Vibe Selling Is Real (And There's Data to Prove It)

Good Morning. Instagram had a global outage yesterday, which means thousands of sales reps lost their favorite procrastination tool right in the middle of avoiding their call block. I get it. We’ve all been there. “Just 5 more minutes and I’ll pick up the phone and dial.” There’s nothing worse than losing your excuse not to work. Now, let's get into today's Follow Up. 😂

Sponsor The Follow Up | Subscribe

Some people have an energy that draws you in.

They don’t have to say anything brilliant, and they're not trying to impress you. You just feel good around them.

Sales reps have a version of this too. There’s that old saying that says people buy from people they like. But it's less about being liked and more about how you make someone feel during the conversation.

That feeling turns out to be measurable, contagious, and backed by real research.

Here’s how to use it to your advantage.

In 1994, psychologist Elaine Hatfield published research showing that people automatically mimic the facial expressions, vocal tone, and posture of whoever they're talking to.

It happens in milliseconds, before the conscious brain catches up. When you smile, the muscles in your prospect's face start firing to match. And when your energy drops, theirs follows.

This is driven by something called mirror neurons, which are brain cells that fire both when you perform an action and when you watch someone else do it.

They're the reason yawns are contagious. And they're the reason your mood on a sales call transfers directly to your prospect, whether you realize it or not.

So if you're tired, distracted, or going through the motions on your fourth demo of the day, your prospect feels it.

They don't always know why the call feels off. But they know something doesn't feel right. And people don't buy when something doesn't feel right.

A University of Tennessee study published in the Journal of Marketing measured what they called "emotional calibration," the combination of reading your prospect's emotions accurately and having the confidence to adjust in real time.

Reps who scored high on both outsold emotionally overconfident reps by 351%.

That's not a typo. Three hundred and fifty-one percent.

The researchers found that when calibrated reps sensed a prospect was at ease, they became more relaxed themselves, which made the prospect even more comfortable.

It's a positive feedback loop. Aka, the vibe feeds the vibe.

This is also why reps with very little product knowledge sometimes outsell product experts.

Vibe selling sounds fluffy. I get it.

So here are three things you can do before your next call.

Breathe and smile before you dial. A Stanford study found that structured breathing practices (like box breathing: inhale four seconds, hold four, exhale four, hold four) reduce anxiety and improve mood almost instantly. So try it 60 seconds before a call to help reset your nervous system. And then smile right before you pick up the phone. You can literally hear a smile in someone's voice. It changes your tone, your warmth, and the energy of the first five seconds of the call. Your prospect can literally hear the smile through the phone.

Check your face on camera. A University of South Carolina study found that people who paid attention to facial expressions and body language on video calls built three times stronger relationships than those who didn't. On Zoom, your facial expressions do a lot of heavy lifting. Nod when they talk. Look into the camera. Lean in slightly when they're sharing a pain point.

Match their energy, and then lift it. Meet them where they are first, then gradually bring the energy up. If energy levels are at a 5, it’s not a great idea to bring in a level 10 energy. Hatfield's research shows that emotional contagion works both ways. If you match their pace and tone first, they'll start mirroring you when you shift.

Vibe selling is about being aware that your emotional state is transferring to your prospect on every single call.

Today’s newsletter was written by Nic Conley