Every businessman and sales professional is exposed to effective sales techniques that are supposed to help pull in the sales. But when we use these techniques in the exact same way they were taught, nothing happens. Prospects are still unmoved. This baffled me the longest time.

Some time ago, I learnt that for sales techniques to work, you have to build them on a solid emotional foundation.

The fact is persuasion is simply transference of emotion. Good sales techniques serve to hasten this process. So if you do not have good emotions while connecting with prospects, chances are you’ll lose the sale.

The main tenets for a strong emotional foundation are:

1. Sincerity

Most folks believe sincerity is the most difficult to acquire. But I have to disagree. The easiest way to exude sincerity in all your business conversations is to build true relationships and sell only stuff you believe in.

If you believe in what you sell, you don’t have to pretend your widget is good or chant rhetorical sales scripts that make you feel guilty each time you make a sale. You also won’t need to try squeezing out the last drops of faked enthusiasm as you meet your prospects. You’ll have the glow of energy and excitement as you talk about how your product can improve your prospect’s life.

2. Get Away From Emotionally Draining Thoughts

If you replay negative events in your mind, they distort your judgment and suppress your creativity as you meet with the next prospect. If you are not careful, you can easily make skewed assumptions about him. This can sway your conversation away from where you want it to go.

Essentially, you may keep these feelings at bay by engaging in some aerobic exercises. This is my personal preference. Many people also find relieve by engaging in a sport they enjoy.

3. Managing expectations

Customers expect to receive everything you promised and they want it on time. If you cannot, you’ll have to negotiate an alternative with him in order to fulfill the expectation he has in his mind.

Whenever you fall short of a customer’s expectation, you put your career at risk. Unhappy customers quickly bring their business elsewhere and speak vehemently about their bad experience.

But when customers get the value they expect, you can easily deliver beyond their expectation simply by appreciating the relationship with a nice gesture such as a gift. And you'll surely have this customer for life.

With a stable emotional foundation, you can maintain your emotional states during business discussions. And with good emotional states, you can use any sales techniques and they'll work alright for you. This empowers you to persuade your prospects in record time and with less effort, resulting in more sales.