Six Keys To Influence Almost Anyone [Part 3 Liking]

Honest interest and compliments go further than you think!

Welcome back to PROTips –  the blog specifically designed to help you with sales and marketing. 

Today is part three in our series on Influencing people: Liking. 

Principle #3 / Liking

There’s a saying in sales: people buy from those they know, like, and trust! And a key part of that equation is the word like. For some, their ability to get people to like them has made them rich and famous. One person in that camp is Joe Girard.

If you’re not familiar with Joe his claim to fame is impressive. Joe Girard could sell cars. He was so good that in 1973 (not a particularly great economic time) Girard sold 1,425 cars. That stat is bananas!

Let’s do the math and you’ll see the numbers get even crazier. 

Because when you divide 365 days (the number of days in a year) into 1,425 you get nearly 4 cars sold per day. That’s assuming you work every day. But you don’t. No one does. 

If you take time off for things like Christmas, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving – and also take into account that dealerships aren’t even open on Sundays – that means Joe Girard on some days is moving eight maybe even more cars a day!  Breaking it down even further – that’s one an hour!

Like I said…bananas! 

So how did Joe manage to do this? Let’s hear from Joe himself: “Finding the salesman they liked, plus the price, put them both together, and you get a deal.” 

Hey Joe, thanks but that doesn’t help all that much. 

So, let’s talk about what you can do to build likeability. 

We like people similar to us.

As humans, we’re drawn to people who come from the same town, like the same sports teams, went to the same college, and have the same hobbies. There are all points of contact. Things that put us in a certain tribe. 

This idea is so strong The Rolling Stones sang about it in their song Satisfaction 

When I’m watchin’ my TV

And a man comes on and tells me

How white my shirts can be

But, he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke

The same cigarettes as me

That dude on the TV wasn’t going to be able to sell his product to Mick Jagger because he wasn’t in Mick’s tribe – didn’t smoke the same cigarettes. 

You see areas of overlap can be powerful. Your job is to pay attention to where you connect with others. 

We love compliments. 

If you’re looking to get people to like you, compliment them. We are suckers for flattery. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. It turns out there are a whole host of other benefits to giving compliments. 

• They are great icebreakers. Tell someone, “Hey, I like your watch.” And that could lead to all kinds of conversations. 
• They enhance your mood. Tell someone something nice about them and watch their face light up. But here’s a little secret, that not many talk about – when you give a compliment your mood improves as well. One nice thing – two people feeling good!!
• They promote learning. Praise someone and they learn faster – it’s all about positive reinforcement. 

Let’s go back to our man Joe Girard for a minute. In his prime Joe would send out cards every month to his list of customers. This list had over 13,000 names! 

The message inside the card might vary. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Happy Easter. You get the idea. 

But on the outside – on the outside the message was always the same: I LIKE YOU. 

Tell me, is that cheesy? Maybe. But it’s one of the reasons Joe Girard became the most famous car salesman in the world with the ability to sell over 1,400 cars in a year! 

People want to buy from those they know, like, and trust! Joe Girard knew this idea down cold!

One More Tool And Using Liking To Influence Others

There’s one more tool to add to your toolbox. And this one comes from one of the best-selling books of all time: How To Win Friends and Influence People. It’s this: always make the other person feel important and do it sincerely. You can do this through genuine appreciation and talking to them about themselves. 

Getting people to like you isn’t hard…it just takes practice. Here are four ways to get started. 

• Look for areas of common interest.
• Compliment people in a real and honest way.
• Ask questions about them…get them to do the talking and listen intently. 
• Tell people you appreciate them for the support they provide to you.

Four simple steps that can have dramatic results. And remember this: I LIKE YOU!

That’s a wrap for this week. The next time we get together I’m going to be talking about one of the most popular principles of influence being used today – Social Proof. 

I’ll see you back here next week. Y’all have an awesome week!

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