I recently received the following email from an individual who owns a successful IT products and services business.

I’ll add a few comments at the end of his message, but few are needed. I receive a lot of email, but this one stands out because it gives us a view from someone who is a business owner. It provides insight on how customers and prospects sometimes perceive us.

Sales Tips From The Other Side Of The Desk

Scott,

I just concluded a conference call with an agency that sells the services of my company.  The agency was trying to close a potential client.  I usually don’t think of myself as a salesperson; however, after hearing the salesperson representing my firm I now feel confident in providing some sales advice.

Anyway, I have a sales tip for salespeople and it’s something I’d love to see you cover in your sales tips blog.

Ready? Here’s my advice to salespeople who can’t stop talking: Shut up!

I listened to a salesperson who represents my company talk his way out of a nice sale for himself and my company. The reason? He continually babbled endlessly after every question the prospect asked. His answers were empty.  I could hear the frustration in the voices on the other end of the call.

Here is an example of what I observed. The prospect asked, “How do we know that we’re going to be getting priority treatment for our money?”  The salesperson went on a long-winded monologue about himself. He covered nothing that was relevant and learned nothing about the prospect in the process.  My answer would have simply consisted of one or more of the following points:

• First, I’d ask them about their expectations and positive/negative experiences in the past with other providers.  I want to know what they’re expecting and what we need to do to make them happy. I’d then stop talking and listen.
• I might tell them that we carefully manage our workload using certain methods and tools. I would then follow-up by asking if they had any questions about what I just covered. Again, I would stop and listen.
• I might ask them if they would like a list of clients to call and inquire about our quality of service and follow-up. This is usually where the rubber hits the road in my business.

Honestly Scott, don’t salespeople understand that if they’re doing most of the talking they’re not properly engaging the prospect?  My goal is to learn as much about a prospect as I can on every call, not to mindlessly and endlessly talk about myself.

Wrap Up
Thank you for your email, and thank you for giving me permission to use it in this sales tips blog. As I said earlier, a lot of commentary is not needed. Let me close with a few notes.

• It’s always about the prospect and customer. They want you to learn about them, not the other way around. They’ll reward you later for your interest.
• Know when to stop selling. Don’t talk yourself into an order, only to talk yourself right out of it.
• Too much information has a way of increasing a prospect’s FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).
• The number one complaint in virtually every study that has ever been done with buyers is that sales professionals talk too much. This means, of course, that we aren’t listening enough.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. The #2 Biggest Complaint About Sales Professionals
2. A Question That Gets Even The Grouchiest Prospect Talking

Tags: habits, listening, questions

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