Human Conversations
- Markets are conversations.
- Markets consist of human beings, not
demographic sectors.
- Conversations among human beings sound
human. They are conducted in a human voice.
Whether delivering information,
opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human
voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived. - People recognize each other as such
from the sound of this voice
I read the Cluetrain book and it really inspired me. Inspired me to understand the way things should be.
Of course not everyone is talking this language yet, and some accuse it of being a bit idealistic, but at least we have a vision to work towards.
It’s well worth a look at the Weblogs of 3 of the 4 authors of Cluetrain, to hear their voice;
You might not agree with what they say but they ring true and full of Integrity.
Selling is nowadays about speaking with a human voice. It’s about Integrity. It’s about find out what you have in common with your customer/client.
It’s about Rapport.
It’s about those basic skills.
It’s about contact.
It’s about Networking, but real networking, not that false stuff. You know what I mean.
It’s about openness.
Sales Skills
Sales Skills are what you use when kissing and talking to Frogs!
They’re the bog standard stuff which most of you know about (but few of you actually use in practise!), like;
- Setting an Objective
- What to say at first, and what’s in it for the Customer/Client in listening to your rubbish.
- Asking open questions, and listening and summarising, you know, all that stuff, the basics, like planning a meeting.
Well most of you need reminding of this
stuff, so I run a Professional Sales Skills Workshop.
This can be a 3 day, 2 day, 2 x1day, 4 x ½ Day, or on-going 1½ Hour modules, because it seems your attention spans are getting smaller and you are more and more busy, so you don’t have the time for training.
What takes up most of the time are Role-Plays.
Everyone says they hate the thought of Role-Plays, but on feedback forms invariably say the Role-Plays were the best bit.
Why is that? I’ve come up with some brand new and revolutionary ideas on Role-Plays, that makes them less nerve wracking and onerous, and yes, Fun!
Oh, and you get to learn and remember things.
It’s my observation that what makes for successful selling are not the skills, but setting an objective for what you want to achieve.
All else follows on naturally from there.