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Education
I also learned (indirectly) what made him successful. And Calendar
I can see how he influenced my mirroring tenet. Mirroring
wasn't even something he tried to do. It was just natural
for him.
He could cuss like a sailor (which he had been in WWII)
or be as pious as a nun. He avoided anything political or November 3 -4, 2021
controversial by using an action I later found out is called https://members.wnetonline.org/
"redirecting." He dressed not to impress but to mirror his page/2021LeadershipSummit_Home
clients. He was never seen as polarizing. He avoided in-
dustry talk unless it was about a customer's industry. And
he did his best to build rapport with each individual. As Learning & Development
a result, he was well liked by his clients, and that led to Virtual Summit 2021
ongoing success.
Nov. 7th-9th, 2021
In today's polarized world, it can seem difficult to mir-
ror. One example is the uproar over wearing masks. If you docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzgrj5qzgLPVCl
fa7ASZE95R7eoF-usysW1N_cnqvAhNWsAg/viewform
see a sign at your prospect's indicating they encourage,
require or expect all to wear a mask, wear a mask—even
if you otherwise never wear a mask. If you see a store
with no mask references, and you are comfortable in an
establishment only if you're wearing a mask, learn this
word: immunocompromised. You may even lead with it in
stores that are obviously opposed to mask requirements. https://www.stapayments.com/registration/
For example, you could say, "I wish I didn't have to wear
this mask. But I don't have a choice." You will only need
this option for times when you recognize the store is anti-
mask.
Remember, your goal is to make a sale—and to mirror the
customer. Even if the customer holds different opinions
than you do, their money is still green. Then, if you master April 6 -7, 2022
the art of mirroring, you must also find a way to identify
your prospect's pains. This leads to the other tenet of focus https://northeastacquirers.com
in this article: listen.
Listening takes thought
Listening may be one of the hardest tenets to implement.
You need to control the conversation, not by dominating
it, but by asking open-ended questions. If an answer is too April 12-14, 2022
specific, ask your customer to tell you more. Today's new https://events.jspargo.com/ETA22/
normal provides an excellent conversation starter. You Public/enter.aspx
could say something like, "It is good to meet you. For me,
it's great to be able to talk to merchants again. The COVID
lockdown was very hard on all of us. How did you handle
it?"
Listening doesn't only involve letting your customers talk.
It means truly hearing what they say to you. Pay attention
to any key words that can help you direct the conversation https://payments.nacha.org
to their pain. You are listening for pain, and even if you /what-payments#
find only one area, keep probing. In my next article, I'll
wrap up discussion of the tenets, exploring ways to probe
deeper and to stop chasing those maybes. If you have a show you
Jeff Fortney is vice president ISO relations for Signature Payments. A would like listed, please
long-time payments industry executive and mentor, Jeff is focused on send information to
strengthening and developing partnerships and evaluating new busi-
ness opportunities. He can be reached at 214-458-1379. events@greensheet.com
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