This week I was listening in on one of our virtual Sales Wisdom workshops. After hearing the candor between the instructor and the participants about how to respond to a particular question, it struck me that there is a big difference between the “right answer”, and the “right conversation”. The role play in the workshop takes real world situations that the participants experience, and strives to have them rethink their automatic responses in tense or confrontational situations. The hope is to engage the conversational partner in a meaningful dialogue rather than directly answer their question (which often can shut down the conversation). Naturally some participants are a little uncomfortable with this approach and have been inclined to answer the question right-out, especially when they did not see any adverse effect on their or their company’s position by doing so.
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How Attitude Influences Communication
“Attitude” is a funny thing. We often talk about attitude, refer to it, judge it as “good” or “bad”, and yet it is very difficult for us to really get our arms around what it really is. In situations involving persuasion, tact, diplomacy, etc. we are all aware there is a right attitude for the situation and a wrong one. Continue reading
Becoming a Trusted Advisor… Relative Seniority
There’s a lot of rhetoric available about how to become someone’s trusted advisor. It is a coveted position to be in – both in terms of how it strokes our ego as well as being a prime position from which we can grow our relationship (and our role/business) with that person. From my experience in coaching some very smart people, I’ve noticed that being smarter doesn’t particularly create the trust, credibility, or relationship you might seek with your counterpart.
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Conversation vs. Information Exchange
One of the fundamental fallacies that I’ve observed in selling is the idea that information is the key reason people buy from us. I have watched the sales people, sales engineers, techies, and executives I coach share with their prospects how great their technology/process/approach is, how superior their features and benefits are, how the speeds and feeds are this and that, and continue with a litany of details about the product or service in question. It is as if they believe the information has some magic ability to cause the prospect to buy. It isn’t so!!!
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