How Silence Can help You Close More Sales
Silence is Golden
Want to close more sales? STOP TALKING!!!!! Think back to your
high school and college days. When your teacher or professor
told you that whatever he/she was talking about was going to be
on a test or quiz, did you listen more intently? Did you wakeup
and start taking notes? Were you suddenly trying to capture as
much information as possible?
When you are on a sales call, it's not too much different than
what was supposed to happen when you were in a classroom
environment. You were there to learn. You were there to obtain
information.
Your client is meeting with you presumably because they need
help. Are you giving your clients the solution before you really
understand the problem? Do you have a tendency to interrupt
people and give them your ideas before they can complete a
sentence? When you do the talking, you are inhibiting your
prospects and clients from wanting to talk. Your job is not to
dominate the conversation and give a lot of advice. Your job is
to listen, and encourage your prospects to keep on talking. Your
job is to help your customer solve a problem. Your job is to
find the root of the problem and determine if your customer
wants to fix it. You can't do that if you are dominating a
conversation.
Encourage your prospects and clients to do the majority of the
talking. Use short statements and questions to encourage your
prospects to continue giving you more information. Some examples
are. "Tell me more. Can you elaborate on that? Please go on. How
long has this been a problem? Could you give me an example of
that? How have you tried to fix the problem? What is the
financial impact of this problem?"
Next time you are in a sales situation and you are trying to
understand the customer's motivations, concerns, problems, pains
and challenges, pretend what they are saying will be on a test.
Listen 70-80% of the time.
Don't be too surprised if your closing ratio increases as your
talking decreases. An "A" on this test is a closed sale. B's and
C's don't count.
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly" -
Robert F. Kennedy
Have a great week
Please call me if I can help with any business development and
prospecting questions.
Ken
Ken Levine Impact Business Solutions, Inc. 508-845-8849
www.impactbussolutions.com