Did you know that we mentally process information at the rate we speak? And that this is related to whether we primarily think in pictures, words or feelings?
Fast speakers like Gary we wrote about here make rapid pictures, processing information rapidly. They’re visually oriented and a picture literally does tell a thousand words.
Listening to Gary you’d hear him utter phrases like…
- ‘I get the picture.’
- ‘I see what you mean.’ Or ‘I see your point.’
- ‘Let’s put things into perspective.’
The visual person’s refrain, “They’ll never read all that! It’s just too long and there’s too much detail.”, simply doesn’t apply to auditory people.
But not everyone is like Gary.
There are those of us (myself included) who love the spoken and written word. Often no amount of detail is too much. We paint pictures with words not drawings. Many would prefer to utter the thousand flowery words rather than paint the proverbial picture. I think you’re getting the point!
People with an Auditory Preference will say…
- “I hear what you’re saying”
- “That rings a bell.”
- “I hear you loud and clear”
- “That sounds interesting. Would you please tell me more?”
- “Now listen carefully to what I am going to say.”
- “How does this sound to you?”
- “We’re on the same wavelength”
- “Does that strike a chord?”
And unlike visually oriented people who tend to speak rapidly and constantly look at you while communicating, auditory people are often:
- Slower and more melodious in their speech.
- Use more colourful and descriptive language.
- Physically may turn an ear towards you so they can listen better while looking away. (Looking directly at you may overload their visual senses)
Couple of points to note:
To develop rapid rapport match your style to the person you’re communicating with. Both speed and communication preference. You need to modify your style to suit them, not the other way round.
If you naturally speak fast and the other person doesn’t, believe me that they’ll miss a lot of what you’re saying if you don’t slow down.
Secondly, this has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence.
Remember, these are just primary preferences. We all think in visual, auditory and kinaesthetic terms and switch from one to the other.
However, if you have a strong preference for one mode of communication over another, dealing with someone in another mode forces their brain to have to internally translate. Yes, it’s unconscious, but it still takes processing power which they’re not using to listen to you.
Effective communicators must master every communication style and use them appropriately – especially when speaking to a group where everyone is different.
Next time I’ll be going over the kinaesthetic style, how you can recognise this preference and use it to enhance your persuasion skills.
Having said that, this is but scratching the surface. We go into significantly more depth in rapport building language skills, thinking styles and eliciting core values and motivations in our sales coaching programs.
Our programs suit both business to business and business to consumer sales scenarios and are guaranteed to improve your qualification and closing rates, making you more money.
Call Rashid on +61-414-913334 for more information.
