Are You Full Of It?
Kenrick Cleveland
When we interact with prospects, especially an affluent clientle, we need to really show them what we're made of. Over-confidence, arrogance, cockiness, braggery. . .these are NOT good things to be full of. Self-assurance, competency, confidence, and self-value. . . are excellent things to be full of.
Persuasion relies on our prospects perceptions of us. The reputation of people who sell isn't always flattering or accurate. In past articles I've written about how we can overcome objections and what the biggest block is in sales, partially fueled by an old-fashioned, slick, exaggerated parody of what a sales person is.
We are not these parodies. The other kind of sales person takes 'sales training', we are learning the art of persuasion. They use features and benefits to sell their products and services, we are concentrated on our client's and prospect's highest values and criteria, and understand how to link what we have with their values.
Our path of persuasion excellence is replacing the tactics of old fashioned sales techniques and reframing what we do to be our truth about persuasion allowing us to really shine.
Take a step back from your work for a moment and think on the following: how do you come across to your prospects and clients? How are you being perceived?
Do you exaggerate the facts of your product or service? If so, people absolutely know. Or they will know when the product or service is purchased and utilized by them with really underwhelming results. An important ingredient for persuasion is to over deliver to your client or prospect. Overreach, give them more than they were lead to expect. And a great way to do this is to give an overview, an outline of what exactly you're going to do for them and then going one step further.
Do you use words and phrases that make you appear untrustworthy such as "honestly", "to tell the truth", "seriously", "truth be told"? Can you see how this would diminish your credibility? Persuasion is about linguistic precision. By cleaning up our own language incongruities and inconsistencies, we do ourselves a huge service. If we're being honest, we don't have to say we're being honest.
Are you someone who brags about accomplishments? Or do you talk badly about others to make yourself look better? Unless you're extremely careful, this is going to reflect poorly on to you.
Scapegoating is another "warning sign" when it comes from a sales professional. Occasionally I'll come across someone who's constantly sloughing off responsibility onto someone else to make themselves look good and that's a major turn off in sales.
Last, but not least, we have to really understand when not to talk. A huge percentage of the art of persuasion is about listening. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is highly persuasive behavior. Conversely, knowing the right questions to ask helps immensely. Practice and study will help these distinctions become second nature.
In order to come across as not full of it, we need to be not full of it.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy clients using http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion strategies. You can get a http://www.uberarticles.com/?id=36909&b=79 unique content version of this article.
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