In Sales, Your Actions Are Deafening
Shawn Casemore
Keynote Speaker, Sales Kickoff Speaker, Sales Training, Sales Coaching. ?? Enabling B2B Sales Leaders and Sales Teams to Achieve Unstoppable Sales?. ??Author of The Unstoppable Sales Machine.??
Recently, while onboard a flight back from Miami, I overheard a conversation between two passengers.
I wasn’t eavesdropping.
The gentleman sitting in front of me was leaning over the seat, speaking with the person next to me.
My seatmate didn’t seem too interested, constantly glancing at his phone.
It took a few minutes before I realized what was going on.
The person in front of me was a salesperson, and my seatmate, still heavily distracted and presumably not that interested, was his prospect.
The one-sided discussion reeked of desperation.
And then things went from bad to worse.
In mid-conversation, the salesperson noticed someone else walk by and literally stopped mid-sentence.
He then shuffled back a couple of rows and began speaking to the other person.
From what I can tell, they were all returning from a large tradeshow, and the salesperson was taking one last attempt to close some deals.
It struck me, however, that my seatmate might be thinking what I was thinking…
“This guy is telling me how he can help me, yet the moment someone else walks by, he drops me like a wet noodle.”
In sales, what we say is often far less important that what we do.
Don’t get me wrong, language is important, but our actions speak volumes.
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When I called my local phone company recently, trying to update my plan, the voice message suggested “my time was their top priority.”
Yet it took no less than six button presses and remaining on hold for 15 minutes to reach someone, only to have them tell me I could make the changes in my online profile myself.
The actions didn’t align with the promise.
In sales, our actions speak louder than our words.
If you tell a prospect you’ll call them tomorrow at 10am, then you’d better call at 10am.
If you promise to send a copy of the presentation, you’d better do with within 10 minutes of delivering the presentation.
The experience we deliver (or don’t deliver) our buyers set the stage in their mind as to what they should expect when they invest with our company.
So, we need to act in a way that makes the prospect feel like they’re important.
Because they are.
PS. Have you ever been compelled to return a favour to someone? This is the Law of Reciprocity in action and can be a potent sales tool when used correctly.?Read my latest blog?to learn how to practice this persuasion technique to engage with your clients and increase your sales results.