What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming in Sales?

Written by Ryan Tuckwood

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which, fundamentally, is a ‘brain language system’. To be able to really encapsulate and understand how to utilize NLP to your benefit in a sales capacity, you need to understand that there are three forms of dialogue – inbound, outbound, and internal.

Inbound dialogue

Inbound neuro-linguistic language is what you hear, the information and language you take in, and the actions that you take against what you hear. This one is tricky, because it’s one of the ones you’re least able to control.

Outbound dialogue

Outbound dialogue is what you say to the world, what physically leaves your mouth and the energy that you put out into the universe. Now, this is the concept of driving up to the traffic light when you’re late for work and the pessimistic or glass half-empty person says, “Don’t go red. Don’t go red. Don’t go red. Don’t go red.”

The only thing they’re attracting into the world is a red light. The glass half-full optimistic person says, “Stay green. Stay green. Stay green. Stay green.” You’re asking for the exact same thing but you’re asking for it in a significantly different way. That is outbound neuro-linguistic.

Internal dialogue

The third and final form of dialogue is internal. Now, this is probably the most important in sales, because salespeople are very good talkers. They love to talk and they’re good at it, it’s where they’re most confident, so influencing the internal dialogue can mean a successful close for you.

Internal dialogue is the most important in sales

One thing salespeople are not fantastic at, though, is listening, but you need to be if you’re going to be highly effective in negotiation and consultations. 

To answer the question of exactly what is neuro-linguistic programming in sales training, you need to respect the fact that your customers’ decisions are going to be made in that internal dialogue. Only in conversation with themselves will they decide if they do or don’t wish to invest in your product or service.

If all you’re doing is talking and you don’t create capacity for silence, then you do not give the customer the option or the ability to converse with themselves. Therefore, they simply cannot decide.

A lot of people, especially in sales, feel uncomfortable in silence. You need to realise there is a lot of power in that silence and only in the silence are you creating capacity for customers to make decisions.

Control your own head space and the language you’re using internally

In terms of what is NLP sales training, how do you use it in the sales capacity, it’s all about the language that you use. If you ask somebody a question and they say, “yes” and you say, “no worries”, all I hear is “worry”. So instead, say, “great”, “fantastic”, “brilliant”, and so on.

Those words are positive reinforcements, positive affirmations and make somebody feel more warm and fuzzy about what you’re discussing. Similar when you’re in the close. 

Change “how long before you’d be able to make a decision?” When you ask somebody how long, they start thinking far into the future. If you ask somebody “How soon would you be able to make a decision?”, you’ve influenced somebody to start thinking in the present, thinking in the now. It’s very powerful, neuro-linguistically. 

I can give you a hundred of those examples if you take up the opportunity to be in one of our virtual HIIT sessions or, alternatively, our digital sales training.

Hopefully you’ve found value in this article, and can use this as a jumping off point to ensure you’re using the right language and NLP techniques in your sales conversations. To learn more about how we can assist you with your sales techniques so that you can take your sales efforts to the next level, read about our proven sales training, sales coaching, and Sales Courses.  No matter if you are located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast or anywhere in the world, we are able to assist in providing the most innovative ethical sales training.