Good Words: Bad Words
Selling Radio Direct with Pat Bryson
It’s all about managing tension levels!
I’ve often heard it said that the easiest person to sell is a salesperson. If you are like me, you appreciate good technique. You probably also recognize bad sales skills when you experience them. Part of determining what’s “good” and what’s “bad” is how the salesperson makes you feel during the process. Which brings us to the point of today’s newsletter: How do WE make OUR clients feel during our sales process?
We know that prospects need to feel comfortable with us. If they aren’t, they probably won’t buy from us. No one wants to deal with a “slick” salesperson, one who makes you doubt their sincerity and credibility. We want to make our interactions with clients person to person, not salesperson to victim. We also know that as we lead prospects to the point of making a decision, the tension level in the room will spike. Since we are the only person that we have control over, it’s up to us to manage the tension level, to bring it down, to make our prospect comfortable. How do we do this?
We need to be sure that we aren’t intimidating prospects by using “radio”, “TV” or newspaper lingo. Those technical terms should never be used outside our offices. Many times, our prospects don’t understand them, but they won’t say anything. They simply remain quiet, uncomfortable and they keep their wallets closed. They simply won’t buy.
We also need to make sure we don’t have any annoying habits that can drive a prospective customer crazy. I’ve seen all kinds of little “tics”: clicking pens, shaking feet, straightening a tie, bouncing around in a seat. In close proximity, these can be most off-putting.
We need to watch our language. Some words in the English language sound harsh. They will spike the tension level: contract, deal, sign, cost, buy, liable, obligation, price, pay, decision.
Other words will lower the tension level: authorize, approve, agreement, results, proven, easy, save, results, profit, let’s.
I once trained a gentleman who had sold newspaper for 15 years before he joined our radio team. As we were going through this material, he shared with me how he used these words. When he was dealing with a prospect who was using a competitor’s product, he used the words like this:
“How liable are you when you sign their contract? What type of obligation do you have to pay for their deal? With our agreement, we make it easy. All you have to do is authorize this campaign and the results have been proven by other of our clients.”
In other words, he used the bad words when referring to the competition and the good words when referring to his own. I thought this a bit diabolical but certainly brilliant. Try it: it works! I’m always happy I train with people smarter than I am. I learn so much!
Our job is to manage the tension level, to make our potential clients comfortable in saying, “Yes” to our offers. Use these techniques: higher billing awaits!
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