Quality of Sales Talk: Are you interesting?

As a salesperson comes into your home or you go to the mall and need to buy something but don’t know exactly what brand or model to buy, is it important for the salesperson to grab your attention? Of course it is important for them to grab your attention with their knowledge of products. This goes for real estate sales people as well. To perform in a presentation for a home seller is the manner in which the salesperson will show that they have the right stuff to sell the house
Having the knowledge to discuss real estate or products is essential to the “sales process.” Let’s face it, the process of selling and being able to convince someone to part with money for a feature that will benefit them is the basics of sales. So why do sales people talk so much? They have to or maybe they are insecure or maybe they want to impart the knowledge they have worked so hard to memorize.
The simple fact of the matter is that if someone keeps talking to you trying to sell you something, they have missed the point of sales. They are too busy trying to be interesting than interested in what you the customer-client really needs and wants.
When one is interested in the other’s desires, relationships get built. Being interesting is not the important part. Listening and caring is the most significant part of the “sales process.”
In discussions in our skills sessions with the sales people I work with, I ask the question, “What percentage of the time are you talking in a presentation?” If you are discussing pertinent facts, the customer should care and that is important. Listening and caring about what the customer is saying is extremely important. The salesperson’s reaction and answer will and should impart the knowledge of the market, the product and then be able to do the right thing and perform their job extremely well.
If you are interesting with your knowledge of the product or market, great-you should be. However, never over estimate the value of the relationship between the salesperson and customer. Be more interested than interesting if you want to exceed in sales. In other words, more ears than mouth. Your customer will love you!