I have mentioned several times over the years, over 50% of human communication is nonverbal, but every once in a while, I am reminded of this critical fact in real time.
Over the weekend, I had breakfast at a diner which was in the thick of its rush hour. Our waitress showed up and said all the right things, but she was obviously stressed out. Read More
We have all run into professional “chiselers” . . . experts at asking for ever more service for the same price. It’s actually a highly refined technique taught in most negotiating courses.
“Chiselers” thrive on weakness. If they sense any weakness in your position, they will exploit it.
Conversely, if you are delivering good service at a fair price, or remain certain about your value proposition, they will usually back off when they do not smell fear. Read More
Game of Thrones was a cultural phenomenon. It attracted and energized people from all over the world who fully invested in the show’s dramatic story line, extraordinary writing, riveting characters and fantastic actors.
For seven years it built and captivated its huge audience with world-class engagement. And then came season eight.
The media industry has never seen anything quite like it. The drop off in storyline, character development and writing were the topic of criticism around the world. People wondered how such a hard won, beautiful journey could fall off so abruptly.
What happened? Read More
Curiosity is a particularly strong human trait. It is a hardwired survival trait that has been a part of our progression over thousands of years.
And it can be leveraged in very effective and powerful ways in the context of sales.
Let’s say you are selling a major piece of equipment. You could say something like: Read More
I cannot tell you how many sales pitches I have heard that start out something like this:
“Good morning. Thank you for having us here today. We’d like to start out by telling you a little about ourselves.”
Noooooooooooooooooooo!
Street law: When we start out a speech or sales presentation by talking about “us,” here is what the audience is “really” hearing: Read More
We all know charisma when we see it. The energy. The magnetism. The star quality.
It seems so natural that our intuition might tell us that charismatic people are simply born that way, but psychologists tell us that this is absolutely not the case.
Charisma is primarily a learned characteristic. Read More
Every once in a while, something special happens on the sports scene that really captures our imaginations and lights up our emotions.
For many of us, we experienced one such moment this weekend when Tiger Woods won the Masters.
First of all, for anyone who has experienced nerve pain in the back and legs, you know that it can paralyze you and completely ruin your life.
Tiger could not get out of bed without help in the morning, and he pretty much had to lay on a couch all day and not move as he experienced the worst of his back issues. After several surgeries and relapses, he finally found a doctor who was able to fuse vertebrae and remove the pain, but that was just the beginning of his comeback.
Read More
We are involved in many relationships in our lives . . . spouses, co-workers, friends. And within the scope of these relationships, the power ebbs and flows depending upon the dynamics therein.
But there is one relationship in which the person with the power is naturally defined. That is, the buyer/seller relationship.
In this case, and we all get to take this position from time to time, the buyer is naturally, or at least should be, in the more powerful position. Read More
Here is a Shmooze idea for you just in time for spring.
I know a salesman who, every spring, sends his clients a small tree to plant in their yards. He also sends along a note that goes something like this.
“Spring is a time of renewal, a time of hope and a time for fresh thoughts about our lives, our families and our environment. Please gather your family together this weekend to plant this small tree as a contribution to our world, and as a symbol of our friendship, which I also hope will grow and prosper.” Read More
Has this ever happened to you?
You close a great sale, only to get bogged down in delivering your product and service to finish the deal by issues on the buyer’s side . . . ultimately making you look bad in the process.
Here is how to avoid that scenario. Read More
The underlying, core foundation of Mr. Shmooze is that the ability of one person to make another person feel better is at the center of all successful communications.
From Ronald Reagan, Oprah, Tom Hanks to the world’s greatest salespeople in any profession, making the person you are talking to feel better is fundamental.
Remember, we are not advocating substituting intellectual competency with the art of elevating feelings, but the point we always make is that great salespeople are masters at both the intellectual and the emotional sides of the selling equation. Read More
Since part of my business requires buying as well as selling, it’s great fun for me to sit in on sales presentations and absorb them both as a buyer and as someone who advises people about selling.
Last week, I caught someone using a familiar selling technique from a well-known sales training company.
That was OK, but here is the issue . . . they were following the program like robots . . . 123, 123, 123 . . . neglecting to embed it into a more natural discourse.
And, when I decided to have some fun and throw them off the delivery channel, they became confused and rattled.
Here is my point. Read More
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