The 5A’s of Empathy is a Salesperson’s Competitive Advantage
By Michael J Griffin
Covid has caused many of your customers to experience higher levels of stress at work and home to cope with, change and adapt to personal, career, and family issues. Research by both McKinsey and Korn Ferry has shown that all leaders need to increase their empathy to connect and relate to their employees. This is also true for you, as a B2B salesperson, who “leads” customers to solve their problems and issues with your ideas and product solutions. Customers don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Their decisions to buy from you in these times of stress are based on logic and their perception of your heart.
Our research clearly shows that when you consistently empathize with your customer over his/her problems, ideas, and issues, your chances of closing the sale double compared to those that do not. How can you do this? It first starts with your attitude to listen and truly care for what the customer is relating to you. This then allows you to empathize by employing the 5A’s of empathy. Here are 5A’s of Empathy.”
Agree – Align with any customer statement you agree with
Affirm – Encourage positive customer comments
Acknowledge – Show concern for customer feelings or frustration
Appreciate – Letting customer know you value their initiative
Assure – Reassure the customer you can solve the issue or problem
Here are some examples of each of the 5A’s.
Agree – Exactly! You are correct, Joe.
Affirm – You are on the right track, Vineet, your suggestion is helpful.
Acknowledge – I can see you feel frustrated with the poor implementation.
Appreciate – Your ability to persuade the buying committee has moved us forward.
Assure – Don’t worry, I can solve this. I have done it for many of my customers.
When communicating any of the 5A’s, make sure you mean it from your heart. Your eye contact, face and voice should truly show you understand and care about the customer statement, concern or need. Showing you are aware shows you care.
The 5A’s are the bridge that connects the customer statement, issue or need to your product or service solution. By touching the customer’s heart first, they become more receptive to your ideas, product features and benefits to meet their needs.
The one statement of empathy you should never just say “I understand.” This signals you are more interested in minimizing the customer concern to focus back on what you want to say next. It is callous.
I suggest you have “quick draw” role plays with your sales team members to practice the 5A’s. One practice partner plays the customer who delivers customer statements. The other practice partner is the salesperson who responds with an appropriate “5A” statement of empathy. Then the salesperson receives feedback from the ‘customer” on both his/her 5A statement, his/her face, and voice.
Remember, showing empathy doubles your chances of closing the sale. Use the 5A’s with your heart and see your customer trust and relationships improve. Showing empathy is a competitive advantage!
Have a great week being a salesperson with a heart!
Michael J Griffin
Founder ELAvate!
Sales Productivity Consultant
Certified Gitomer Sales Advisor