How We Speak to People

I apologize for this article coming out a day late I usually try to get it done by Monday night at the latest. I hope everyone had a safe Christmas and will have a safe and fun New Year! When pondering about the topic I wanted to cover I thought to myself what is my objective as a business developer? Of course, the textbook answer is to build relationships that in the long/short term will create and drive more business. What are people really buying though? Are they buying a company's product? Are they buying the company's service plan? The answer is people are buying you. They are in trusting in you to take care of them and not steer them wrong. That level of trust is why they buy from you and keep coming back. People are looking not just for salespeople to deal with but advisors. No matter what industry you are in ask yourself how are you advising your customers. You need to understand not just your company's value proposition but yours as well. Why should they buy you? These are all things I am sure you heard before. I tried thinking about which direction to take this article when discussing the value proposition.

Let's take this in the direction of tips to be successful when talking to people. We all have to be personal whether we are the social butterfly type or not. This is how we communicate and can pass the information on. Here are a few helpful tips I have learned along the way just in speaking to people.

·       Understand the atmosphere in the room- whether you are in an auditorium speaking to a large audience or in a quiet office having a one-on-one meeting make sure you can understand your surroundings and can view people’s posture and expressions

·       Eye Contact is a must – This shows sincerity, honesty, and engagement

·       Listen, Listen, listen – God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, even if you are giving a presentation this does not mean you have to speak the entire time

·       Humanize yourself – Do not talk at someone talk with them. Show them you have a personality and life outside of what you are there to talk to them about

·       Humble yourself- A lot of times I will make fun of myself in a conversation just to show them that I can humble myself while still showing confidence and speaking intelligently about the subject matter

·       Short Pauses Go A Long Way- This gives you time to gauge your audience's attention, collect your thoughts, make the interaction less formal, and sound more credible all in just about a 5 seconds.

·       Open up the Conversation – Encouraging people to talk about themselves along with asking guided questions tends to get the desired results

·       Learn from Past Interactions- We can all learn from our history and what has/has not worked

·       Don't Overshare- It takes people different amounts of time to understand information so information overload will only put doubt in their mind

·       Ask Open-Ended Questions This creates a conversation as opposed to it being one-sided with you doing all the talking

·       Be the Expert – Know your product or service inside and out and be able to speak about it intelligently. Be the resource people can use to answer questions and can go to in a time of need