"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life." -Brian Tracy
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Okay, so we've learned that you need to earn the right to ask high impact questions and that adding in some humor is a good way to advance the process and gain credibility. Now for some basic communication 101.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing in sales is when you "repackage" a statement that your prospect has made. You do this verbally. Here is an example:
Prospect: We are down about 12% year to date in the southeastern US market. This means we are likely not going to be able to open our new southeast facility until fourth quarter 2016.
Salesperson: Okay, so what you are saying is that you would like to be able to open up your new southeast facility sooner, but because of sluggish sales in that region, you will have to wait until late 2016.
-You've just done two things: 1. You let the prospect know that you are listening. 2. You established a pain point.
Prosepct: Yes, unfortunately, that's where we find ourselves.
Salesman: What seems to be causing the lack of sales in the Southeast?
Prospect: We haven't been able to effectively market our products in this area. We have distribution, we have the product just no demand.
Salesman: Okay, well it sounds like much of the work is done. You've established a world class product, you have an efficient way to bring it to market but you are in need of some specific geographically based advertising campaigns. Would you like me to put together a comprehensive marketing plan aimed specifically at how my company can help grow your sales in the Southeast?
Prospect: Yes!
By paraphrasing you get a chance to reframe the statement, to dress it up and make it sound even more profound than it originally was.
If someone tells you "We run on such tight margins, and our sales are down, I don't think we can afford your product."
You can reply with, "okay, so what you're saying is that cost is an important factor here, I can respect that. That said, I have consulted with your peers in this industry and what they've found is that the cost of inaction is far greater than the investment to move forward."
Your paraphrase in the above example is, "cost is an important factor." -You let them know that you heard them and then you go on to alleviate their fears by leveraging their peer set.
Paraphrasing lets them know you heard and it allows you to reframe the statement in a way that is beneficial to your cause. Politicians are NOTORIOUS for doing this. Bill Clinton, arguably the best communicator of the modern political era, is the best paraphraser I've ever seen. Watch him in interviews or in conversation, he has a way to repackage a question or comment in a way that suits the narrative he is trying to get across. I remember him saying that he "never answers the question he was asked but rather the question he wished he'd been asked." -That's a politician for you.
You can use paraphrasing in your daily life, with your friends and family and they'll be amazed at what a good listener you've become. You can use it to push your own agenda.
Date: I like music and going out and dancing
You: I think it's great that the arts are important to you, dancing and music are such wonderful pursuits.
You've listened, you've repackaged what your date said and you complimented their choice of pursuits. You can do this all day long. If you're good at it, it's effective. If you're bad at it it sounds contrived and cheesy.
Work at it. I promise, you'll not be disappointed.
And now, one of the best speeches by the best salesman of all time. Notice how good he is at packaging a statement that makes you feel like you are smart because you "get it" like he does. He uses statements like "there's something I've noticed, you have probably noticed it too." -He's a master at being "once of us." -It's like watching Michael Jordan play basketball or Baryshnikov dance:
#sellingwithtng is my new favorite tag. Right now I'm not much of a salesperson and don't do...anything sales related on a professional level but this can be very useful in the future for project justification and convincing people to let me try different things, and can be helpful on a personal level too. Already do a bit of paraphrasing because I think it's very important to practice active listening and that's a perfect way of doing so and showing your invested in the conversation while also allowing you to set the direction.
In mental health, this is called "reflection" - you are reflecting your client's statements back to them, demonstrating that you listened to and internalized their concerns while simultaneously reinforcing your own understanding and memory of their situation. Counselors are generally not trained to put their own spin on things at this stage, but they're paid by the hour.
Tng, keep these posts up cause they're awesome. I've been wanting a salesmanship guide like this forever. How do you get clients with their own knowledge of salesmanship to trust you? It seems like a lot of the time you're manipulating their actions and prompting them to fall into a trap. I'm exaggerating of course, but I'm curious if it's a challenge of its own when you're playing someone who can play.
When you are talking with anyone in any situation, whether it be personal or professional it's important to maintain your authenticity. Never be something or someone that you are not. Don't compromise your integrity, ever. Everyone has different personality styles and everyone has different motivating factors (to a degree) that help inform their decisions. It's important in sales to conform to someone's personality style without compromising your own. If you can do this, you will be successful. If you go too far, you come off as cheesy and disingenuous and you will not be successful and you'll feel like a charlatan and will hate your job. But trust is built out of knowledge. If someone feels comfortable with you (you've met them half way via their personality style) and you are able to show knowledge of their industry, they will buy from you. It doesn't matter if you're selling to Dave Ramsey or some brand new buyer. I've always been able to quickly establish an atmosphere of trust, even at the beginning of my career. It was later that I learned how to leverage that trust and forge long lasting business partnerships. But I love talking with someone that "get's it." It's easier and I tend to learn a lot. EDIT: I'm curious if it's a challenge of its own when you're playing someone who can play.
It's so much more rewarding and in no way is it "manipulation." Selling isn't a "trick" and the best buyers know this. They see the salesperson/buyer relationship as a symbiotic one. The buyer needs the consultation of the salesperson and is willing to pay a premium for it. Tng, keep these posts up cause they're awesome
-Thank you. That means a lot to me. I can't tell if these are lame or helpful :)
Totally! You could set up a landing page and sell your "ultimate seller course" for at least $49,95. And it would be better than 95% of the stuff out there, no joke. I love these, keep 'em comin' thenewgreen :D
Great explanation, thanks. To be clear I wasn't suggesting you were actually intending to manipulate or manipulating, and it makes a lot more sense from the perspective you describe: kb is right, I'd 100% download this on my Kindle app. Speaking of which, are there any inspiring books or guides that have taught you these or any other salesmanship skills and techniques? Perhaps that would be its own post but I'm itching to dig into it.Everyone has different personality styles and everyone has different motivating factors (to a degree) that help inform their decisions. It's important in sales to conform to someone's personality style without compromising your own. If you can do this, you will be successful. If you go too far, you come off as cheesy and disingenuous and you will not be successful and you'll feel like a charlatan and will hate your job.
The modern day holy grail of selling. If you work for a major sales force, chances are you have been or will be using this method. It's all the rage and for good reason.