Talk Too Much

If you missed the webinar Help Others Buy, you might still be guilty of some of the reasons people don’t close more business. Let me help by emphasizing one:

We talk too much about features and benefits during a selling conversation- When we have our ‘sales hat’ on, we are so excited and passionate about what we sell that we talk too much. When someone says something like, “tell me a bit about how you think you can help me”; without hesitation, our tendency is to spout off everything we want them to know (all the features and all of the benefits) without having a clue what all of their problems are and matching our solutions to their particular problems. Yikes. To get out of the rut of talking too much, I invite you to read on…

• What would happen if you stopped to observe the reaction of the person you’re interacting with?
• Would you see their eyes glazed over, wondering what the heck the gibberish even means?
• Would you read their body language? (55% of communication is body language).
• Are they leaning in, nodding and participating in the conversation?
• Or do they look confused, alerting you to ask a question to check in and confirm you are on the same page, saying something like “I can tell by the expression on your face that something doesn’t feel right. Did I confuse you?”

Stop. ??

Listen. ????

Then respond. ????

And before you ask another question (they don’t want to feel like they’re speed dating), confirm you understood their reply by paraphrasing.

• Determine if you can help the prospect, ask enough questions to uncover pain points –A barrier to this might be the way we were raised which taught us to not ask so many questions. Now, we carry that with us and we feel pushy if we ask questions, thinking that it’s not really our business, that perhaps, we’re getting too personal. We ask a couple of questions to get the conversation moving forward. Then we move on to our features and benefits. Recommendation on how to start:
• Question 1: “tell me more”

This helps them begin to open up about what’s bothering them

• Question 2: "What have you done to attempt to solve this problem?"

This helps you understand their world, and how you might be able to help…

Around this time we tend to stop asking questions and start highlighting our features and benefits. Instead, ask:

• Question 3: "Based on what you did so far, what do you feel good about?"
• Question 4: "And what, if anything, continues to disappoint you?"

This is where most sales people wimp out, feeling that it’s just digging too deep and it’s uncomfortable…step out of your comfort zone and ask this:

• Question 5: "How does that make you feel?"

Is this out of their comfort zone? It is necessary to connect and really learn what’s bothering them…

• Question 6: "What might happen if this doesn’t get resolved?"

 Alert! Alert! The biggest question to determine if they’ll take action is….

• Question 7: "Are you ready to make a change?"

I hope this helps you help your prospects talk more and helps you get to the heart of the matter and ultimately, understand how you can help and help them recognize that they need help.

If you have questions on this, DM me, or go to my website www.beasaleschamp.net and schedule a complimentary consultation service.