The Selling Newsletter for Sales Professionals
“Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few."
-Pythagoras
For Salespeople…
As you plan for your selling, think about how you can communicate your selling message in as few words as possible. Why? Because too many salespeople are in love with the sound of their voice and that hurts their selling. They talk too much in ìtechieî speak thinking that impresses the customer. Or worse, they simple talk about ìstuffî (think sports), thinking that builds rapport. The tools of your craft are your words. Your customer judges you by what you say. The more you means that the customer is talking less. Who knows more about your customerís concerns, issues and problems? He does. So if youíre taking the customerís talking time, you are minimizing the learning you are doing. When your words are filler, you detract from your credibility. So plan to speak less and say more. Youíll sell more, too.
Sales tip: Your goal is for you to talk 20% of the time and your customers talk 80% of the time during your sales call.
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THE BLOG S AND OTHER COLUMNS
I’m now writing The Real Deal, a column on women in business for Allbusiness.com Hope you’ll read more ideas so you can achieve your success in business.
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THE SELLING IDEAS FOR THE MONTH TO SELL MORE NOW
A Storybook Ending
How many times did you listen in rapt attention while your parents read you a bedtime story? That’s the power of a story. You can create that same attention in sales if you tell your customer a story. Here’s how to tell one that sells.
I like you. Jim Perdue was a successful trail attorney for over 40 years having won many million dollar verdicts. For the last 3 years he’s been teaching a course on storytelling at the University of Houston Law Center. Great storytelling starts with mastering the concept of persuasion. Referencing Dr. Albert Mehrabian’s work, Perdue says, “If you want to persuade anyone about anything, they have to like you.” He starts with vocal techniques. It’s needed because some people talk too fast. Perdue cited a Gallup poll which listed things about speakers that irritated people the most. Talking too fast was at the top of the list.
Perdue says, “The ideal rate for the American ear is 60 words/minute. Some people talk at 120-130 words/minute.” At that rate they’re less persuasive because there are no pauses or changes in pitch. Fast talkers are not giving the listener the ability to think about the meaning of what they’re saying.
The eyes have it. Eye contact helps you to be liked. A jury can believe you are sincere when you maintain eye contact. You lose credibility when you look away. What’s the right eye contact? Watch Law & Order to see it in practice. Here’s what happens. The lawyer makes eye contact with one juror and gives one thought before moving to the next juror and then repeats the process. You could use this technique when you’re making a group sales presentation.
Get them to feel. Perdue says, “You don’t have a case if you don’t have a story. You don’t have a story if you don’t have a moral. You don’t have a moral if you don’t have emotion.” Perdue adds that most of our decisions are made on the emotional, not logical level. The emotion of fear is a powerful motivator. The fear that Perdue taps into is the jury’s fear that what happened to the plaintiff could happen to them. Fear of being less successful than a competitor could be the emotion you tap into to motivate your customers.
Do you think stories are more powerful if they are sad? Some attorneys think that juries will feel sorry for their clients and let them win the case. Perdue says they won’t. He has never gotten a jury verdict based on the jury feeling sorry for his clients. Perdue found that the emotion that sways the jury is risk. What happened can’t reoccur and be a risk to them or their families.
Start with the rules. The stories the juries listen to have to be about themselves and the story has to make sense. By starting with a rule for the jury, Perdue helps them make sense of the story. For example, a rule in a malpractice case could be that a doctor should never needlessly expose patients to unnecessary risk. Next, he continues his story with an undisputed scientific principle relating to the rule. Perdue continues with how the rule was broken by the defendant.
Rules are an important foundation to stories because people have an aversion to allowing others to break the rules. In your sales call, you could establish the rule that customers want to help make their company more profitable, more safe, or whatever you think relates to that customer. When your products and services do a better job of improving a customer’s operation or bottom line, your customers can see that their current supplier is breaking that rule.
Telling a story to juries was how Perdue was so successful in a courtroom. When you use story strategies in your selling, your customers will listen more attentively and want to hear more from you. That’s a story that should create a happy ending for your sale.
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ACTION ITEMS
1. Practice speaking at 60 words a minute.
2. What story can you tell about your products and services?
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DID YOU KNOW?
A recent study at a large technology firm found that going from a boss in the bottom 10% of quality to one in the top 10% improved productivity amoung the supervised employees by as much as adding another worker to a 9 member team. The boss make the biggest contribution not by motivatin workers, but by teaching more productive skills. The tudy found that it pays to assign the best workers to the est bosses because that strategy results in the largest productivity gains.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Oct. 19-21, 2012
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Programs
You can check for current programs.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. Click on the photo to find out more!
Monday Morning Sales Tips : A book that has quick ideas for you to be more successful in sales. Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales. Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business.