By asking better questions, your sales team can engage in stimulating and productive customer conversations. A recent book demonstrated how a lesson from the elementary classroom applies to Fortune 1000 sales executives.
INSIGHTS
While customer-driven dialogue should be the goal of every sales meeting, make no mistake: there are key “moments of presentation” during these conversations that can determine your success or failure. The best sales people know when they need to shift gears and jump into presentation mode, and they do it well because it's a skill they've practiced.
Search the internet for pipeline mortality and you’ll only get a handful of hits and not one of them will have anything to do with the sales process. But my colleague David Mears, Mandel’s Chief Sales Officer, loves to use this term. The meaning is fairly obvious – it describes the potential deals put into the sales pipeline that never close, either lost to competitors or inaction. And David believes that many sales leaders are willing to accept pipeline mortality rates that are needlessly high and costly.
It's not uncommon to talk too fast and speed through a presentation. Too often, people fill potential pauses with filler words such as, “like” or “ya know” or “um” or “ah”. But, the effect on your audience can be devastating. Instead, learn how to use pauses effectively to enhance your audience's understanding of your message and their esteem of you as the messenger.
I recently had a conversation with a former client that reminded me of how small changes in how you communicate can effect big results. Something as simple as mastering how to pause can influence how you're perceived by others and what you're able to achieve. Here's what she told me.
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