I've noticed something interesting recently and that is, Americans love to talk. They love to listen to other people talk too (like the television or radio). They get their books on tape. They have the radio tuned to talk shows. . . we're a people uncomfortable with the sound of silence. This is especially true in conversations. There's an awkwardness that most people experience when there's a lull or a bit of space in the conversation and they struggle to fill that void. This can be particularly damaging in sales especially when we've almost got our product or service sold, and then muck it up with too much talk.
Part of this filling in of the spaces, is the chatter. We're all familiar with the classic sales persona, looking at the photographs on the wall or desk of their prospect, asking how the wife and kids or husband and kids are, how the golf game is -- basically, chit chat. And even more detrimental to sales, is the chit chat that happens after the sale is in the bag, but not signed off on. This is the stuff that breaks the deal because maybe we're excited about having made the sale and we begin to blather on and on. . .
I personally had a tremendous breakthrough when I realized I needed to keep my mouth shut more often. For someone who likes to talk, that's a tall order. As a young man, i would constantly derail myself over and over in sales situations, by chit chatting them out of the contract. What's worse, when I noticed it derailing, I would talk even more to try to get it back on track. Did it work? No.
I was giving each and every prospect and client a way out of the sale by blathering on incessantly. Why, I wondered, didn't they like me more? Why didn't they want to be my friend? Why didn't they want to talk about day-to-day stuff? Well, the real problem was that they were not getting from me the answer to their burning question.
Granted, I've been blessed with the gift of gab. The shift in my thinking came when I realized I had to fashion what I was saying to focus intently on the prospect and their needs and not my own agenda.
So what is the burning question? The question is, "What can you do for me, Kenrick?" Our prospects are ultimately wanting to know, "What's in this for me? What is it that you're going to do to help me?" The only way to find the answers to these questions is to elicit their criteria and once you've elicited their criteria, then we have to get to the meaning.
Criteria and its meaning have got to be the foremost thing in your mind when making a sale, no ifs, ands or buts. Remember this, and you won't be derailed.
Part of this filling in of the spaces, is the chatter. We're all familiar with the classic sales persona, looking at the photographs on the wall or desk of their prospect, asking how the wife and kids or husband and kids are, how the golf game is -- basically, chit chat. And even more detrimental to sales, is the chit chat that happens after the sale is in the bag, but not signed off on. This is the stuff that breaks the deal because maybe we're excited about having made the sale and we begin to blather on and on. . .
I personally had a tremendous breakthrough when I realized I needed to keep my mouth shut more often. For someone who likes to talk, that's a tall order. As a young man, i would constantly derail myself over and over in sales situations, by chit chatting them out of the contract. What's worse, when I noticed it derailing, I would talk even more to try to get it back on track. Did it work? No.
I was giving each and every prospect and client a way out of the sale by blathering on incessantly. Why, I wondered, didn't they like me more? Why didn't they want to be my friend? Why didn't they want to talk about day-to-day stuff? Well, the real problem was that they were not getting from me the answer to their burning question.
Granted, I've been blessed with the gift of gab. The shift in my thinking came when I realized I had to fashion what I was saying to focus intently on the prospect and their needs and not my own agenda.
So what is the burning question? The question is, "What can you do for me, Kenrick?" Our prospects are ultimately wanting to know, "What's in this for me? What is it that you're going to do to help me?" The only way to find the answers to these questions is to elicit their criteria and once you've elicited their criteria, then we have to get to the meaning.
Criteria and its meaning have got to be the foremost thing in your mind when making a sale, no ifs, ands or buts. Remember this, and you won't be derailed.
About the Author:
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.
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