[SOUND] Hi, welcome back. Personal sales involve direct communication between buyers and sellers, often in personal meetings. With the support of technology like emails, telephone, and other forms. Throughout this course we have emphasized the need for communication between companies to understand their needs and to work together to generate solution that will serve both parts. However, companies don't talk to companies, people talk to people. That is why communication is so important, and often determine the success of the business relationships. The communication in the context of personal sales serves to, one, understand the client, his situation, and his needs. Second, collect the information you need to plan your future actions. Information on customers, competitors, suppliers, other players. Third, influence, customers' decision-making. Fourth, establish long-term relationship. Understanding the situation and needs of customers depend fundamentally upon your ability to understand their business model, their operations, their future actions, and the opportunities and threats that may pose. In seeing the opportunities from the customers point of view, and use that knowledge to enable your firm to make the best decisions to support your plans. Unfortunately, there are obstacles that hinder communication and prevent us from understanding their message. The idea behind this video is to identify some of the pitfalls that can hinder your ability to communicate. The first, is that we have the illusion that we see the world objectively. We do not have this capacity. Our ability to perceive and process external information is limited. To survive, we have created simplified ways of making decisions, and one of them is called cognitive bias. Cognitive biases essentially limit our perception, and filter the information we receive. It increases the perception of information that confirms what we already believe, and prevent contradictory information from coming in. Cognitive bias explain why two people can receive the very same information, and come to different, and even opposing, conclusions. For example, if you believe that one industry will grow, for example, subcutaneous microchips that can serve several purposes, including personal identification, credit information, law enforcement, etcetera. If you think that this kind of technology will succeed, you will notice information that confirm that this technology will increase in use and importance. If you believe that this technology will fail, you will notice mainly information that demonstrate that this technology has no future. The main practical application is that you should understand what the customer representatives believe. You will find people with a very different perception on the reality, and your temptation will be to try to convince them. Well, until you really understand their point of view, your chances of success are going to be very, very small. You need to understand, deeply, the other person's position. Encourage the person to speak in an open way. This will give you insights that will allow you to draw a solid, and effective, line of argument. Also, when you demonstrate that you actually listen to what your counterpart has to say, the likelihood that he'll return the kindness is greater. One of the information gathering techniques widely used by competitive intelligence professionals, is called empathetic listening. The purpose of this technique is to let the person at ease to speak what he or she thinks. A good competitive intelligence practitioner can hear what the counterpart has to say, even if it is contrary to one's opinion, or even offensive to his, or her, values. Even so, the practitioner shows a kind of attention and respect rarely seen. This behavior encourages the person to speak frankly and openly. In order to use this technique, your focus should be understanding the logic that underlies the person's opinion. And remember that your counterpart will act according to what he or she believes, the information that he or she can access, in accordance to his or his mental process. If you understand how your counterpart thinks, you will be in a much better position to find a satisfactory solution for both parts. This technique also requires self-control, determination, and great emotional balance. At this stage of the conversation, the objective is not to convince, but to understand, the position of your counterpart. Since there are several areas of your firm that interact with customers, it is important that you educate these people to allow them to help increasing your understanding of customers. And, the marketplace as a whole. Thank you for watching, I'll see you in our next video. [SOUND]