Or you could say, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we ought to listen twice as much as we speak.”  –  Irish Proveb

Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector

Recognise any of these phrases?

• “But I have to explain my station to the prospect”
• “I get uncomfortable with silence so I often fill in the conversational gaps”
• “I don’t talk a lot, I’m just enthusiastic”
• “Many of my prospects aren’t very talkative”

The Prospect Doesn’t Care

Your Prospect doesn’t care about you or your company; they also don’t want to be “educated” about your station.

All they really care about is what’s in it for them and their company. Often the ROI. And that’s why so many potentially great meetings don’t result in anything more than a one sided dialogue from the sales person to the prospect.

The Solution?

Maybe the solution is hidden in what former US president Theodore Roosevelt said “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Stop talking about yourself and your company and let the prospect talk about themselves, their company, their product, their concerns, their pain points.

The best way to do that is to ask some smart questions and see what reply you get. There’s no doubt that what you ask and how you frame it has a strong influence on prospects.
So how many questions do you ask during presentations? What percentage of the time is the customer talking? (by the way, it should be around at least 70% of the time)

By asking powerful, thought provoking questions you’ll get your potential customers (or even your current customers) to perceive you in a completely different way, firstly different from the “others” and secondly different enough to give you their time, some key information and maybe the sale.

Resist the temptation to talk about “you”, show that you really care by simply listening.
 

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]