How To Sell More Without Sounding Salesy
What To Say Now Episode #41
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Show Notes and Links:
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Full Show Transcript:
Dan Stewart (00:00): Hi, my name's Dan Stewart. And this is What To Say Now, episode number 41. Thank you for joining me. Today we're going to talk about what to say now without sounding salesy. Think about it. So many of you are working from scripts. You work hard to memorize your scripts, and then you keep saying the same things over and over and over. And pretty soon you sound like a monotonous broken record, just playing the same thing. Your prospects tune out. You prevent yourself from making that real human connection that's so valuable to move the sales process forward. And today we're going to solve those issues once and for all.
Dan Stewart (00:51): Hey everybody. It's me, Dan Stewart. And this is episode number 41 of What To Say Now. I'm so glad you're here today because we are going to tackle one of my all time favorite subjects. In fact, this is something that I could talk about for hours, and yet we only have 15 minutes. So as people are gathering here, thank you for coming. I appreciate your showing up today. The purpose of our conversation today is to be really, really clear about what makes us sound salesy and how you can get past that.
Dan Stewart (01:26): Right, think of it. I know a number of sales professionals who have worked hard to learn scripts with the intention that these scripts are going to empower their sales, and it actually becomes a hindrance. So today my goal is to provide you with the opportunity to understand how to leverage your conversations in a way that you never sound salesy. In a way that allows you to tap into the real gold of humanity. All those wonderful relationships that you can build along the way.
Dan Stewart (01:59): I see my buddy, John Mangus is here. Hello, John, glad to see you here today. This is a man I've got to know personally and professionally over many years. He is part of the richness and the sauce of my life. My world is definitely better for John Mangus, and I'd like to think his world is a little better for me too. So I love that you're here, John. Thanks for attending. So again, let's talk about the opportunity here.
Dan Stewart (02:25): Imagine what's possible for you if you had a way to never sound salesy during every single sales call. If you could just show up as your authentic self in a way that allowed you to be open, to engage with people, and knowing that, that would actually allow you to achieve your sales goals. Would that be a valuable thing? Of course, it would. Of course, it would. And I'm certainly not the only person who wants this for you. That's why so many of the organizations you're part of have worked hard to pull together all these different scripts that you can learn and memorize and use in the process of building sales success.
Dan Stewart (03:09): So scripts, we got to talk about scripts here because I know some of you absolutely love them. And some of you think they're garbage. Scripts are a polarizing topic. They can be really powerful to a point and then they can hinder you as well. And for this, I'm going to call back to, way back in the day when I actually had the privilege to work for a short time as an actor. When you go on stage as an actor, you're surrounded by people who know exactly what they're going to say and exactly when they're going to say it.
Dan Stewart (03:46): I mean, the artifice that's involved here, everyone has worked really hard to make this artificial thing appear real. And what we need in a sales environment is an artificial thing appearing real. If your prospect feels like you're running through a script with them, it's very easy for them to disengage. So my goal today is to lay out for you what you can do to get past that. So let me be the first to put my flag in the ground and say that scripts are amazing when they're used the right way. And they can also be horrible when you use them the wrong way. And howdy there, Eddie. I love that you're here. Thanks for coming today. Hello, Brian. Glad to see you guys. So let's dive in here.
Dan Stewart (04:33): The way to prepare to not sound salesy is to take a few minutes before every sales call and get absolute clarity for yourself of what your intention is. And what's your intention for the call? Is it to show up in such a way that you sell something? Is it to show up in such a way that you know for certain you're providing service? And why can't it be both? Absolutely, it can be. My intention as an entrepreneur is to grow my company, is to add more members, that requires us to enroll people. We need to enroll people in the idea of listing their homes with us. We need to enroll buyers in the idea of choosing us to be their agent. These are things that must happen in order for you to achieve your own goal.
Dan Stewart (05:24): So it's not a problem to have that as your intention. The problem is when you're unclear of what your intention is. So just take a moment before each call and get really, really clear about what your intention is. Know that the sales process is very much like dancing. It's very much like martial arts. You know there's something that's going to happen. You know you'd like to have a great time. You know you'd like to win. And you also know that it's going to be an exchange. There's going to be a dance of ideas that happen here. And there's two concepts that are absolutely critical for not sounding salesy.
Dan Stewart (06:06): The first is called active listening. When you're asking good questions, when you're hearing what people are saying, it's not enough just to have heard it. That's a good thing. It's not a great thing. It's not enough just to have heard it. What you have to do is let them know that you heard it. And more importantly, that you understand what they meant. So for example, if I were to ask, let's see, if I were to ask Eddie a question here. If I said, "Hey, Eddie, I'm curious. Do you work alone or are you part of a team?" And then I get Eddie's answer to that.
Dan Stewart (06:46): Whatever he says, I need to demonstrate that I understand what that means. "Oh, so you work alone. That must mean you wear a lot of hats. You have a lot of different things you're responsible for. I imagine that could feel stressful sometimes." "Oh, you work as part of a team. Oh, that can be fun. Are you surrounded by people who really support you and you feel like you're part of something larger than yourself? That could feel wonderful."
Dan Stewart (07:12): So either way, we're taking whatever that answer is and we're reflecting it back to the person in a way that communicates we understand what they mean. And now that we've got that understanding demonstrated, we're going to add one more technique to this. It's really, really critical in the sales process. It's called the segue bridge. So in music notation, you've got all your notes and then there's a bridge and you can jump down to different areas in the music.
Dan Stewart (07:43): In conversation, we're going to use that same concept where we were talking about issue A, we arrived at the end of issue A. We move from A into issue B via segue bridge. So again, going back to Eddie and the example of whether he works alone or on a team. A segue bridge away from that can be, "Oh, that's interesting. So you really have a lot of responsibilities here that you have to be accountable for. Now, I'm curious. Does that mean you're working more with buyers or more with sellers?" There's a question that's connected to the previous section. And then we get all these chunks of the conversation together.
Dan Stewart (08:28): We get to assemble up those segue bridges towards the end of that conversation and that leads into the closing language, because the most effective sales presentations are not one with a zero sum outcome. You didn't win and your prospect didn't lose. You partnered. You joined together to achieve a common good, a common goal. So active listening is the way that you get to show the person, initially and throughout that sales conversation that you're capable of partnering with them effectively. It's a critical concept. It's very important. So let's review.
Dan Stewart (09:08): If you're going to be an effective sales professional without sounding salesy, you're going to do yourself the first favor of preparing for every call by being clear on what your intention for the outcome is. If I know for sure that I'm meeting with my friend, John, we've already got an existing relationship. My outcome can be, I just want to enjoy John. I want to have a great time with him. I want to be clear about that. If I'm certain of what that expectation is, I'm much more likely to achieve it.
Dan Stewart (09:42): Now, let's say I'm meeting John for the first time. This is years ago. There's a possibility that we could do business together. My goal, my outcome for that conversation would be to get to know him enough to know if I want to do business with him. That could be an outcome. It could be to enjoy myself in the process of getting to know him. And the strength here is not in choosing a particular outcome, it's in knowing what your outcome is for that meeting. Because anything you're certain you want to achieve, you have a much more likely chance of actually achieving it just because of that certainty.
Dan Stewart (10:24): So now you enter the conversation. You're inside the conversation. You've established rapport. You've begun the portion where you're asking questions and you're getting feedback. That's where you begin to demonstrate understanding. And the process by which we do that is called active listening. And that's where we show, not only did we hear what they said, but we actually understood what it meant, such that we can build these segue bridges through the different sections of our conversation, all allowing that person to see that we can actually be a really good partner in achieving their goal. Rather than us being the conqueror winning the sale, and then being left behind in the past. So, that would be my thoughts here about how to show up in the world without sounding salesy.
Dan Stewart (11:16): And I'm looking down, I see some comments here I haven't replied to. Thank you for doing that. And I am super looking forward to hearing your feedback and connecting with each of you again more personally. Thank you for attending this episode of What To Say Now. Tomorrow, I am going to be joining the Lab Coat Agents Group. We're going to host a webinar about getting listings. It's called Get Listings Now. So if you're observing this, that you're stuck somewhere, just go ahead and head over to the Lab Coat Agents Group on Facebook and you'll see a mention of that webinar. You're welcome to join. So have a great afternoon everybody. Thank you for attending. I'm glad you're here. Take care now.