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You, You, You
You, your product, and your company are only valuable to the client to the extent you can solve his problem or give him what he wants. The client doesn't want to hear your presentation of who you are, where you come from, what you value and what you do.
All of that is completely irrelevant to the client outside the context of his or her specific needs and wants. Those are what the client wants to talk about. Get to them quickly.
There is one hard and fast rule: It's never about you -- it's always about the client.
And On, And On, And On
Nearly every sales professional falls into this trap. You'll be on a roll and realize that you've been talking for a long time.
Unfortunately, when you're talking, you're not doing the most important thing that is the critical to the sale -- focusing on the client. The safe rule of thumb for the ratio of listening to talking is 80-20.
If you're in a meeting and find yourself talking more than 20 percent of the time, just switch to a question and be quiet.
In general, you might want to examine your selling process and look for ways to improve it.
Remember, the key to selling (actually any situation involving influence or motivation) is to ask questions and help people come to conclusions on their own.
Source: Pam Holloway is a business psychologist and co-founder of AboutPeople, a training and consulting firm that helps companies maximize the people side of business. She is a program designer, author and keynote speaker and teacher specializing in market psychology and organizational dynamics.
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