Life and Business.

Many of us who get involved in anything with the word sales immediately fall into the trap of poor communication. But why is that so? I have to assume you are an intelligent, driven person who is given poor advice. Not sure what I mean?

Let’s say you are a financial planner and you make some calls from a leads list your company purchased “Retirement Today” or something like that. You get hung up on a few times. Get used to it. It is sales. If you don’t like hearing a dial tone or the word “NO” a lot then this honestly might not be for you. But before you know it you land a prospect or two willing to sit down for a meeting. Let’s call one of them Kerry. Kerry is a 60 year old retired nurse. Her husband died a few years ago and she has spent an average of 10 hours a year looking at her retirement savings. For those of you like me who are math challenged that’s less than an hour a month. She realizes that it might make sense to find some outside help and decides to give you a shot.

You drop in with your high powered suit to her modest home because they tell you it’s what you do. You rattle off some credentials and then start talking to her about why it’s a great time to invest. You’re statement goes something like the following.

“Kerry by looking at your financials I see some areas that we need to sure up. Your portfolio is made up of a modest 401k Plan and about two-hundred thousand in other somewhat liquid assets. We can take 25% and invest in a few T-Bills right now because it’s an excellent time to by. Another 50% we can invest on a Van Guard or Oppenheimer Account, and the remainder we will put in a CD giving you about 4% ROI. That should help you grow your unrealized wealth by about 10% which is what we need in order for you to stay retired safely”.

Now Kerry walks away more confused that ever and says to you “I’m not sure I’ll have to think about it.” To which you fist pump and insert the overly aggressive and too frequently taught objection handling question asking her what there is to think about. She gets made, you get frustrated and try not to show it and you leave the meeting without a client wondering “Hmm, I thought I did everything right. Where did I go wrong?”

While this is certainly a bit of an exaggeration it certainly isn’t to far off. I know you’ve done something like this. How do I know? Because I’ve said something similar to more than my fair share of people before in another industry and the fact that you’re still reading means that you too are looking for something better.

So here is what I did. I stopped and thought about it. I wondered why on earth I was making those statements when if told to me I would not give that person my business either. And then I tried something. I began to break everything down into overly simple terms for my prospects. I judged my comments by the conversation and the person’s communication style.

So do this little exercise. Write down in 4 sentences or less the most important things that your prospect needs to know about you, your company, the industry, and your products when you first meet them face to face. You can have no more than four key statements explaining who you are, the services you provide, and the company you work for.

For example let’s say you are a financial planner. You can say something like “Hi Mrs. Prospect my name is John Smith with Charles Schwab. We spoke on the phone about my financial planning services and how I could potentially help you retire. I believe I have a few options that might help you have a more secure retirement income”

Some people never see success in finding the right person for your firm or services for the simple fact that they can not understand what you are saying. Some successful people slow down in the industry because they never create the habit of simplicity in speech. They actually regress in their communication skills. And some do extremely well in their careers while avoiding my advice with the traded cost of burning many bridges and poisoning the public’s view of your particular industry. Think about the stigma belonging to care salesmen, network marketers, mortgage brokers, lawyers and financial planners.

Is there any trust between the public and your current profession? Is there a way for you to do it first class? Start explaining what you do in simple terms, and watch as people say “ahhh,” with a bigger sigh of relief in their breath. You’ll be that friendly professional who everyone wants to hang out with, and they’ll be that new client telling all their friends and family about how wonderful of a job you have done.

Mikhail Hutton is founder of The HIL Group, a leadership think tank that helps people and organizations manage the change associated with growth and transition. Visit his website at http://thehilgroup.com/ or his blog at http://www.thehilgroup.typepad.com/

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How to Speak Like a Ten Year Old