Sales training ideas – How to determine and deal with different personality types.

Identifying personality type will help during the selling process. Your discussions should flow differently from one personality type to another. For example, with one personality type, you will spend a good deal of time building personal rapport. With another type, you will spend very little time with personal rapport and get to business quickly. 

Psychologists and psychiatrists break people down into four buying types. We will call them the Driver, the Thinker, the “Yes” Person, and the Partier. In the following paragraphs, you will learn who they are, how to spot them, and how to deal with them on your sales calls. 

4 “Sales” personality types 

The Driver 

The label pretty much says it all. The Driver drives sales decisions. The Driver makes things happen. Most leaders are Drivers. Owners of companies, Presidents, CEOs, and other corporate hierarchy are usually Drivers. They tend to be early risers and hard workers. They are usually short, quick, and to the point. Drivers are very possessive of their time. They like to make sales decisions quickly. They are direct and tend not to show a lot of emotion. 

You want to be selling to Drivers, as they are your avenue to the quickest buying decision. Typically, the Driver will be able to make the sales decision himself, and if he can’t, he is usually effective at getting others to follow once you’ve won him over. 

The Thinker 

The Thinker likes to see vast quantities of information. Once they see your initial sales offerings—verification on paper—they want to see more. Thinkers have a difficult time making sales decisions because they always feel as though there is some minute detail they have overlooked somewhere that could possibly change the whole picture. They are very detail-oriented and go over information repeatedly. They want to become an expert themselves. Thinkers have trouble taking someone else’s word on something—they need to see, touch, smell, hear, and feel for themselves. 

Of the four personality types, you will have the most trouble getting the thinker to trust you. You can make a sale to the Thinker, but it’s going to take a while—no cold call closes here. You need testimonials, references, and proof that your product is the best for them. You need to demonstrate to the Thinker in detail that your product will do exactly what you say it will.  

The “Yes” Person

“Yes” people want to get along with everyone and do not like conflict. They start nodding their head yes before you get the first word out of your mouth and they continue nodding their head five minutes after the sales presentation is over. They will agree with you on everything except when it comes to signing the sales contract. 

The “Yes” Person is probably the toughest of the personality types to sell. It is simply not in their nature to make a decision, and to get them to make a decision alone is virtually impossible. 

The Partier

The Partier has lots of energy and displays lots of emotion. The Partier gets along well with others and can make sales decisions. These personality types actually thrive in a dynamic environment and get bored very quickly with routine mundane tasks. The Partier is the life of the party and the most likely to be disciplined after the office holiday party. They are creative and full of life.  

The Partier is more difficult to sell than the Driver, but is much easier to sell than both the “Yes” Person and the Thinker. But Partiers need more proof than Drivers and they need time to think about the sales decision. Their decisions are not lightning-quick, but they are not slow like the Thinker’s or impossible like the “Yes” Person’s.   

Things to Look for and How to Deal With Different Personality Types 

The Driver 

The Driver’s office, clothes, and car:The Driver’s office has flashy awards, trophies, and other “king of the hill” and prestigious mementos. The head of the 12-point buck he shot on his Canadian hunting trip, the die-cast model of his Harley, boat, or ’65 ’Vette, and the award he won at the car show for his 1972 Chevelle SS. The speaker’s award from the Women’s Business Forum, her business degree from Yale, and her golf trophies. 

The business male (office executive) Driver wears dark suits (black, brown, gray, or navy blue) with either conservative or bright ties. The worker male (working executive) Driver wears the highest quality work clothes—maybe sneakers, but probably boots, gloves, and outer wear.  

The business female Driver wears dark (black, brown, gray, or navy blue) or bright (red, green, blue) business suits. The worker woman Driver wears the highest quality work clothes—probably sneakers, maybe boots, sweaters, gloves, and outerwear.  

The Driver drives either a luxury automobile, something big, or both. Luxury: Cadillac, Mercedes, 740 BMW, Porsche, Ferrari. Something big: Ford Expedition, Chevy Suburban, Hummer, or Cadillac Escalade.  

The Driver’s body position:

The Driver will not show a great deal of emotion although some can show a lot of energy. She may appear impatient if not interested or if you go into too much detail. She may have a somewhat intense look on her face with eyes slightly squinted and brows slightly furrowed when taking in information, but will sit up slightly and move closer when she sees something that catches her attention.  

Other Driver characteristics:

While some Drivers can be high energy and flamboyant, most tend to be monotone, use little hand movement, and have controlled facial expressions and a rigid posture. All Drivers like to get right down to business. Drivers are active and direct, formal and self-sufficient. 

Signs that the Driver is not interested:

• Directly states his or her sales objection.
• Will try to end the sales presentation.
• Appears to be impatient during the sales call, looking at his watch, using phrases such as: “Okay, I understand that. What’s the bottom line?” or “Look, all I really want to know is…”

 Driver do’s:

• Get down to business.
• Be straightforward and to the point.
• Keep sales points short and succinct.
• Stroke their egos.
• Let them believe they are in control of the sales presentation.
• Name-drop your biggest and most impressive customers.
• Speak directly and honestly.

 Driver don’ts:

• Don’t use wishy-washy, feel-good language.
• Don’t go off on tangents or talk about unrelated issues.
• Don’t spend too much time on anything unless they want to.
• Don’t get technical or give a lot of detail during your sales presenation.

The Thinker 

The Thinker’s office, clothes, and car:

The Thinker’s office is filled with gadgets, parts, and technical manuals. For the most part, the office is a mess. There are probably enough new and used parts to build a Space Shuttle from scratch. They have group photographs from classes they took. They may also have maps or technical posters on the walls. 

Thinkers like jeans and short sleeves, sneakers, or boots. They are not particular about their clothing or appearance. If they must dress up, they look out of place—a red tie with a blue short-sleeved shirt. They also wear the latest gadgets. They have the latest wireless earpiece to answer their phone. They have a wireless computer and can send e-mails, drink coffee, and drive all at the same time.  The Thinker can often take a computer apart and put it back together—blindfolded. 

The Thinker drives a car that makes sense from all aspects, good in all kinds of weather, reliable, good gas mileage, big enough to carry people and parts. The Thinker drives a Ford Taurus, Chevy Impala, or a typical company car.  

The Thinker’s body position:

The Thinker will sit back, shut up, and listen to what you have to say without showing much emotion. The Thinker tends to have a somewhat intense look on his face with eyes slightly squinted and brows furrowed. His arms may be folded. He may not be looking at you, but he is absorbing and analyzing what you are telling him. 

Other Thinker characteristics:

Thinkers tend to make less direct eye contact, don’t say much, have relaxed hand movements, and are interested in facts and data. The Thinker uses logic as opposed to emotion and is interested in facts. The Thinker is also quite reserved.

Signs that the Thinker is not interested:

• Will try to stump you during your sales presentation or get you off track with a bunch of highly technical questions that he hopes you can’t answer.
• Will sit back, arms folded, eyebrows furrowed with a somewhat negative facial expression while you deliver your sales presentation.
• Will begin making excuses as to why you must conclude the sales presentation.

 Thinker do’s:

• Use a slow pace.
• Provide lots of backup information and proof.
• Use detail.
• Focus on the logical reasons to move ahead.
• Be prepared. We’re not saying you shouldn’t be prepared for other buyer types, but Thinkers can pick you to pieces on details. With a Thinker, you need to be able to answer every conceivable question.
• Use technical language, but be sure they understand what you are saying.
• Be specific with numbers and facts and ensure they are correct.
• Compliment the Thinker’s knowledge level. Talk to them as though they know more than you do.

Note: When you are in a sales meeting with a Thinker, you may want to bring one of your technical people along. Just make sure he or she is prepared to answer any questions you can’t.  

Thinker don’ts:

• Don’t give generalizations or ballpark numbers.
• Don’t overstate or exaggerate. Thinkers like exact data; they don’t like “gray areas.”

The “Yes” Person 

 

The “Yes” Person’s office, clothes, and car:

 

The “Yes” Person’s office is clean, neat, and organized, with an inbox and outbox. A calendar with a scenic or animal motif typically hangs on the wall, and there are photographs of loved ones on her desk. She may also have figurines on her desk—the M&M guys, and the like. There may even be a small stuffed animal or two. 

 

The “Yes” Person is a clean, neat dresser. If there is a dress code at work, she defines it. She is always well groomed and her clothes are well taken care of.  

 

The “Yes” Person likely drives a small car or mini-van.  

 

The “Yes” Person’s body position:

 

The “Yes” Person is on the edge of his chair and attentive. His eyes are wide open and he is nodding his head “yes” and giving you a verbal “uh huh, uh huh” as you speak. He will typically show only positive emotions. His arms are open with hands resting on his knees when sitting and by his side when standing.  

 

Other “Yes” Person characteristics:

 

The “Yes” Person likes to talk about the weather and people-related subjects, facial expressions tend to be animated, and he makes direct eye contact. “Yes” People support others and are interested in others’ feelings. 

 

Signs that the “Yes” Person is not interested:

• Will tell you he has to talk the sales decision over with someone else.
• Will tell you he has to think about it, or come up with another reason why he can’t make a sales decision right now.
• Will express negativity through questions.

 “Yes” Person do’s:

• Use emotions, humor, and be sure to smile.
• Spend time building personal rapport. Talk about families and community activities.
• Show some excitement and energy.
• Once the conversation gets to sales business, keep it there most of the time. Many “Yes” People will get off track and start talking about other things. Spend some time there, but bring the conversation back to business quickly.
• Keep the business conversation clear and to the point.
• Use “together” words like “our” and “we” and stress your commitment to them.

 “Yes” Person don’ts:

• Don’t use a stern business tone. Keep it warm and friendly.
• Don’t push while closing the sale. You do want to be firm, however.
• Don’t dictate or be too forward.

The Partier 

The Partier’s office, clothes, and car:

The Partier’s office is a mess. The mess does not include the same things as the Thinker’s mess, but it is still a mess. There are papers everywhere. Most times the calendar is on the wrong month.  

The Partier is a flashy dresser. Men wear flashy ties, women wear colorful outfits. They can occasionally have a slightly disheveled appearance, but for the most part are fairly well groomed for meetings. 

The Partier drives a nice car but, in most cases, not as nice as the Driver’s. She may drive a 3 or 5 Series BMW, a sporty car, an Acura Legend, or a company car. 

Partier’s body position:

The Partier is on the edge of her chair if interested and sitting back if not interested. The Partier will show emotion and let you know in which direction she is swaying. If not interested, she will take on much the same posture as the Thinker, arms crossed, brows furrowed, with a negative look on her face. If interested, the Partier will take on almost the same posture as the “Yes” Person—open, interested, and positive.  

Other Partier characteristics:

Partiers are faster paced, show emotion, use lots of hand movement, have a louder voice than the other types, lean forward, and make direct eye contact. Partiers, as their title indicates, are the life of the party. Partiers are dynamic communicators and express their opinions openly.  

Signs that the Partier is not interested:

• Will make direct negative statements or jokes about your product or company.
• Will tell you what she doesn’t like about you, your product, or your company.
• Will tell you directly and bluntly that she does not have time to listen to your sales presentation or has to end the conversation immediately.

 Partier do’s:

• Make the sales process fun and convey yourself as a fun person.
• Be businesslike, but also open and friendly.
• Be direct, but soften your approach a little.
• Build rapport by talking about social activities, fun vacation spots, or extreme sports.
• Give lively, fun sales presentations, and incorporate computer graphics.

 Partier don’ts:

• Don’t get overly technical or bogged down in detail.
• Don’t get sidetracked talking about social events.

  

Keep the above ideas in mind with regard to personality types when you’re out on your sales calls. The primary thing to remember is that, while everyone is different, most people can be classified as one of the four sales personality types. If you sell to the preferences of each type, you will find yourself on the way to more sales.

John Chapin – Sales Encyclopedia – Complete Selling, Inc.

Sales training ideas – Demographics that can effect the sales process.

There are two demographics that most salespeople overlook when trying to make the sale. Both factors can give the salesperson a good idea as to where they should be focused when selling. 

2 Key sales factors 

1) Age

In addition to preferred sense, it is also helpful to look at the various life stages people go through as age can affect the sales decision. This will be particularly helpful in the insurance and securities fields. 

Young Adults  

Very materialistic, focused on the present, little savings, little money knowledge, small picture focus – details, focus on logic, mostly focused on price, technology focused, faster is better,                 &nbs p;        

Middle Age    

Family – less materialistic, present and future focus, building wealth, some knowledge and beliefs, less detail – more big picture, focus on logic and emotion, focus on price but can be convinced of value, some technology focus, pace depends on situation, more fickle – change easily, open minded, no concrete life view, fairly firm beliefs    

Mature Adult 60+

Family focused, leaving a legacy, largest nest egg, solid money beliefs, focus on big picture, focus on gut feeling, focused on value, prefer hard copy, more methodical pace, set in their ways, set values and beliefs

Use these tendencies in your sales approach and in the entire selling process. Mirroring someone in his sixties versus someone in his thirties will usually vary greatly. 

2) Gender

Gender is the third factor that can affect sales decisions. Following are some generalizations that will give you a good idea of gender-specific tendencies.

Women

More relationship focused, more team focused, more Big-picture focused, softer and indirect approach, more descriptive

Men

More focused on the business deal, more business focused, focused on competition, tunnel vision, more direct, more concise

As a salesperson, you need to adjust your sales language to your prospect’s gender. Also, women tend to want a closer relationship and to hear from the salesperson more often than men do. To most men, interactions with salespeople are simply business transactions. 

Important Note: Factors relating to age,and gender can get somewhat confusing, especially if you’re new to selling. If that is the case, don’t be too concerned or allow yourself to feel overwhelmed. These are some of the subtleties you’ll become more aware of as your sales career advances. 

Sales training ideas – Keep track of your sales calls.

Keep track of the number of sales calls you make and what happens on each call. For example, if you made ten cold calls, perhaps two weren’t there, two you didn’t get in to see, two weren’t qualified, two weren’t interested, and you got two leads. 

You also want to get some reasons behind the numbers. When will the two people be there? Why didn’t you get in to see the two prospects? Why didn’t the two qualify? Why weren’t the two interested? Why were the two leads you did get interested? 

From this information, you will start to recognize patterns and areas of the sales process that need work. For example, are you making your sales calls at the right time of day? Are you effectively handling the gatekeeper? Are you calling a qualified list? Are you building sufficient interest? What are you doing right on the leads you do get? 

You also want to do this with presentations or sales calls. What happened on each call? Did you close the sale? Did you lose the sale? Did you get an objection you couldn’t overcome and you have to return? Was the prospect not in?  

From the information on your follow-up calls you will also start to recognize patterns. Did you not build enough urgency? Was the person not really an interested lead? Did you fail to properly qualify the prospect? Do you do enough right to get the sale? What are you doing right and what do you need to work on? 

Keep track of this information on a sheet of paper, recording the information after each call. Take the results to your manager and the top salespeople in your company, get their feedback, and then work on your weak areas. Save these numbers to review, and look for trends. This will give you some ideas as to what you need to improve in order to make more sales.

Sales training ideas – Spend the right amount of time on sales calls.

Keep track of the time you spend on each sales call. Spending too much time on each call can cut into your total number of calls and/or keep you from other potentially more productive sales calls. Not spending enough time on each call can lead to less qualified leads, less rapport, and less sales. 

Generally, your in-person cold calls should last about 5 to 12 minutes; phone cold calls should last about 3 to 5 minutes. This should be enough time to create some interest, build rapport, and ensure the prospect is qualified and open to doing business with you. In-person sales presentations can vary greatly, but for the most part 20 minutes to an hour is probably the average; on the phone 10 to 20 minutes is more common. Enough time to do your sales presentation, answers questions and objections, and close several times.

In addition to the time you spend speaking, watch other aspects of your calls. For example, how much time do you spend waiting for prospects? This may be unavoidable in your industry. Talk to the top salespeople and your manager and find out what is standard and how they deal with this. What tasks, other than selling, do you spend time on during the day? 

Overall your objective is a good quantity of sales calls without sacrificing quality. You need to find a happy medium here. You want to put your best effort in, but you don’t want to be wasting your time either. This sense will be developed the longer you’re in sales and the more sales calls you make.

Sales training ideas – Don’t make this mistake when first starting out in sales.

When you are just learning how to sell, or start working for a new company, it doesn’t matter how good a salesperson you think you are, don’t make your first sales call on the biggest account(s). In other words, don’t make your mistakes on the big guys. 

Many salespeople have enormous egos and are lured into selling by the promise of big paychecks. Others, particularly veteran salespeople who have just started with a new company, have visions of becoming a sales hero by landing that big account during their first week. While this can be tempting, whatever you do, don’t attempt it when you’re new. 

As you know, great salespeople aren’t born, they’re developed. You need to go through the learning process before you make a sales call on the biggest account. Learn your product, learn your sales presentation, learn the answers to the questions you’ll most likely be asked, learn the responses to objections, learn the paperwork, and then start making sales calls on the little guys. Even though you think you know all the sales tricks, with a new company, product, or service, you’re going to make lots of mistakes with the little guys. And that’s fine. That’s the place to make your mistakes and get them out of the way. 

Begin by making sales calls on the little guys and get some experience under your belt. Only after you’ve learned the ropes and become somewhat seasoned can you then get in your boat and chase the Moby Dick of all sales. 

Sales training ideas – How to get in touch with the hard-to-reach hot prospect.

Here’s the scenario: You’ve got a hot prospect who said to give him a phone call next Tuesday because he’s going to make his decision then. You call on Tuesday and get his voice mail. You leave a message stating that you’re calling to follow up and ask that he get back to you. You hear nothing. On Wednesday, you call again. Again, nothing. Here’s what to do next. 

On Thursday, telephone every hour starting at seven in the morning. Do not leave any messages. Call in the hopes of getting the person on the phone. 

Use this technique any time you need to get in touch with someone on a critical issue and you think she may be ducking you. With this technique, you are being persistent without being obnoxious. If you were to call every hour and leave a message, you’d severely annoy the prospect. Obviously, you want to avoid aggravating her. 

Note 1: It is possible the prospect will have caller I.D., especially at a residence, and know that you called every hour and didn’t leave a message. If this is the case, block your call or make sure you’re calling from a number that is blocked. In the worst-case scenario, even if the person did know you were calling, you’re starting from zero anyway. You have nothing, so if you end up with nothing, you’re no worse off! 

Note 2: In a case such as this you can and should also show up in-person. In the above scenario, make it Wednesday. Just say you happened to be in the area.

Sales training ideas – 5 rules to follow with regard to your sales references.

One of your best sales tools will be a list of sales references that prospects can call to get a third party opinion of your product or service. Ask your best customers to be sales references for you. With this step, you are getting the customer’s okay to receive phone calls from prospects you’re working on. Ultimately, you want to have about ten solid references for each product you have. 

These are five important rules regarding sales references: 

1) Make sure a sales reference is not inundated with phone calls.

Remember, these people are important and they’re busy. If you have twenty people call them in a week, not only will they call you and say, “Take me off your reference list!” but they’ll be angry too. On average, one call per month per reference is the maximum number you want to be at. 

When a prospect asks for references, ask if three will suffice. Most will say yes. If he wants more, ask how many he is looking for. Very few will come back with a number even close to ten. Pick the references that you feel will be the best for that particular prospect. By having to use only three at a time, you can rotate your references quite nicely so that none get bothered with excessive frequency. 

2) Inform your sales references of when your prospect may be calling, make sure they’re willing to take the call, and let them know the exact nature of the call.

If Joe Schmoe from ABC Bank calls your sales reference and he is not expecting the call and/or doesn’t know the prospect at all, he may not take the call. If he does take it, he won’t be as prepared as he might have been and likely won’t provide as good a sales reference.  

Simply give your sales reference a quick call and ask if it is okay to have Joe Schmoe from ABC Bank call. Once the reference agrees, inform him of what Joe is looking to purchase and what the reference may want to focus on. 

3) Reward your active sales references.

Give your active sales references some sort of perk, such as tickets to a baseball game, a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant, or something similar. Be sure to let them know what the gift is for. 

If you have a sales reference who goes above and beyond, you need to go above and beyond in thanking that person. Perhaps your customer has invited the prospect to visit his place of business, or does some training with the prospect, or otherwise goes way out of his way to truly assist your prospect rather than simply giving you a glowing review. In this case, you should give him an expensive gift certificate or something else that says “thank you very much” instead of just “thank you.” And you need to do it immediately after the favor. 

4) If you have several different types of products, have sales references for all of them.

If you sell software, hardware, alarms, and video surveillance, try to have ten sales references for each. 

5) Have your sales reference lists with you on all sales calls.

Being prepared with references will help you build credibility with prospects.

Sales training ideas – Building a User List to gain credibility during your Sales Calls.

To help you build credibility and make more sales, you should have a User List to show to prospects. Your User List will simply be one page listing the people, companies, or organizations that use your product. You should be asking all your good customers if you can put them on your User List.

You do not need any phone numbers or even physical locations on this list. You will simply list the companies you are doing business with. The objective of this list is to show the prospect that you are doing business with many companies, and hopefully some significant ones. Obviously, the more prominent companies you can add to the list, the better. 

List the largest company first, then the second largest, and so on down the line. Have a large user list that includes all your active customers, and if you have a large number of customers, have a small or partial user list that includes only your key customers. 

The most common place for the user list is in proposals. However, as with your testimonials and your references, you want to have this list with you on all sales calls just in case you need it to build some credibility.  

The following is an example of a user list:  

Chapin Enterprises

This is a partial user list. Chapin Enterprises does business with approximately 80 percent of the New England market. All Chapin Enterprises equipment is manufactured, installed, and serviced by Chapin Enterprises. Chapin Enterprises also has the largest service organization in the industry.

This means you will have all the experience you will ever need at your disposal to maximize your business’s efficiency and profits. It also means you will receive first-rate service from a company that can make things happen quickly for you.

Partial User List 

Autoworkers Bank

Smithville Bank

Jamestown Savings Bank

Waters Savings Bank

Massachusetts National Bank

Bay County Savings Bank

Crowley Savings Bank

Charles River Company

Colony Bank

Curtis Savings and Loan

Dominion National Bank

Northeast Bank and Trust Company

Forest Bank

Harvard Bank

Harvey Federal Credit Union

Leadership Bank

Lancaster Bank

Lincoln Five Cent Savings Bank

Middletown Savings Bank

Stone Bank

North West Savings Bank

Worcester Bank

Steel Workers Bank

Wellington First Federal Credit Union

Xavier Bank  

Note: Notice that we also used the user list to highlight some features and benefits of Chapin Enterprises.

Sales training ideas – 8 words and phrases to avoid when selling.

When selling, there are certain words and phrases one should avoid. While some of these are worse than others, all can slow your progress to the sale. 

8 Sales conversation hurdles 

1) To be honest with you.

Synonyms for this are honestly, frankly, and to tell you the truth. Even worse: “Well, I wasn’t going to say this, but…” or “I shouldn’t be saying this, but…” Ugh! Those are real killers. All these phrases give people the impression that you haven’t been completely upfront or you have something to hide. 

2) I think/I believe.

Both of these phrases give the impression that you’re not sure of what you’re saying. If you’re not sure, say so and make a commitment to follow up with the answer. 

3) Listen (followed by the person’s name).

The word “listen” along with a person’s name is confrontational. You can almost hear someone automatically responding with, “No, you listen!” Subconsciously, it comes across as a command and sounds more like: “Hey! Pay attention, will you?” 

4) What do you think?

Thinking is work. Instead, you always want to ask someone how something sounds, looks, or feels. You want to get the senses involved in the buying process. When you ask someone what she thinks, she immediately goes into analysis or point-counterpoint mode. Thinking is much more involved than simply using our senses to evaluate something. 

5) Buy and Sell.

Change buy or sell to invest. For example: Instead of saying, “If you were to buy this gadget today…” say, “If you were to invest in this gadget today…” 

6) But.

Generally speaking, the word but can be confrontational. Occasionally, it’s appropriate when you want to contrast two ideas, yet often but is used unnecessarily. The word but is sometimes interpreted as, “Okay, forget everything I just said. Now I’m going to tell you how I really feel.” 

When you can, try to replace the word but with and. Read the following two sentences and listen for which one sounds better: 

a) “Jim, you’ve really done some great work on this article, but I think we should make sure we have all the facts correct here.”  

b) “Jim, you’ve really done some great work on this article, and I think we should make sure we have all the facts correct here.” 

The first sentence sounds like you’re telling Jim that you’re not sure all his facts are correct. The second sentence sounds like you’re telling Jim that he’s done some great work and once you both verify that all the facts are correct, you’ll have a truly great article. While there may not be a major difference, simply changing the word but to and definitely makes the sentence less confrontational and more agreeable. 

There will be times when you deliberately want to use the word but for emphasis. For example, if you are writing a factual account of something, but serves as a good separator between two opposing thoughts. However, sometimes eliminating but from your vocabulary and replacing it with and will make the tone of your conversation more positive. 

7) No.

No is the ultimate in negative words. Avoid answering questions with a direct no and avoid asking questions which elicit a no from the prospect. Try to formulate questions that bring out a positive response—yes. For example, instead of asking: “Obviously, you don’t want higher premiums, do you Joe?” ask a question such as, “Joe, if I could substantially lower your premiums, would you be interested?” 

There will be times when you need to say the equivalent of no when responding to a prospect or customer. Just try to limit them and try to answer in a way that has a little less edge than a flat-out no. 

Nice to meet you.

This one may seem a bit confusing, so here’s an explanation. We’ve all had a situation in which we’ve met someone before and that person remembers, but we don’t. We’ve also been on the other end. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy remedy to this. Instead of saying “Nice to meet you,” say, “Nice to see you.” Whether you are meeting the person for the first time, second time, or one-hundredth time, “Nice to see you” is always appropriate. 

Keep the above words and phrases in mind when having sales conversations, and all conversations for that matter. Most will only slow the sale down a bit but others may stop the sale altogether.

Sales training ideas – 5 key words and phrases that catch peoples attention when selling.

When selling, there are certain words and phrases that can capture peoples’ attention. While these may not make the sale, they can all help get you closer. 

5 Sales conversation attention getters 

1) Free

Obviously, everyone likes something for free. The word free is a great attention getter. Is there anything you can include for free with your product or service? 

2) Guarantee

People like a guarantee because it limits their risk. If you have a 100 percent, no questions asked, money-back guarantee, people are less likely to be afraid to part with their money. Of course, there must be a reputable person and company behind the guarantee for the prospect to feel completely comfortable with the guarantee. 

3) Risk free

Similar to a guarantee, this is another statement that limits the buyer’s risk. If there is no risk in trying, why not try it? 

4) New, latest technology, cutting edge

Everyone wants the latest and greatest or something that is better than anything else out there. If your product or service is not new, do you have any features or functions that are? This doesn’t even have to be something that’s new to the industry, it could simply be new for your particular company. 

5) Secret

Everyone likes to be special and wants to have something no one else has. This works well if you can release something to a limited number of people before it is actually available to the public as a whole. 

Look for areas in your sales presentation where you can add some of the above words and phrases as these will help get you closer to the sale.

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