Have you ever noticed your customers getting that glazed look when you tell them how fabulous you and your company are?
Have you ever had your customers seem very agreeable in your sales meeting but never seem to follow through with an order?
Have you ever found yourself doing all of the talking whether in a client meeting or over the phone?
If so, chances are you are having a sales monologue and not a sales dialogue with your customers – you are nothing more than a talking brochure and are wasting yours and your client’s time.
We all know what it is like to be in the presence of someone who only talks about themselves with no interest in anyone else. They do not enquire about others’ wellbeing or interests and seem totally concerned about their own needs and ambitions.
Imagine being one of your clients, sitting there unable to express your concerns or be able to discuss ways to solve your challenges or achieve your goals, or get a word in edge ways.
Frustrating, isn’t it?
Sales monologues were standard fair at the height of the ‘product selling’ days of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Show up and throw up information was how many sales people sold back then, and some still do it today. You would think we would have shifted our focus to a more enlightened sales approach by now, yet sales monologues still happen more than you think. Where we are seeing it most often is in online community groups.
Take LinkedIn Discussion Groups as an example – watch and listen to the discussions on these forums and see what happens to anyone who tries to promote their business or tout for business in this space – they are set upon by the Group Community and read the riot act because they are not engaging in a discussion. Engaging in sales monologues is causing people to be shunned by their online communities.
The new world of social media and sales is about sharing, educating, giving of yourself and working to enhance the communities you find yourself in. Blatantly advertising yourself is frowned upon because it’s just the same as being a talking brochure and people don’t want that, and quite frankly, never have.
The key to conducting a successful sales dialogue is to start listening and tune into what people are saying. You can get insights galore about peoples’ opinions, preferences and ideas at online communities like LinkedIn and Facebook.
This, in turn, will give you more ideas about what you need to do to engage in meaningful dialogue with others and develop the opportunities to produce something far more fruitful. Let your customers or contacts do the talking, ask them questions, find out what they are after and then work with them to give them what they want and/or need.
Remember, everybody lives by selling something.
Sue Barrett practices as a coach, advisor, speaker, facilitator, consultant and writer and works across all market segments with her skilful team at BARRETT. Sue and her team take the guess work out of selling and help people from many different careers become aware of their sales capabilities and enable them to take the steps to becoming effective and productive when it comes to selling, sales coaching or sales leadership.To hone your sales skills or learn how to sell go to www.barrett.com.au.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
