Customer Engagement: How Marketing and Sales Can Use Psychology to Drive Engagement

July 16, 2013 by Scott Albro Leave a Comment

One of the most profound changes in sales and marketing in recent years is the idea that companies

should focus on engaging customers more than selling products. A big part of the customer engagement

movement involves using various communication techniques to create a meaningful relationship where

the customer values you and your company, independent of what you’re selling.

There’s been some analysis on a handful of techniques that can drive engagement. Popular examples

include social media, storytelling, and content marketing. But most of this analysis has focused on tactical

execution, as opposed to how knowing what the customer really wants (read: the customer’s psychology)

can help you drive engagement.

Robin Dreeke has written a book called It’s Not All About Me. It’s a primer on how to use ten different

communication skills to build rapport with people. Dreeke is the head of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis

Program and his recommendations are based on a good understanding of evolutionary and social

psychology, as well as years of experience in the field.

Everyone in sales and marketing should read this book. That’s because Dreeke’s ten tips are easy to use

and extremely effective at driving customer engagement. For sales people, these tips can improve the

effectiveness of something as simple as the voicemails you leave for prospects to something as complex

as the presentations you give to executive decision-makers. For marketers, these communication

techniques can improve the effectiveness of everything from corporate positioning to copywriting.

1. Make sure the customer knows you won’t take too much time

One of Dreeke’s strongest recommendations is to use time to put the customer at ease. It’s an effective

tactic for building customer engagement given how busy people are and the risk they perceive when you

threaten to take too much of their time. This is especially true when people feel like a company or another

person is trying to market or sell something to them.

“The first step in the process of developing great rapport and having great conversations is

letting the other person know that there is an end in sight, and it is really close.”

For marketing, this means making ads, content, and other communication tools easy to consume. Recent

research into the types of content and media that customers like to consume supports this point. It shows

that people are attracted to content that is easy to consume more than they value the substance of the

content itself. It’s why the best copywriters in the world write the least amount of copy.

For sales, this technique can be used to put the customer at ease during phone calls and in-person

meetings. At a high level, using time constraints shows that you will be easy to do business with. At the

start of a meeting or conversation, sales people should articulate how long the meeting will last, an

objective for the meeting, and a clear agenda that shows the customer that you will stay within the time

limit. It’s also important to get to your key points quickly and communicate in an efficient manner (idle chit

chat and socializing can be an effective sales technique, but within limits).

2. Show how accommodating you are via non-verbal cues

A lot of research has been done about the importance of physical attributes and cues when it comes to

effective communication. Evolutionary psychology teaches us that most people assess a stranger to see if

they’re a threat. So the basic idea here is to look non-threatening. Body posture, facial cues like smiling,

and the handshake are all important non-verbal communication techniques.

“An accommodating handshake is one that matches the strength of the other, and also

takes more of a palm up angle.”

These non-verbal cues are obviously critical to sales people and most good sales people already know

the benefits of a smile and a good handshake. More advanced non-verbal cues involve tilting your chin

down slightly to look less threatening and angling your body slightly away from the customer. Marketing

can also use non-verbal cues to build customer engagement. For example, when choosing images for

landing pages or ad creative, try to visual cues that create trust. For a more complete analysis of this,

see How Images Drive Conversions.

3. Slow down the rate at which you present information

Dreeke presents this technique in a very speech-centric manner. Speaking slowly and pausing to allow

customers to catch up to what you’re saying is certainly important, but there are other forms of

communication, such as the amount of information we include on a presentation slide, where this

technique can pay dividends as well.

“Whenever I have a conversation that I believe is important for me to be credible in my

content, I purposely slow down the delivery and take pauses for people to absorb the

content.”

This tip can help sales and marketing build engagement with customers. For sales, it’s important to

remember that buyers are unlikely to remember more than three things from any conversation you have

with them. Emphasizing those three key points in a slow and deliberate manner and pausing to make the

buyer understands these points is critical.

For marketing, communicating slowly also involves presenting information in a way that highlights the key

points you want the customer to retain. Think of great ad or landing page copy. Limiting the amount of

copy and structuring the presentation of that content so that it’s easy to digest is one of the most

important things you can do.

4. Ask the customer how you can help them and then do it

Did you know that customers are biologically conditioned to accept our requests to help? That’s why one

of the most effective ways to engage a customer is to ask a simple, but powerful question: what can I help

you with?

“As human beings, we are biologically conditioned to accommodate requests for assistance.

The compulsion is based upon the fact that our ancient ancestors knew that if they did not

provide assistance when asked, the assistance would not be granted to them if requested at

a later date.”

Several years ago, I non-famously said that “Always Be Helping” was the new “Always be Closing” (see

our post on Always Be Helping for more context). The idea is that in a world where the buyer is in charge,

marketing and sales needs to help the customer before they can close the customer. It’s another way of

saying that marketing and sales must engage the customer. The best way to do this is to simply ask how

you can help the customer in an altruistic manner and then do it.

5. Put the customer’s wants, needs, and perceptions ahead of your own

In this day and age, you would think that every sales and marketing professional would understand how

important it is to suspend their ego and make the customer the priority. In practice, very few people do

this, but according to Dreeke it’s one of the most important things we can do to engage the customer.

“Suspending your ego is nothing more complex than putting other individuals’ wants,

needs, and perceptions of reality ahead of your own. Most times, when two individuals

engage in a conversation, each patiently waits for the other person to be done with

whatever story he or she is telling. Then, the other person tells his or her own story,

usually on a related topic and often times in an attempt to have a better and more

interesting story.”

Marketing can put this technique to work by developing buyer personas to understand what the

customer’s wants, needs, and perceptions are. Personas force the organization to really think about who

the customer is and what they want. They also serve as a useful tool for training and educating the sales

and marketing organization about the needs of the customer.

This technique can also make specific sales and marketing tactics more effective. For example, sales

people should ask the customer to tell their “story” first. It not only makes the customer feel important and

valued; it allows you to tailor what you communicate to the customer later on.

6. Validate the customer by listening and affirming what you hear

The simple act of listening to the customer can create engagement because is validates what the

customer is saying. You can take validation a step further by affirming what the customer is saying. This

technique also helps us understand what the customer wants.

“True validation coupled with ego suspension means that you have no story to offer, that

you are there simply to hear theirs.”

Sales people can put this technique into practice by making sure that they listen to the buyer during

conversations. Far too often, sales people believe that the most important part of their job is to talk. Good

sales people flip this and engage in “active” listening, making sure that they truly understand the

customer’s priorities and affirming many of the customers ideas.

Marketing can also create customer engagement by listening. With the day-today demands of digital

marketing, many marketers have neglected what research can tell them about their customers.

Conducting what we call “lean” market research is a great way to not only gather valuable insights, but

also to build customer engagement. To learn more about how to do this, see our recent post on Lean

Market Research.

7. Ask the customer follow up questions in the form why, how, and when

Asking people to explain what they’re saying by asking follow up questions is a great way to engage

them. Questions such as “tell me why that’s important to you” go a long way towards making the

customer feel valued. Of course, in a sales context, the answers to these questions can also provide

really useful information.

“Once the individual being targeted in the conversation supplies more words and thoughts,

a great conversationalist will utilize the content given and continue to ask open ended

questions about the same content. The entire time, the individual being targeted is the one

supplying the content of the conversation.”

Dreeke doesn’t mention that these questions are great qualifying questions that can help you understand

the customer’s intent to purchase your product or service, but they are. Just remember not to ask these

questions as if they are qualifiers. Try to ask them because you are genuinely interested in the answers.

You should also try to ask them as a natural part of the conversation.

8. Start the conversation by giving a little information that’s relevant to the customer

Many times, the customer isn’t willing to start the conversation with marketing or sales. In situations like

these, you’ll need to provide some information about yourself, your company, and your product to get

started. Dreeke calls this a quid pro quo. You give the customer something so that they’ll give you

something in return.

“In my experiences, there are really only two types of situations where I have utilized quid

pro quo. The first and more common of the instances is when you attempt to converse with

someone who is either very introverted, guarded, or both. The second instance is when the

person you are conversing with suddenly becomes very aware about how much they have

been speaking, and they suddenly feel awkward. In both instances, giving a little

information about you will help alleviate some of the issues.”

The best way for sales and marketing to use this technique is to share information about yourself, your

company, or product using the voice of other customers. Use language such as, “some of my other

customers faced this same issue and here’s how they handled it…” You’re sharing information in a way

that is highly relevant to the buyer and will get the buyer to start sharing information with you.

9. Use gift giving as a way to build customer engagement

According to Dreeke, gift giving is one of the cornerstones of building rapport with people. Remember

that, when building rapport, the vast majority of gifts that you give will be non-material. It’s easy to give

customers gifts, particularly in this day when the gift of information can be so valuable to a customer and

so easy to deliver.

“Great rapport builders and conversationalists use this desire proactively during every

conversation. This technique, coupled with ego suspension, are the cornerstones for

building great relationships. This is also the easiest technique to utilize, because gifts come

in many forms, from non-material compliments, to tangible material gifts.”

The number of gifts that sales and marketing can offer a customer is truly astounding. Some of these gifts

take traditional forms like pricing discounts, but increasingly these gifts are taking the form of information

that helps customers. In B2B marketing, content marketing is all the rage. Good content marketing is

essentially about providing a gift to a customer in the form of information that helps the buyer do their job

better.

10. Manage the customer’s expectations proactively

Good sales people know that managing the customer’s expectations is an effective sales technique. It’s

no surprise that Dreeke recommends this as an effective rapport-building technique. But for Dreeke, it’s

not just about managing the customer’s expectations of what the product or service will do; it’s about

managing their expectations for the conversation itself.

“The individuals in life that are able to either mask their agenda or shift the agenda to

something altruistic will have great success at building rapport.”

Sales and marketing should proactively manage the customer’s expectations around the sales and

marketing process itself. One good way to do this is to articulate your expectations for a conversation or

meeting with a customer and see fi the customer agrees with you. This can be done when setting the

agenda for the meeting.

What do you think of Dreeke’s techniques? Have you used any of them engage customers and have they

been effective? Let us know in the comments below.

About the author:  Scott Albro is the CEO and founder of TOPO. TOPO is a research, advisory, and

consulting firm that believes in a really simple, but powerful idea – that all revenue can be distilled down

to a series of conversions. By connecting everything we do back to this core idea, we help sales and

marketing organizations exceed their revenue targets. You can connect with Scott on Twitter.- See more at: http://blog.topohq.com/customer-engagement-how-marketing-and-sales-can-use-psychology-to-drive-engagement/#sthash.IsIGty3s.dpuf