If you follow me on social media, and I hope you do, I’ve talked recently about the sales presentation vs. the sales conversation.
One is about blah-blah-blahing and the other is about questions and listening.
Have you ever spent hours preparing a presentation? Of course, you have!
Whether it is Prezi or PowerPoint or some other presentation system, it doesn’t matter. When you are presenting and talking (blah-blah-blahing), you can’t learn anything.
Often, we get too focused on features rather than benefits. We focus on the things rather than the value we can bring to the client or customer. If we are talking, how will we ever find out the value they are seeking.
If we spent half as much time on preparing questions instead of the presentation, we would have an incredible conversation. The more we engage the client, the better the conversation and increased chance for a sale.
People do love to talk. Think about yourself. Often when we talk, we try to out-do the other person, or one-up them. Think about your vacation or your kids or your golf game.
The more people talk the more they share. The more questions you ask, the more they will talk and answer your question. That’s how you can win the game.
It’s amazing what people will share when you ask them questions and then listen. We all can hear, right? We sometimes listen. Do you actively listen, though? Rather than thinking about what you are going to say to one-up the other person, you actively listen to them and formulate a follow-up question to dig deeper. What’s really interesting is when they get into “confidential” stuff during the conversation.
The other part of the sales conversation that I learned from Paul Martinelli is developing rapport with the prospect. How many of you have gotten into a conversation with a client about, again, your vacations or kids or golf game? That takes you down the wrong rabbit hole. Why are you wasting each other’s time with nothing related to the value you have to offer?
Of course, it is nice to be nice, but don’t waste too much of your time on that. Build rapport so they respect you since they don’t need to know your kids batting average. They are looking for an expert who can help them get out of their pain point.
John Maxwell has written a book on questions, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions, that is a starting point to plan for your next sales conversation.
Or reach out to me!
Let me know how you do converting from a sales presentation mentality to a sales conversation personality.
I guarantee your results will improve.