Increase your commercial communication skills thanks to assertive language

Developing communicative skills is extremely important

In this modern landscape it’s increasingly difficult for salespeople to capture the customers attention. Before internet, customers were forced to contact a salesperson to learn more about the needed products. Now everyone can find online all the needed information.

Developing communicative skills is extremely important to catch the attention of potential customers. To get the best results, a salesperson should be able to become a personal advisor for people and companies.

How? Listening to real customer’s needs, suggesting the best solution. Empathizing with customers is therefore fundamental.

In this article we’ll talk about how helpful assertive language could be, empathizing much  more with your client.

What is the assertive language?

Assertive comes from assert, that means stating something in a sure way. It expresses the ability of explaining your own point of view without overpowering the interlocutor.

Being assertive means being capable of defending your own ideas, being at the same time capable of hearing what the interlocutor is saying.

We could also say that the assertive way is halfway between the aggressive and the passive way:

1. Aggressive way: in this way you try to overpower your own point of view whatever it takes. This may happens for instance like when we listen to our instincts.
2. Passive way: in this case you are unable to express your personal point of view since you may fear the other people reaction.
3. Assertive way: this way is based on the full awareness of your own skills. This awareness lets you expose your idea without overpowering anyone.

We know there are people more suitable than other for this kind of behaviour but the good mark is that whoever, with a little effort, can become assertive.

When it could be helpful?

The assertive language is helpful for every aspect of your life. In your interpersonal relations, in selling and essentially wherever and whenever you have to communicate with someone else.

Being able to involve other people and being able to share your ideas correctly, are key skills for an efficient and valuable communication.

How and why should you use assertive communication in selling processes?

This kind of language can be helpful in a classical situation when you have to reply to your prospect’s counter argument.

This is a very thorny situation and it could stress test you patience. To avoid it, you have to understand that the people we talk to humans and they’ve feelings and their own ideas, even if they can act in a wrong way.

Seller’s job is to empathize with the prospect and try to understand his or her needs and complications. When you understand this, becomes way easier to tackle all the arguments, even if they are presented in an aggressive way. 

Some examples of assertive communication while selling

Case 1 – Call with a prospect

It often happens to start a conversation with a traditional:”Excuse me for bothering you…”. These four simple words set the seller in an inferiority position. At the same time you can’t even assault the prospect. In this case an assertive language example could be:

“Good morning Mr.Rossi, I’m Paolo from SiComputer. I’m contacting you regarding your info request. Could we talk right now or would you prefer to tell me a better time to call you back?”

Case 2 – Job meeting

During customers meeting may happen to be interrupted, maybe even continuously, from one or more people. In this case may be natural to act aggressively. Being aggressive may compromise the positive outcome of the meeting, since people will react negatively to your “aggression”. Using the assertive language you could say:

“I find your question interesting but let me end my speech and then I’ll answer, one at a time, to all your question”

These are only two of many more possible examples of how useful assertive language can be in the selling process. With this kind of communication we can share our ideas without overpowering the others, in this way we’ll get the best out of every conversation.

3 Tips to be more assertive

1. Empathize: being able to put yourself in your customer’s shoes is fundamental to carry on a successful deal. Being able to comprehend the other without judging isn’t easy, but in the selling world is the key to find the best solution for both, customer and seller.
2. Understand customer’s value: another cornerstone of assertive language is to understand the other person’s values, especially if these values are different from ours, so to make proposal according to client’s values.
3. Develop your problem solving skills: during the selling process you could encounter many problems, the most important thing is to never let yourself go and find out alternative solutions.

As we’ve just seen, assertive language can be a turning point for your behaviour in all the aspect of your life, keep following us, to find out new way of improving your communication skills.