At times, it feels like business changes faster than anyone can adapt. New technology, markets, and tools are popping up every day. The competition is more ruthless than ever.
That’s why it’s so important to do your best to keep up with the insane pace of modern business. One of many such ways has been getting a lot of traction in the last few years.
VAK is one of those things that is commonly taught or at least mentioned in any business school. It is basically a negotiating theory, something many entrepreneurs were subconsciously using in their dealings for many years.
Except that now it is distilled and formed into a precise science. Mastery of VAK is a useful skill to complement one’s innate charisma.
The Three Components
So what exactly is VAK learning? VAK stands for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. You may have heard about these concepts briefly in relation to learning theories.
All these terms and acronyms may seem confusing at first. But in actuality, these are just fancy words for simple things businessmen deal with every day. Pull back the curtain of terminology, and you’ll realize it’s not as intimidating as it sounds.
Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic are the three major ways of consuming information. Different people respond better to some of them and worse to others.
Putting VAK in simpler terms will make it a lot easier to understand. Let’s look at the information that corresponds to every part of such learning:
- Visual – represented via various images, diagrams, and charts;
- Auditory – represented via sound, typically verbal communication;
- Kinesthetic – ‘hands-on’ experience, practical learning.
For example, an essay made by an online paper writer relies heavily on the visual component. Smart editing, accompanied by various diagrams to represent the information, makes reading it way more enjoyable of an experience. Compare a professionally written essay from a cheap paper writing service with a wall of text. The difference is pretty striking.
Identifying the Client
Different people have various preferred types of learning. Some enjoy pretty graphs and visually pleasing ads. Others get bored with those quickly and would much rather have you explain your pitch to them aloud.
In order to use the power of VAK on your clients, you have to learn to identify which type they are. This information will help you keep their attention.
So how to find out what is what and who is who? You might not even notice it, but people drop clues about their preferred type of learning all the time.
Keeping an eye on those is all you need to successfully identify the nature of any client. It’s all about how they express themselves and what they tell you.
For example, a visual learner watches you and your body language carefully. You can also spot them with the phrases used:
- ‘Let’s see here’;
- ‘I can’t picture it’;
- ‘Let’s look at it from a different angle.’
Similarly, auditory and kinesthetic learners also have their tell-tale signs and phrases. Things like ‘I hear you,’ ‘That doesn’t sound right,’ probably mean that you’ve encountered an auditory learner.
On the other hand, ‘gut feeling,’ ‘that feels about right,’ ‘I don’t feel like write my papers’ ’and alike probably indicate a kinesthetic person.
Practice Makes Perfect
Consciously spotting particular distinctions right away can be a difficult task. If you can’t get it right – don’t worry. Try practicing on your coworkers, friends, or family. You can even record some of the conversations to analyze later.
Or you could even start with yourself. What learning style appeals to you? Are there any hints you drop in routine conversations that might indicate that? Analyzing your own preferences and patterns is as good a place to start as any.
Knowledge Is Power
Now, what do you do when you identify your clients’ preferred type of learning? Use this knowledge to develop rapport and guide them through the deal.
Visual learners would respond well to presentations, properly designed images, charts, business maps, etc. Kinesthetic folks will appreciate personal involvement and hands-on demonstrations.
To attract the attention of auditory learners, you just have to engage them in the discussion. Let them hear what you have to say rather than show something. A personal meeting or even a phone call would work much better than an email with results brief in this case.
Unfortunately, the speed at which business communications are conducted today sort of prevents this intimate interaction between you and the clients.
Despite that, sales rates can still be positively affected using VAK. Even though you might not meet your clients face to face, incorporating elements of every learning type into your ads can drastically improve consumer experience and help you secure the deal.
Final Words
VAK learning is really not as hard as it may seem. It can feel bulky at first with all the terminology, especially to those who are used to relying on their own intuition and charisma in business.
Still, having this information at your disposal can be immensely beneficial. Provided you know how to use it correctly.
So regardless of whether you are a hard-boiled traditionalist or a curious progressive, trying out a new system is definitely worth it.
And chances are – you’re going to be pleasantly surprised with the effectiveness of this sort of approach.
