<H1 BIG>TEN COMMON ENEMIES (2)</H1>

By Hank Trisler

Because our ego is out of control, we come upon our second enemy, we:

TALK TOO MUCH

We go to a sales meeting and get all the latest red-hot product data and see all the new offerings, then run back home and tell everyone who will sit still long enough about them. It’s called a "data dump." The simple fact is that most of our customers don’t give a damn about how well we know our products. They are concerned with their own problems and how to solve them.

This must be a very difficult enemy, as so few of us seem to deal with it well. At nearly every sales conference I attend, someone will ask me "What single thing do most salespeople do wrong?"

I invariably reply, "They talk too much."

"You’re absolutely right," they say. "I’m constantly telling our new guys that they have one mouth and two ears and they should be used proportionately. Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass and at least that many sales get killed every day with the very same instrument, blah, blah, blah, yabbita, yabbita." They are off and running for the better part of an hour, telling stories about other people who talk too much.

If you're talking to a customer any you see their eyes glaze over, sort of like a fish, there is a possibility they are no longer listening to you. Just stop talking, right in the middle of your sent... You will often find that the customer will immediately begin to talk about whatever was on his mind. See didn't even hear what you were saying, he just knows it got quiet and that must mean it's his turn to talk, and talk he does.

I ask you, if the customers aren't going to listen, why bother talking?

Silence is uncomfortable, as it's a form of vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum and words will always rush in to fill the vacuum of silence. If those words are yours, you're likely to lose in the sales arena.

Whenever you ask a question of a customer, shut the hell up and listen to the answer. The average salesperson might say something like, "How soon do you need delivery? What I mean is are you in a big hurry, or would a month be too long. What I mean is, are you comfortable with your ..., blah, blah, blah."

Good God, the poor customer is still trying to figure out what the first question was and the sales critter is blabbing along because he's terrified of silence. Don't be afraid of silence. Silence is your friend. There is enormous pressure in silence, not only on us, but on the customer, as well.

When you ask a question, shut up and count, "1, 2, 3, 4,..." NOT OUT LOUD. Just do it to yourself. If you count, you'll have something on which to focus other than the deafening silence. You can shut up if you just concentrate on counting.

Counting also helps you measure the training you're doing with your customer. If it used to take him 30 seconds to answer a question, and now he's answering in 15 seconds, your training is progressing nicely. People treat us the way we have trained them to treat us. If you don't like the treatment, change the training. Ah, but that's another story for another day.

If you think you don’t talk too much, ask your family and very close friends, "Do you think I talk too much?" The answers might shock you. They certainly shocked me.

Think about how you can employ silence to improve your selling and tell us about it below.