I have recently chosen to not work with a new salesperson from a vendor that I’ve worked with for years. Why? They wouldn’t stop talking. As much as I’d like to learn more about you to develop a long term sales relationship, if you’re looking to sell to me, or anyone, you’ve got a lesson you’ll need to learn: just. stop. talking.
Sales aren’t successful based on how much product knowledge you have, nor based on how much experience you have. Sales are made based on how well you understand my problem. If you don’t know your products well, call me back with a solution based on my needs after doing some research internally. If you don’t have experience, that can be overcome easily by inviting an honest dialogue. If you don’t stop talking, you don’t know me, my company, or my challenges. Without knowledge of my challenges, you have no basis upon which to recommend your products.
Here’s a great quote from Christopher Penn’s “Awaken Your Superhero” Blog about the Most Powerful Sales Technique In The World:
Shut up. Yes, that’s the technique. Shut up. I have seen more salespeople lose deals or carve themselves into unprofitability from nervous speech than from any other sales technique failure. Marketers are especially bad at not shutting up. Once you’ve shared some information that should provoke a reaction, learn to keep your speech turned off (and I say that because it includes text chat, email chains in your inbox, replies on Facebook, and conversations on the phone and in person) and wait for the reaction.
Want to achieve new sales success? Just stop talking.
Author:
Nick Inglis is the Founder/CEO of LeftGen Information Management Group (InformedIM, SolveIM, ClearIM & AgentIM), an expert on enterprise software, and is the author of the AIIM SharePoint Governance Toolkit. Nick has worked with companies as diverse as EY, Shell and Canon. Nick is a keynote speaker on the topics of SharePoint, Information Management and Collaborative Technologies.
