Communication - Don't Overkill!
Don’t say in blah, blah, blah … what you can say in blah!
A good friend of mine gave me this line when we were reviewing an upcoming presentation we were going to make. We had an hour to give the presentation, so I laid out almost an hour of presentation materials, data, slides, and all the bells and whistles. Talk about overkill!
He reviewed the first draft, and stated it … “Mike you have WAY TOO MUCH in this presentation, how many times do you want to tell him the same thing? Don’t say in blah, blah, what you can say in blah!”
He proceeded to edit the presentation and took out nearly 2/3rd’s of it, and we went to the appointment with a solid 20-minute slide show.
I recently had a home improvement sales person at the house, and he was very good. We got beyond the ‘selling’ process, and while he was writing up the contract we were just chatting. He noticed a copy of my book on the coffee table, and started paging through it. Of course, he took the opportunity for some free coaching and advice and asked what I thought of his presentation. I gave him 8 out of 10, and he argued that because I bought the product, he should be getting a higher rating. I told him the sale was over an hour ago, it just took him the extra time to realize it. He had missed a lot of cues I had given, but I was okay with it, and my general criticism of him was the above – keep it simple, don’t overstate, don’t over talk your position, and don’t say it too many times. If I had been an impatient buyer, he might have lost the sale, thankfully for his commission I wasn’t.
As sales people we have to communicate clearly, and make sure we are being thorough without inundating the buyer with too much information. The key to this is to build in questions in you sales presentation to ensure that
1) The customer can hear their own voice once in a while (the sweetest sound for anyone, is the sound of their own voice)
2) That you can get a feedback to see if the customer has grasped the concept, and if it’s time to move on.
It’s communication 101 to make sure there is a feedback system so we can gauge if the other party understands and comprehends what we are saying. A good sales person is not one that can talk a lot, but one that can listen and understand what else needs to be said, or when enough has been said.
Pinnacle Sales offers coaching in these types of topics, which best work in a one on one environment with your sales team. There is no ‘canned’ approach that can fit 100% of your team, so think about having some good quality coaching on presentation and listening skills.
Pinnacle Sales, LLC
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Belleville, MI 48111
(734) 516-0221
For a reference on Pinnacle Sales, check out the publication:
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