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When I first began as an accidental salesman over 15 years ago I quickly discovered that my communication and influencing skills were lacking.
Don’t get me wrong, I could get on with people but found it all a little awkward, especially meeting new people and knowing what to say and what not to say!
I soon discovered that developing communication skills is probably one of the most important things that we can do to boost our sales results.
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‘Make Customers Love Your Marketing' is a short e-book packed full of tips on how to use your marketing to improve relationships with your clients.
Well worth a read.
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Dexter Moscow is a leading expert in how to make an effective sales presentation. For the last 11 years Dexter has been a freelance presenter for QVC The TV Shopping Channel appearing live and selling a myriad of different products. Dexter also trains other QVC presenters in how to craft their pitch and he trains regular sales teams in how to present to win.
Being able to present is essential in sales. Whether you are presenting to one person or a room full of people you need to develop the basic skills or you will be missing out on opportunities to get your message out there.
Giving talks and seminars is also a good way of generating leads for accidental sales people. I now speak regularly to large audiences when once I was terrified of even speaking to people I knew really well. Speaking is a learnable skill and the more you learn and practice the better and more confident you will become.
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Case studies produced by IT companies are normally dry enough to send a prospect to sleep! Sales presentations are little better. How is it that two key tools in the sales process lack the sparkle and charisma normally associated with sales people?. How do we make them more engaging and entertaining? The answer is actually child’s play! By taking lessons from story telling and using metaphor we can bring our case studies and presentations to life.
Consider the following statements:
“I am interested but I cannot afford it”
“I am interested and I cannot afford it”
“I am interested even though I cannot afford it”
There is only a subtle difference in the words and a big difference in the impact they have on our thinking.
As humans, we assign meaning to words as we develop our vocabulary. Some words have a greater impact on people because of the meaning and emotions associated with the word. For example, compare the word ‘child’ with ‘baby’ , Which one invokes a stronger feeling? How about the word ‘house’ compared to ‘home’?
Crafting a compelling sales message is an area that many accidental sales people would love to perfect. Imagine just opening your mouth and out comes a whole stream of words that captivate your audience. Within minutes your prospect has their cheque book quivering in one hand, pen clutched in the other and is begging you to become a customer!
When you speak to a prospect or a customer, indeed when you speak to anyone, the words that you say are important. At the very same time you utter the words there is something else communicating in the background that has the potential to either drown out what you are saying OR to give your words even more power. Body language is a key part of communicating a message and yet something that is so often overlooked.
The way we think and communicate can have a big impact on sales. There is a wide variety of ways in which people think and communicate and these tend to differ by type of job function and by levels of seniority. The more flexible we can be with our communication, the wider group of people with whom we are likely to be effective. If you want your prospects to understand why they should buy your products and services then you should learn to speak their language.
