每周翻译论坛:提高英语表达水平,增强外贸销售能力(2007/28)
This Week's Tip: Shut Up!
Greetings!
Those two words in the title might have made you
cringe. After all, civil, polite people do not say that.
However, I remember reading a Wall Street Journal
article discussing how in today's pop culture it is
often used in place of, "You're kidding me!," or "Get
out of here!"
Elaine often used it on Seinfeld as she would shove
Kramer or Jerry with both hands.
And salespeople should actually DO it more often.
"Shut up!"
That's right. Most salespeople could and would sell
more if they kept their mouth closed.
Too many salespeople act as if they're paid by the word
and jump in, when they shouldn't, so they can talk about
all of the great "benefits" of their product/service.
But, they're likely killing a great sales opportunity.
For example,
Sales Rep: "Please tell me how you now handle the storage
and security of your customer records."
Prospect: "Well, we're a bit weak in that area. We mostly
put the orders and records in those storage boxes in the
back, and we have the office manager take home the backup
tape once a week and (Salesperson interrupts here...)
Sales Rep: "Oh, let me tell you what we can do for you..."
This scene, similar to hundreds of thousands occurring every
day (on your calls, maybe? Nahh.) has caused the sales rep to
miss the opportunity to:
- get more valuable, need/problem information
- help the prospect move into more of mindset where they are
re-living their pain, feeling it even more intensely,
- help the prospect realize more of an urgency to act on
their problem, which is a result of them talking about it
more,
- identify even more needs/pains/problems, and dig even
deeper into those (such as the highly risky practice of having
an employee take the backup tape home, mentioned in
the example.)
Cutting off a customer or prospect and jumping in with your
own monologue when they're telling you about their situation
is just plain dumb.
Not only should you not interrupt, but you should drill
deeper into what they just told you.
Look again at the prospect's statement. Say it out loud as
you read it:
Prospect: "Well, we're a bit weak in that area. We mostly
put the orders and records in those storage boxes in the
back, and we have the office manager take home the backup
tape once a week and ..."
Was there an obvious key word and idea there that jumped out?
Yes!
"Weak," as in "...we're a bit weak...".
That begs the question, "Why do you feel you're weak in that
area?" That question would continue the waterfall of information
from them--stuff that would tell the rep exactly what he would
need to say to help move the sales process forward.
Here are a couple of points and action items:
-Keep in mind that whatever you say about your product or
service in the presentation/recommendation part of the call isn't
anywhere nearly as good as it could be if you let them, and
encourage them to continue talking.
-PAUSE, after they seemingly have finished an answer or
statement. This ensures you don't interrupt, but more
importantly, they might keep talking.
-Hit the "Mute" button on your phone if you need to prevent
yourself from butting in.
Want to sell more? Shut up!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of
listening when you'd have preferred to talk."
Doug Larson
Go and have your best week ever!
Art
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