Paraphrase in practical application

Paraphrasing technique is a summary of the client's statements in our own words. In short, this consists in a thorough repetition of the essential words that appeared in the client's statements. It usually starts with the phrase:

• "From what You told me, it follows that ..."
• "Do I understand correctly that it is in your interest ..."
• "From what the You said, I conclude that ..."
• "In other words, you care about ...?

The paraphrasing of the statements of our customers allows, first of all,:

-       confirm that we have understood the information provided to us by the customer,

-       provide feedback to the customer that what he says is important to us,

-       take stock of the most important needs of our interlocutors,

-       develop active listening skills, focus on the client's statements with empathy,

-       replace negative responses ending in the use of negative articles not  to affirmative responses using the affirmative articles  yes. 

"The greatest difficulty for salesmen is to use paraphrasing techniques

in such a way as to summarize in their own words the needs of customers,

not just their position on a particular issue."

Example 1.

Customer: "I am not interested in such products"

Seller: "In other words, you would prefer to talk about products that are more interested in you at this point"

The most likely customer response is "Yes."

Example 2.

Customer: "I have a bad experience with books on the use of sales techniques. Most of them too theoretically approached the topic of sales. My industry is completely different from the experiences of the book authors I've read so far."

Seller: "From what the You said, it follows that you have not very positive experiences with sales books that contained too much theoretical knowledge. In other words, from your point of view, would it be better to pay more attention to your industry? So?

The most likely customer response is, "Yes, you understood it well."

So we can see that the actual likely negative customer response  using the negative particles not  has been converted into a positive  yes. If we look at sales from the point of view of achieving a common denominator in the dialogue between the seller and the customer, the achievement of the goal was successful.

However, based on my own experience, I conclude that the greatest difficulty is made for traders to use paraphrasing techniques in such a direction as to summarize the needs of customers in their own words, not just their position on a particular issue.

Let's look at practical examples where the seller tries to apply paraphrasing techniques, but the effects are not very satisfactory:

Example 1.

Customer: "Everything is cool, but the price of this product is too high!!!"

Seller: "From what you say, it seems that the price is too high."

In the example above, the salesperson practically quoted an excerpt from the customer's earlier statement.

Let's try to paraphrase the customer's statement together, but in such a way that it concerns his need, which is behind the statement that price is an important parameter.

Seller: "In other words, you care about the product solutions on which you can save money".

Note that in this case, the customer's position: "The price of this product is too high" has been reformulated to address the need behind the search for low product prices.

Let's look at further examples of paraphrase:

Example 2.

Customer: "Sir, customers get annoyed when they can't get the goods, and then I have to hear unpleasant comments, which I really don't like"

Seller: "In other words, your customers get annoyed when they can't get the goods, and then you have to hear unpleasant comments that you don't like very much"

As in the earlier example, the salesperson quoted only the customer's statement in his own words.

"In paraphrasing techniques,

we want to outline and even highlight

the specific needs of the customer"

Let's look at the proper application of this technique.

Seller's paraphrase with respect to customer needs:

Seller: "In other words, you care about suppliers who deliver on time, because this allows you to avoid many unpleasant comments from your customers"”

The most likely customer response: "Yes, just, you understood it well."

I think the difference between the first example and the second is significant enough to highlight what is the proper use of paraphrases.

Let's look at the next example.

Example 3.

Seller: "Is there another reason why the issue of fast deliveries is so important to you?"

Customer: "Many companies have already promised me mountains at the very beginning, then disappeared and did not appear. And I have lost customers and money."

Seller: "From what you said, there were many companies that promised you mountains at the very beginning, but then they disappeared and did not appear"

Seller's paraphrase with respect to customer needs:

Seller: "From what you are talking, it seems that an important parameter of supplier evaluation may be to keep promises during preliminary talks".

Seller: "How can we assure you that we will keep the arrangements established during our discussions?"

A salesperson using paraphrasing technique for needs therefore gets a much better effect than the seller, who only quotes the statements of his previous speaker. In addition, it asks the question that makes the conversation focused on meeting a specific need, resulting from concerns about the failure of suppliers to deliver on their initial promises.

Example 4.

Customer: "There have been already many companies before you, who have once sold me a similar product and then no one have appeared again. I'm not going to mention that I don't know if it paid to trade with them at all."

Seller: "In other words, there have been already many companies before mine that once have sold you a similar product and then have no more appeared. In addition, do you not know if it was profitable to trade with them at all?"

Seller's paraphrase with respect to customer needs:

Seller: "In other words, you care about recurring visits and systematic assistance of suppliers. In addition, from what You say, it appears that the profitability from the sale may be important to you."

"The overarching purpose of paraphrasing techniques

is to summarize the needs of our customers

in our own words.

Paraphrasing develops active listening skills"

The examples above illustrate the differences in effects achieved depending on the paraphrase used. Summing up the needs of our customers, we achieve much better results than when we ever  quote the statements of our interlocutors. This is what paraphrase is to be used as one of the sales techniques.

At what specific points in the trade conversation can we use the above techniques? Summing up all the diagnosed needs of our interlocutors.

Using open questioning techniques, we very often obtain so much information from the customer that it is worth summarizing them in the right way. In such cases, we can look at our notes, where we should write down all the most important needs. It is at this point that we can successfully apply these techniques. The overarching goal of paraphrasing is to summarize the needs of our customers. Paraphrasing also develops active listening skills.

Note that in an effort to sum up the statements of our customers based on the use of paraphrase technology, we need to listen deeply to what the customer says. Moreover, in the development of this skill will help us to take notes. It is impossible to use the above techniques, being focused only on ourselves. I encourage you to try your own sales struggles in your daily sales struggles. Very often you will notice that after applying a paraphrase, the customer can respond not at all in the way you have planned. For example, a customer response might be as follows:

Customer: "No, you understood me badly. Speaking of it ... I have meant something else ... namely ...".

Such a customer response will signal to us that we have not understood it in the right way. Moreover, it is a general communication problem that the addressee understands the information provided by the broadcaster in a completely different way.

Using paraphrasing techniques will allow you to find a common denominator in sales conversations. Even the customer's negative response that the seller misinterpreted what the customer said could provoke him to discuss further. This is what we want the buyer to open up and articulate their needs.

More professional sales techniques are described in a Krzysztof Czuprynski’s book “The art of selling in practice-practical training guidebook”

Sales book