It’s well-established that in school, students learn faster and retain information much better when they are interacting with the material rather than just hearing a lecture. The exact same dynamic applies to selling.
You can dramatically increase your odds of capturing prospects’ intellectual attention and emotional engagement if you can evolve your sales communications from “presentations” into “experiences” in which the prospects become part of the conversation.
The big engine is revving back up in many industries. Let’s get back to some selling tips.
Some of the best salespeople in the world are trial lawyers. The best ones are excellent communicators and they make it look natural, but make no mistake, they have had a ton of training and they rehearse their “pitches” to the jury down to the finest detail in what is called “moot court.” Moot court is set up in a studio that simulates a court room including opposing counsel, judge and jury. Nothing is left to chance.
One of the tips trial lawyers are taught is the emotional value of “the pause.” The pause goes something like this.
Read MoreWe know from research that generating an interactive dialogue is a much more effective means of selling than simply presenting a “show and tell” monologue.
A great way to set the tone for an interactive meeting is to open the meeting with a provocative question.
Most of us have experienced the humor of Monty Python over the years via their movies and TV shows. I am a big fan, so when I saw that one of the group’s preeminent members, John Cleese, was coming to town for a one man show, I jumped on the opportunity. I am glad I did, because he reminded me of some very important lessons on presenting and selling.
The stage was empty except for a stool. The lights dimmed, a voice announced Cleese and he walked out to the center of the stage. He let the applause die down and then he said . . .
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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
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
People often ask me when it is best to present when competing in a proposal process . . . first, middle or last. The answer, if you can arrange it, is last. The reason is based on something psychologists call the “recency effect.” Read More
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