Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

You Might Be a Sleazy Salesperson if...

You might be a sleazy salesperson if...

 
...you make fun of your customers behind their back. Alot

...you don't just take advantage of an opportunity, you take advantage of a customer

...you don't keep private information private

...don't treat your customers with genuine respect

...cheat someone out of something

...view your prospect as being your opponent

...have a fake smile

...wear polyester ties

...wear a top that is two sizes too small (applies to men and women)

...or even one size too small

...you can't help out a colleague without expecting something in return

...your ego is bigger than your humility

...take anything of the customer's that isn't yours

...hit on your customers

...say "trust me"

...show too much leg

...act like a gangsta

...you line up with other salespeople, peering out the windows of your car dealership

...with binoculars

...eat in front of your customer, unless you're dining together

...wink a lot

...your perfume/cologne lingers two hours after you've left the room

...prematurely bring your sales manager into the conversation to "close the deal"

...tell a unabashed lie to your prospect

...don't do what you say you were going to do

...use colorful language in front of your prospects that don't use colorful language

...you call a customer "babe" or "baby" or "honey"

...say inappropriate things around children

...look anywhere in your customer's home that you shouldn't (if you sell in the home)

...chomp on gum while with a customer

...say "I gotta go take a dump" to a customer, unless that's how your customer talks

...don't play by the rules

...don't know the rules

...don't care that you don't know the rules

...wear too much jewelry

...have breath, clothes, or a body that smells like an ashtray or worse

...have too many buttons unbuttoned on your blouse or shirt

...stand around your store or showroom talking trash with other salespeople, especially when customers are present

...answer your cell phone when with a prospect

...itch yourself where you shouldn't

...for too long

...you think know the world evolves around you

What salespeople do you know that are on the sleazy side? What else should be on the list that I'm missing?

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

TMI in Selling

Providing TMI (too much information) is an affliction from which many salespeople suffer. Giving TMI is worse than TLI (too little information).

Prospects don't want all the information you have. They only want the specific bits of information that applies to them, their needs, and their particular situation. Anything above and beyond that is TMI.

I experienced the TMI effect recently (and I was to blame for it) when I told a group of my buddies how I like to sit around the house in my underwear and watch TV on my days off. I told them sometimes I even leave out the underwear. Disgusted shouts of "TMI" wafted from the group.

I was just kidding about the whole thing (much to their relief) but it's clear that TMI has the potential to be a very damaging element in any interaction, and that includes a sales interaction. Control your urge to give too much information.

Here's a conversation I witnessed when I stopped at Bruegger's Bagels recently for lunch (note that Brueggers has recently started selling panini, which is made out of bread rather than bagels):

CUSTOMER: How much is a loaf of your bread?

BRUEGGER'S GUY: You know, we'd have to charge you so much that it wouldn't make sense.
CUSTOMER: I love your bread; can't I buy a loaf to take home?

BRUEGGER'S GUY: They haven't found out a way to price it so that it would be affordable. The way it is right now, I would need to charge you an immense amount because of how the sandwiches are priced, and so it would come out to some astronomical price like fifty dollars or something, and I'm sure you don't want to pay fifty dollars or more for a loaf of bread. We've been talking about the pricing and I know they're working on something but what I'd have to do is charge you for a sandwich but without the filling and stuff and multiply that by how many of slices there are in a loaf of bread. We get our bread from a supplier and we'd need to get better pricing if we were going to sell just the bread alone and not in a panini or sandwich. The way it is we have some problems with our supplier so I don't know if they would look for a different supplier or maybe something else because we don't bake the bread in our stores like we do the bagels. So I can't sell you a loaf of bread unless you want to pay like fifty dollars.

Most of Bruegger's Guy's words were wasted words. They didn't add value to the customer or strengthen the relationship between the customer and the vendor. All the Bruegger's Guy need to have said was, "I'm sorry, but we don't sell loaves of bread at this time, but feel free to check back again in case that changes."

Or better yet: "...if you want to leave me with your name and phone number or email, I'll let you know if we start selling loaves of bread."

Don't fall prey to the TMI effect!

- - - - -

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Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Just a Plain Ginger Ale?

I met a friend for lunch the other day.

"Can I bring you a ginger ale or lemonade?" asked the waiter.

I considered his proposal and said, "I'll have a ginger ale" (proof that giving prospects simple and easy to understand options yields results!).

"Just a plain ginger ale?" the waiter asked.

"Sure," I answered quickly.

But after the waiter left to retrieve my beverage, I thought to myself, "Hmm...I'm getting a plain ginger ale...I wonder what other kinds of ginger ale they have." When the waiter returned with my plain ginger ale, I asked him.

"So, you mentioned plain ginger ale," I said. "What other kinds of ginger ale do you have?"

"Oh, I suppose I should have told you what kinds we have. We have passion fruit, orange and pomegranate. Would you like me to exchange your plain ginger ale for one of those?"

"No thanks," I responded. "I was just curious because you had used the wording just plain ginger ale."

My Observations

1. "Plain" and "just" are lousy sales words. Don't use them. There's nothing plain about the ginger ale this establishment served me. It was fantastic. This was not your typical "out of the bottle" ginger ale, it was the signature beverage of this dining establishment. As a consumer, which would you rather buy? (A) "Just plain ginger ale" or, (B) "The finest ginger ale on the planet?" Utilize words that elevate your product offerings and create value in the mind of the customer.

2. If you have options that the customer would want to know about, you'd better let them know about the options before you ask them which option they want.

How can you utilize these concepts in the products or services you sell?

I appreciate your comments. Please share your comment by clicking "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales trainer, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free sales tips email newsletter.

Fight Routine Customer Experience Syndrome (RCES)

My 83-year-old mother had surgery on her leg this week.

As I sat with her preparing and waiting for her surgical procedure, I got the sense that the hospital staff didn't care all that much about her or her experience. Everything was very routine, very bland, and very "procedural."

The second nurse that came in to her prep are and started putting stuff on her and taking her temperature and so on. What was missing? How about a nice, friendly, greeting? How about, "Good morning! It's so nice to have you here!" or "Marjorie, my name is so-and-so, and I'm here to help you get ready for your procedure this morning!". How about a smile (with direct eye contact)?!?

All of us in business (or customer service, or healthcare, or hospitality) must fight Routine Customer Experience Syndrome (RCES). What might very well be routine for you as a service provider, may very well not be routine for your customer. So please treat your customer (or subject or patient or guest) accordingly.

The only thing that should be routine in your business is how your fulfillment systems work flawlessly and with no errors (delivery or installation or checkout or surgery or whatever is the fulfillment system in your line of work). Your human interaction with your customer should be overflowing with personalization, sincerity, and fun...not routineness.

Share your comments by clicking on "comments" below. If you you use Digg or Stumble Upon, please consider using the Share This button (below) so others can find this post.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company specializing in sales training in retail, in-home selling, and services. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.

Don't Ask Them...Show Them!

The waitress asked, "Do you want to see the dessert tray?"

My wife and I looked at each other, then made some facial expressions to each other, and then turned to the waitress and said "no." No dessert for the Andersons tonight. And no dessert revenue (at least from the Andersons) for the restaurant (or dessert commission for the waitress) tonight either.

But the Anderson's probably would have purchased at least one dessert last night had the waitress brought the dessert tray to us and presented it to us. We're both dessert people, and it's not unusual that our desire to eat healthy and lose pounds is overruled by the enticing look and the inviting scent of a well-conceived dessert tray.

Regardless of what you sell, what plays the role of the "dessert tray" in your business? What revenue are you missing out on because you're not showing the tray to your customers?

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Sometimes Reality Sucks

My travel agent retired last week. Yes, I still use a travel agent (for roughly half of my travel plans).

I knew she was retiring, but I didn't bother to plan ahead and find a new one. So I called a new travel agent last week and said, "I need a good travel agent" to the person who answered the phone.

Here's what I wanted to hear: "Great! Thanks for calling! My name is Jodi, what's your name? I'm the great travel agent you're looking for! How can I help you?"

Here's what I heard: "Is this a corporate account or an individual account?" (I answered). "Will this be a personal or business trip?" (I answered). "Where are you going?" (I answered). "When do you need to depart?" (I answered). "When will you return?" (I answered).

The travel agent (a salesperson, you know) I had spoken to in my imagination was a much better salesperson than the one I talked to in reality.  

Here's your goal for next week: Be the salesperson I imagined, not the one I actually talked to.

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Conversion is King

Most prospects we deal with are browsers, whether they're browsing by calling us in our office to discuss our insurance or financial products, or they're visiting our showroom, or they've invited us to their home for a consultation.

The mantra of the browser is I'm just looking. The mantra of the salesperson is make the sale. The point where these two conflicting points-of-view intersect is the sales interaction.

Ultimately, the mission of the salesperson during the sales interaction is to transform the browser into a buyer; that's job #1 in consumer selling. Conversion is King. 

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

The Legend of Big Foot

I took my wife to the spa for Valentine's Day. We had a "couple's pedicure." We sat side-by-side while each of us had a pedicurist get busy with our feet. This was my first pedicure ever.

My pedicurist sat down on her little stool in front of me and unwrapped the warm, steamy towel that had been wrapped around my feet. She took one look at my feet and announced, "Gee, you sure have big feet - I'm not used to working on such big feet."

Here are my thoughts about our spa adventure:

First, my feet really aren't all that large - I think they're average. It's not that I'm particularly sensitive about the size of my feet...I'm not. If I have big feet, so be it. I just don't know why a pedicurist would comment on the size of a client's feet. I realize that, in some circles, having large feet might be considered a good thing, but those people should read this.

Secondly, in the role of serving a customer, can you tell me if there is any advantage whatsoever to commenting on the size of his feet? Does it help build trust and rapport? Does it encourage repeat business? Does it engage the customer? Does it add value?

Here's the skinny: I'm a guy. I was having a pedicure for the first time in my life. Let's face it, I was squarely in female territory sitting there in a robe at a spa, trying to be a good husband, while I was attempting to blend into the spa environment. Frankly, it was just a smidgen uncomfortable, even though I consider myself a mostly enlightened modern dude. 

Shouldn't a professional pedicurist understand the potential discomfort a guy might have when he's sitting in a spa next to his wife with his feet soaking in a bin of warm, fragrant, liquid? Does providing commentary on the size of his feet add to that potential anxiety, or does it ease it?

There are the lessons to be learned here, I think:

1. If you take your wife to a spa for Valentine's Day, you're better off getting a pedicure than a couple's massage. You don't want a masseuse publicly commenting on the size of your various body parts.

2. If you are a salesperson, or in any kind of customer-contact role, don't make comments that could potentially be offensive. Steer clear of religion and sex and politics. And the size of customers' body parts.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Altoid Breath

I had a salesperson visit me in my home. He was selling windows. He smelled like cigarette smoke. He smelled really bad.

Like many non-smokers, I don't care for the smell of smoke. It's hard to get past the putrid odor of smoke when you're trying to decide which salesperson you're going to reward with a $35,000 purchase.

Sales trainers don't often talk about smoking, but I'm going to do it. All the sales skills in the world will not work if you smell like an ashtray. Some salespeople I've hired who smoke didn't ever smell like smoke. One guy would go out of his way to pop an Altoid in his mouth to keep his breath fresh. And he only smoked outside, so the smoke smell never got into his clothes. I didn't care if he smoked. That's his personal choice. But I did care if he would offend our prospects with cigarette smoke odor, especially because he was selling in our customer's homes.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Ice Cream of the Future?

My daughter and I went to the Mall of America last week so we could ride the roller coaster. As is our custom after roller coaster rides, we stopped to get a cup of Dippin' Dots.

You may be familiar with Dippin' Dots. If not, they're tiny beads of ice cream about the size of BB shot, formed by what the company calls "cryogenic encapsulation." The beads are firm and take quite a while to melt, so their texture is unlike other ice cream until it hits your warm tongue when it melts into creamy splendor. They're available at fairs and amusement parks and other Dippin' Dots outlets. My daughter loves Dippin' Dots.

As we sat eating our Dots, I noticed the Dippin' Dots logo with their tag line on the vendor's cart: "Ice Cream of the Future."

What a great marketing concept! What other ice cream can say they're the ice cream of the future? This is a unique marketing identity. Marketing strategies that differentiate companies from their competitors are often successful.

But as I sat on the bench with my daughter eating their product I couldn't help but notice that nothing else in the company's presentation supported their tag line.

Notice the non-futuristic font of the Dippin' Dots logo. This font looks more like something you would see on a package of doll clothes than on the "ice cream of the future." And what is futuristic about a white cart with a teal canopy? Teal may have been a future-friendly corporate color at some point, but in 2007, it looks tired.

Here's a company with, in my opinion, a great tag line, and their product lives up to it. But nothing else lives up to their tag line. If Dippin' Dots really wants consumers to think of their ice cream as the "ice cream of the future," shouldn't their logo and its font, and their carts and their corporate color and the clothes their vendors wear and the way they fulfill your order when you go up to the vending cart also look futuristic?

Words are cheap. Creating a unique and memorable corporate identity goes beyond creating clever words, though.

I'd like to suggest that you take a look at your tag line and your marketing identity. Does your way of doing business support the identity you hold out to your market in your advertising and promotions, or are your slogans and advertising just gibberish without any real meat behind them? Do your salespeople, your advertising, your slogans, your everything interrelate so that you are really living who you say you are to your market? Or are your slogans and marketing writings nothing more than hollow words?

Identify who you want to be (this applies to companies and individual salespeople, too). Then focus your energies on being that entity. Look for inconsistencies between the message you present to your market and reality. Fix those inconsistencies and you have a shot at making your business walk your talk. Customers love it when companies (and salespeople) walk their talk.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Indifference

Harry Beckwith, author of fantastic books such as "Selling the Invisible," recently distributed "What Motivates People: The Beckwith 40." The first of Harry's forty thoughts about why people choose one product rather than another is: "Your biggest competitor is not a competitor; it's your prospect's indifference."

That's a valuable observation. Salespeople who are able to get past the wall of prospect indifference will have more success than salespeople who don't.

The most effective method for helping prospects to get past the wall of indifference is to focus intently on your prospect's needs and desires. In our sales training, we teach how understanding prospects' micro-needs, macro-needs, and the super-macro need can help foster prospect engagement and lead to vastly improved sales performance.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

 

One-Sixth is A Lot!

It's the last day of October. That means there are exactly two months of selling opportunities remaining in calendar year 2007. How are you doing at meeting your 2007 sales quota or goal?

If you're on track to make your goal for 2007, I'm guessing that you're motivated, engaged, and aggressively moving ahead to ensure that you sell what you need to to ensure that both your boss and yourself are happy on December 31st, 2007.

On the other hand, if you're not on track to make your goal, you're probably like a lot of salespeople who have given up on 2007 and are instead looking ahead to 2008 with such self-talk as "next year will be a better year" or "I hope the economy turns around next year."

2008 will be here in due time. It's great to plan ahead. But one-sixth of 2007 remains. Your 2007 will likely be made or not made depending upon how you decide to look at the remaining two months of sales opportunities in 2007. Don't blow off one-sixth of the year because once it's gone, it is gone forever.

Here are four ways to keep your focus on 2007:

1. Virtually every salesperson has one or more nagging "to-do's" floating around in their mind. What is it you've meant to do for months or even a year or longer that you haven't "gotten around" to doing? Do it now. You know what it is.

2. Set clear behavior goals for yourself for the next two months (examples: "get to work by 7:30 am" or "cut caffeine consumption by fifty percent" or "contact thirty of my friends and relatives and ask for referrals).

3. If low motivation is a factor in your situation, let someone help you. Hire a coach. Or, two books (or audiobooks) I highly recommend are Jack Canfield's The Success Principles and Seth Godin's The Dip. One is long and the other is short; Both are great.

4. Your best source of revenue is most probably the group of prospects you've already spoken with and have given presentations to, but who you let slip through the cracks. I know, I know: you got busy and didn't have time to follow-up to continue the selling process. Well now it's crunch time, so make time to call them back now, along with the fifty or one hundred other prospects who were interested in your product or service at one time in 2007, but from whom you never bothered to get a firm yes or no buying decision. There are buyers there waiting for you. It might be one of them or it might be fifty of them, but I know they're there - they always are.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Reach into the Past

It looks like organic produce is here to stay. The consumer marketplace loves it. It's trendy. Many consumers think it's better tasting and almost everyone think it's better for your body. Food retailers have responded by converting additional produce space to organic product.

Here's a question: What did they call "organic carrots" fifty years ago? The answer is: "carrots."

Here's your challenge: How can you reach into the past to appear to be new again, and boost your sales in the process?

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Wasted Words

Trite sayings during a sales interaction are boring and ineffective. Statements like, "our company is very service-oriented" or "we'll take good care of you," or "this is one of our best sellers" are all wasted words. Prospects tune out wasted words, and they have no positive impact on the sales interaction whatsoever.

Consumers hear trite phrases all the time, and they've learned to mistrust wasted words when they hear them. Although a salesperson using trite language is attempting to establish trust or rapport with his prospect by using them, they end up having the opposite effect. They either don't register in the prospect's realm of thought, or they register negatively.

Wasted words should be replaced with interesting and meaningful words and phrases that help develop rich dialogue with the prospect or have a positive impact on them. Great salespeople are good at cutting through the clutter in the prospect's environment: messages from other salespeople, advertising, and the hurried pace of contemporary life. One way they accomplish this is with effective choice of verbiage.

I suggest audio taping your next three sales interactions. When you're done listening to them, make a list of all the wasted words or phrases you used. Phrases such as "to be honest with you" or "if you have any questions just give me a call" count as wasted words.

Words matter. Words mean things. Choose your words wisely.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Several weeks ago, I dropped off several pairs of shoes at a local shoe repair shop. On Monday, I drove to the shop at 2:15 p.m. to pick up my newly repaired shoes. There was a note scribbled on the shop's front door that said, "Be Back at 3:30". I found this to be frustrating - the shoe repair shop is a twenty minute drive from my office. Therefore, I wasted about forty minutes of my time attempting to pick up my shoes. I returned at 4:00 when I picked up (and paid for) my shoes.

"Big deal," you might say. "You had to wait to get your shoes. Stuff happens."

But I haven't told you that this was the third time I had attempted to pick up my shoes but was unsuccessful, because the shoe repair shop wasn't open during their posted hours of business.

Additionally, when I had dropped off my shoes, I had to wait fifteen minutes for the shop to open, even though--according to the posted hours of operation--they should have been open when I arrived. Another customer waiting with me told me that the shop was often not open when they were supposed to be.

How can a business stay in business when it doesn't meet the most basic customer commitment of being open when it says it's going to be open? I don't know the answer to that question, but I know that most companies would not survive in today's competitive environment with such a low level of commitment to its customers.

So let me offer an idea in hopes that some hungry entrepreneur out there will be intrigued.

Move to Eagan, Minnesota, and open a shoe repair shop (Eagan is a nice suburb of Minneapolis-St.Paul. It was listed as the 12th best place to live in Money magazine's 2006 "Best Places to Live" feature. You can check it out at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/snapshots/PL2717288.html.).

There are 67,448 people in Eagan (that means there are 134,896 feet in Eagan - if each foot owns, say, eight, that's 1,079,168 shoes that reside within Eagan's city limits). Make sure your shop is open when your "Hours of Operation" sign says you're going to be open, and I'm sure you'll do very well.

After you're up and running, create a mail-in cardboard box with your logo and your address on it. Hand out and mail out these boxes to your customers so they can mail their shoes to you when they need your services (by doing so you can expand your market beyond the local Eagan area). When you're done repairing your customer's shoes, mail them back to the customer within a week, a la Netflix, so customers can use the same box to mail their next pair of shoes to you when they're in need of repair. Set up your website so your customers can track the progress of their shoe repairs. Make it easy for your customer and they will reward you with ongoing business.

After your business is open, contact me via my website so I can become a customer!

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Start Naming Names

Fashion designer Pierre Cardin once said, "My name is more important than myself."

Calling an individual by name can have an almost magical effect on that person. Back in fourth grade, I noticed my teacher used a discipline technique that seemed to recognize this fact.

There were a number of challenging students in my fourth grade class. I noticed that when a student wasn't following her directions, she would repeat the directions, but this time would start the directions by saying the student's first name. For example, she would say, "Randy, please sit down in your chair and open up your math book" if Randy hadn't followed the teacher's instructions the first time and was instead poking the cute girl who sat in the back of the room with a paintbrush.

As a parent, I have relied upon this technique.

Hyatt Hotels found that their customers are 87% more likely to rate their stay as having been "excellent" if the front desk clerk had called the customer by name three times before the customer was given his room key.

People love to hear others say their name. Using your prospect's name several times during a sales interaction can help increase the prospect's engagement with you.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

 

Make It Easy For Your Prospect to Buy

I went out out to lunch last week to an upscale restaurant. The waiter took our food order. Then he said, "Do you want just plain tap water?"

"Tap water" is perfect language to use to describe this free product. It doesn't sound very appealing. Kudos to the waiter for his choice of verbiage.

However, both my friend and I said "yes" to the waiter's offer. We chose tap water because the waiter made it so easy for us to do so. But his error was that he didn't offer us a more appealing alternative that would have increased his sale.

The waiter would increase his sales of bottled water, and therefore increase his tips, by giving his diners (customers) a choice. If he would ask his customer, "Would you like a glass of plain tap water or should I bring you a bottled water?", surely some diners, perhaps even many diners, would opt to pay for bottled water. Imagine the impact of this one waiter selling, say, thirty or fifty additional bottled waters each day.

Part of selling, whether the product is food in a restaurant, or snowmobiles or silk scarves or mutual funds, is to make it easy for your prospect to buy. What revenue are you missing out on because you simply don't make it easy for your prospects to buy from you?

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com

 

Listen and Learn

When you're face to face with a client, how do you sound? Do you say the right things or the wrong things? How do you come across?

You may have an idea of how you sound, but I'll bet that it's not very accurate. The only way to have an accurate idea of how you really sound during a real, live sales interaction is to record yourself and listen to it. I can promise you that you'll learn more than you ever imagined. A small digital recorder works splendidly for this purpose. 

Legalities about recording live conversations varies depending upon the state in which you live, so if you have any doubts, check into it before you do it. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has a handy website that might shed some light on this issue. Their website is www.rcfp.org/taping.

Listen and Learn!

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com