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Can A Prospect Read Your Mind?
We can control the words we use, but what if I told you the people we’re talking to can hear what we’re thinking? – If you conduct much of your business by Phone it’s important to understand sales is all about the tone of our voice.
In face to face selling 55% of communication is visual, 38% is tone and only 7% is the words we choose. In other words 93% of our communication is non-verbal. That means in order to be as effective and as successful as you can be you need to learn more than just your script or talking points for your product.
As I always say you must first be sold on your product or service yourself. You have to believe at the core of who you are. That is the beginning of sales success. Your belief is something your prospect can feel and hear in your voice. It’s like they can read your mind.
One of the skills that will help you is learning to control your voice inflection: Since 35% of our communication is tone proper voice inflection is absolutely an essential skill for anyone in sales. The way you say something is just as, if not more, important than what you say.
Over the phone, it’s a whole different story. There is no visual element so literally 93% of our communication and how it’s received is determined by our tone of voice. The words we choose while vitally important, are not nearly as important, as the tone in which we say them. This is why your attitude is sooooo important!
The way you feel, greatly influences, how what you say, sounds.
If you want to sound better; Smile when you talk. You will hear for yourself how it changes the way what you’re saying, sounds. One good technique is to put a mirror up so you can see yourself while you’re talking. That way you are more likely to make sure you’re smiling. It really does make a difference.
The other thing to do is to practice how you want to say certain things. The syllable or word that you emphasize can change the whole meaning of your sentence. On page 59 of Zig Ziglar’s “Secrets of Closing the Sale” Zig uses a simple eight word sentence to illustrate the point. The sentence he uses is “I did not say he stole the money.” Now if I re-read the sentence putting the emphasis on different parts we will get different meanings. For example “I did not say he stole the money.” compared to “I did not say he stole the money.” means two completely different things.
I hope you see the importance of voice inflection and how your attitude can impact your sales? When you’re excited your prospect translates that in their mind as enthusiasm and belief in your product and if you can help them feel the way you do about your goods or services they are much more likely to buy.
One thing I will point out though is that you need to constrain your excitement. If you’re over the top with your enthusiasm it will come across as pressure and salesy.
If you sell over the phone and you find yourself in a slump one simple exercise you can use to pick up your enthusiasm is to give your next 3 to 5 presentations speaking as fast as you can. Don’t worry about the outcome focus on speaking as fast as you can. This will come across as enthusiasm and since you will be focused on how fast you’re speaking you won’t be putting undue pressure on the prospect to buy. More often than not you will make a sale and the slump will be broken.
Now, I don’t recommend you do this all the time. Save this for when you’re in a slump or your having a hard time getting started.
If you sell face to face you can still use this but you need to pay attention to how your prospect is reacting and work toward mirroring their conversational speed. It’s ok to talk a little faster than they do but don’t overdo it. Things are different face to face.
I hope you find these tips useful. If you do please share them with your friends. Also comment and ask questions. I look forward to hearing from you.
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