Reflect Back To Your Customers

I appreciate a newsletter from marketing/branding specialist Steve Yastrow (www.yastrow.com) of Chicago. In a recent one, he reminded us of a Journal of Experimental Social Psychology article that said that when a restaurant server repeats your order back to you for confirmation, that tips were 68% higher than when he/she doesn’t.

Why? Several reasons based on the increased comfort that has resulted:

1. People like others who “verbally mimic” them.

2. It feels good that the server was unusually attentive and caring towards you.

3. People feel more “pro social behavior” after being mimicked.

It’s a matter of connection ... described in Neuro-Linquistic Programming ... via body language, laughing together, aligning moods, sharing language.

Implications: When you demonstrate that you have connected with what your customer says, as well as integrating the ideas and interests into your ongoing conversation, you build the relationship and the resulting trust, and increase the likelihood of an agreement.

Per Yastrow: “As Aristotle said, ‘The fool tells me his reasons. The wise man persuades me with my own.’”