skill
Watch Your Language! JIM CATHCART
Who taught you to talk sales? When it comes to your sales language, chances are it was your first sales manager. For generations now we have been talking about selling from an outdated point of view. We have seen businesses as machines, and accordingly we have “reen- gineered” them, “systematized” them, and so on. Our premise has been that businesses are things, so when it comes to selling, we have such “endearing” terminology as “closing” sales, making “cold” calls, and overcoming “objections.”
No wonder we were surprised to discover that busi- nesses are living systems! A business is a group of people involved in an enterprise; hence, it is alive and behaves like an organism, not a mechanism. Our prevail- ing mind-set has been physics oriented when it should have been focused on biology. We are dealing with living beings, not things. Living systems don’t permit engineering or reengineer- ing; they simply self-organize around their desired results. When a goal is set or a vision articulated, the people redirect their energy to make it a reality. Those processes, when studied and formalized, create the new systems that can keep us on track to reach our goals.
Think of what happens to people emotionally and
intellectually when you task them with making cold calls. They become anxious and resistant. Why? Because the im- plication of the language is that the call will be unpleasant and cold. Instead of simply calling them “warm” calls in a sophomoric attempt to change the feeling, how about just calling them what they are? They are new calls. They don’t need to be cold or warm; they just need to be appropriate to your desired result.
What is the purpose of a new call? It’s to introduce yourself, product, or company and to determine whether a sales opportunity exists at this time. In other words, new calls are introductory meetings, not meetings to close business. With the exception of businesses that practice one-call selling, most of us should be focused on using our new calls to introduce ourselves and probe for needs. So what is closing about? Do we intend to end the sales
relationship? Once it is done, are we off duty? Closing is a word that indicates finality and closure. Once it is done, the work is usually over – but that is not what we intend when selling. So, again, why not call it what it actually is? It is confirming the sale, proving that a purchase decision has been made and taking action on it.
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Help reps use positive sales
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