationship with a client because they often hear from them, or that they’re very confident a candidate will accept an offer, you really have no idea what they mean. The Meta Model is a very powerful tool in situations like this.
You can find out more about the Milton and Meta models at www.nlpinbusiness.com where there are a number of interactive demonstrations.
Finally, let’s talk about questions. In NLP, we typically ask questions to change someone’s focus of attention rather than to find out information. A statement of fact has to be judged before it is accepted. A question puts the listener into a uniquely receptive state and can be extremely influential. Of course, I don’t suppose you would want to be even more influential, would you? Compare “you won’t get anyone for that money” with “what kind of person are you hoping to get for that money?” A question cannot be true or false, so it bypasses the listener’s critical filters. Do you see it working for you? If you ask lots of questions, you can exert a great deal of influence without ever stating anything, can’t you? How would it be useful for you to develop a reputation as someone who is influential without being opinionated? Do you think that’s enough for now?
Next month we’ll be keeping an eye on the clock – by playing
with our sense of time
Part 6 - Time
Well, it’s finally time to draw this series of articles to a close, and the subject of this article is, quite aptly, time.
We tend to think of clocks as defining our sense of time, yet if you have ever felt time drag through a dull presentation or fly through a wonderful evening out then you know that our sense of time is very subjective and very elastic. What possible use could that information be to you?
When you’re interviewing, do you want to get a sense of what the candidate is really like in the job, not just in the interview? Do you want to really understand the client’s brief, not just as a list of specifications but by putting your client into a frame of mind where they have hired the right person and are now working with them every day?
Do you remember the last time you had a really good night out? Perhaps you drank a lot and danced, or perhaps it was a quiet night with someone special. Do you remember where it was? Was the place bright or dark? Noisy or quiet? Do you remember what was going on around you, or were you so focused on one person that everything else faded into the background? By asking questions like this, it makes the memory more real and more emotive because you are recalling it through more of your senses. This happens naturally whenever you get lost in a daydream, and it’s a process that we can easily tap in to.
When you are asking a candidate to tell you about “a time when…” you can ask them about their feelings at the time, what they heard, what they said, what they saw and the qualities of those elements, just as I did in the previous paragraph. When you do this, you become ‘associated’ into the memory, which means you experience it as if you are really there, right now. As your candidate experiences the memory, you can watch their emotional responses as they really happened. You get to see the candidate as they are in their workplace, not as they are in the interview room.
When you meet a client to get a brief, you can do the same thing but this time looking ahead to the future. Instead of using words like ‘will’ and ‘would’ which are conditional and in the future, bring your language into the present or even the past tense. Just consider these two examples:
What will be the key responsibilities of this person? Where will they be based? Who will they work with? Is there anything else you need them to do?
Imagine that we found the perfect candidate and that they have been working for you for a few months. What have their key responsibilities become? Where are they working? Who have they developed good working relationships with? What other skills have they brought to the job which have been really beneficial for you?
The first example is abstract and in NLP terms creates an emotional response which is ‘dissociated’ – in other words, there’s little or no emotional response. Emotions are a very good thing to bring out in people, especially good emotions about hiring great candidates which the client may then associate with you.
So, as we look back through this series of articles on NLP you can remember how to manage and influence emotional and mental states, build better relationships, set better goals, use language more precisely and influence people’s sense of time in order to help them develop richer emotional responses. I guess you would have to work hard not to find something useful in there for you, both personally and professionally.
I’d like to thank you for reading, and thank everyone who emailed
me with their questions and kind feedback on these articles. And finally,
I’d like to wish you luck in everything you do as you remember that,
in the end, we make our own luck. If there’s anything I can do to
help you in the future, you know where to find me.
Interested in making sales calls easier and more enjoyable? (This was published as 3 separate articles)
Peter Freeth has written a series of three articles for UK Recruiter magazine, based on his experience in helping recruitment consultants and other sales people to turn a fear of cold calling into...well, read for yourself:
"Would just like to say a BIG,
BIG thanks, I feel totally transformed, my 'phone fear' has disappeared.
Its really quite weird, but I don't hesitate to pick the phone and ring
people, in the past 10 days I've picked up 4-5 briefs. When I see an opportunity
I just grab it...its quite remarkable really, because I've noticed a real
big change in me overall, I seem to be a lot more confident and I don't
actually worry about coming into work anymore.
I've noticed a big difference in my day too, I just don't know where the
hours go, and I wish there were longer hours in the day to fit everything
in. This will make you laugh, the last few days I've had lots of admin work,
and haven't been able to get on the phone, I actually heard myself saying
that 'I wish I was on the phone more' can you believe it?"
Would you like to experience something like that? Then read on...
Now, in order for you to be succeeding at your job,
you must already be making sales calls, so I'm not talking about teaching
you the basics here. I'm presuming you already do make calls, but maybe
you tidy your desk, answer your emails and make a cup of coffee before you
get yourself into the right mood. Maybe you stop after ten calls instead
of stopping when the clients have all gone home. Maybe you make it harder
for yourself than it needs to be.
Maybe you already love sales calls and you're already getting great results, in which case – why are you reading this? Get on the phone!
So, I'm presuming that you're reading this because you'd like to get the same results as the person who wrote that email. The good news is that this can happen very quickly. The longest this has ever taken was about an hour, the shortest about 10 seconds.
But how? Well, the exact process varies from one person to the next because every person I've ever worked with creates this situation in a slightly different, unique way – and so will you. Having said that, there are some general principles and patterns that I can tell you about that you can use right away to improve your approach and therefore your results.
Firstly, stop cold calling. It's difficult, time consuming and produces poor results. Instead, spend some time each day calling people you haven't spoken to before and finding out how you can help them.
Secondly, At the moment you pick up the phone to dial, what picture pops into your head? What does the voice in your head say? Do you begin your call by apologising, or does your voice tone demonstrate the pride you take in your job? Just work through these simple steps, giving yourself time to think this through very carefully:
Imagine yourself sitting at your desk at the time you would begin making sales calls. As you imagine starting to dial, what picture pops into your head. Specifically, whose picture? If you find sales calls consistently difficult, I'm guessing the picture is of someone you don't have much in common with who doesn't look pleased to hear from you. If you find calls randomly difficult, I'm guessing there's no coherent picture. In either case, that's good news.
Next, imagine you're about to call your best friend or someone you like very, very much. You know exactly what I mean. As you dial, what picture pops into your mind? Now, stop and think about yourself – are you smiling? Are you sitting upright? Are you dialling eagerly? When you speak, does your tone of voice reflect this?
So, if you imagine someone who doesn't want to talk to you, simply imagine reaching out and grabbing the picture, screwing it into a ball and throwing it over your shoulder. Then simply draw a new picture of someone who looks like you, who you have something in common with and who looks pleased to hear from you, or at least open minded. Imagine calling that person and notice how your voice tone is different.
Practice this a few times, just repeating the process over and over. Imagine starting to dial, see the face of someone you want to talk to, hear your positive voice tone, notice how that feels nice to talk to someone who enjoys talking to you.
Thirdly, what do you say to yourself before, during and after the call? If it's in any way critical that's not helping. Often, the voice in your head has really valuable feedback but you don't hear it because it just sounds like nagging or criticism. Think again about sitting down to make your calls and this time pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. Change the voice tone to something more neutral, like a news reader, or to a voice that you like – even something sexy! Now, listen to what the voice tells you – is the information more useful? You can also ask questions back. If the voice is critical, say "Thankyou! Now, how does that information help me?" or "Thankyou! Now, what do you suggest I do differently?" Oddly enough, you'll find the same approach works very well with that person in the office who always offers you helpful criticism.
Last of all, you can't really control what happens during each call as you are not in control of the person at the other end. They might be busy or tired and you know the importance of respecting their state. So, no matter how each call goes, it's important to treat each call as if it's your first. There are many ways that you can quickly control your state, and the simplest for our purposes here is through your focus of attention. Think of a time in the past when you felt really confident and in control of yourself. Remember that time in all the detail you can, recalling what you saw, heard and felt. Maybe you even remember some smells and tastes. When you have all that, think of a word, colour or piece of music that seems to represent it. Repeat this a few times so that the trigger becomes associated with the feeling. Now, in between calls simply replay the trigger and your state will switch to the confident, in control state.
After you have practiced all this
for a day and then slept on it, your brain will build it into an unconscious
calling routine for you so you won't even have to think in order to get
good results. What's this based on? The principle that you are already following
an unconscious process which is working perfectly for you. The process is
fine but the results need a little tweak. By taking conscious control over
the process and making some slight adjustments, you'll find that you can
get surprising results, very quickly. How quickly? You'll only find out
by finding out!
Read more about the work we do with recruitment consultancies