Written By: Tim Wackel
It is easier to talk about you, your company and your products than it is to prepare to have a conversation about THEM!
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? After all, the Boy Scouts have been teaching this idea to kids for almost 100 years.
So why in the world would most sales professionals show up unprepared? You see it all the time—they dash in from the parking lot with a handful of color brochures but no plan on how to engage. Or they relentlessly work the phones only to discover that they’ve offered nothing more than hollow chitchat.
Why do you and a lot of other sales reps fail to prepare? Because it is easier to talk about you, your company and your products than it is to prepare to have a conversation about THEM!
Here’s the big question: what are you doing to prepare that if your clients knew you were doing it, they would be more inclined to have an open and honest dialogue with you?
The next time you meet with a prospect or client, open the conversation with this simple phrase: “In preparing for this meeting I took some time to…” Then simply highlight the two or three critical things that you did to prepare and watch what happens to the atmosphere of the call. You will blow away the last rep who opened their meeting by announcing that they were just “checking in” to see if anything new was going on.
The less you talk about yourself, the more you have to prepare to talk about them. And the more you talk about them, the more likely they will be interested in you. Not exactly the secret formula you were hoping for. But it is an obvious formula—so obvious that most sales reps ignore it.
The determination to win is important in selling…but the determination to prepare to win is an essential part of getting to the top!
Tim Wackel
Tim Wackel is one of today’s most popular sales speakers because he makes information…
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