You are listening to the art of sales.
Everyone sells every day, and this is your source for conversational, real-world sales
and prospecting methods that you are comfortable using and that get results.
You'll help people buy instead of pushing them into being sold.
Here's your host, Art Subject.
I've read an interview with a senior HR director of a large company, and he was a
complaining that although he had plenty of jobs to fill, his main issue was with
the general lack of soft skills by applicants.
And the soft skills he was talking about included in his description using proper
English, common courtesy such as please and thank you, having their pants pulled
up. I'm not making that up. And listening and following instructions.
Well, I've got a major problem with people not caring enough to do a great job.
I especially have a problem with the not listening part.
And it's tougher to listen over the phone than face to face, but the problem is all around us on the phone and off, on sales calls and off.
And actually it's a pet peeve of mine.
Since I've traveled frequently over the years for my profession, I've had more than my share of encounters with service and hospitality people.
Probably more than the normal person.
I've had some great experiences with people who really cared and excel at what they do regardless of their position and pay level.
And unfortunately though, it seems that more and more people like the HR director said just don't care enough about the details.
Give you a few personal examples here.
So when I order chicken wings, I emphasize I want the sauce on the side and they often come with the sauce on.
I'll order a vodka soda with a lemon and it usually comes with a lime.
Or the grocery clerk asking, did you find everything you were looking for?
And then not listening to the answer.
Because then a few seconds later, they ask the same question again.
And I know these are little things and the whole scheme of things and some people are reading this and they're fuming coming to the defense of service people saying it's not their fault.
They're paid low wages, lots of customers are jerks and I'm out of touch and I just can't put myself in their place.
Well, save it.
Yet is their fault.
And I have been there.
I've washed dishes, bus tables, cleaned office toilets, delivered flowers, mowed lawns.
I didn't love to do those things, but I chose to do those things at that time in my life.
And although I always didn't really enjoy most of those jobs, I worked hard at them and dealt with the occasional jerk.
Ultimately, I realized that I could trade my time and talents and deliver the most value and make the most money plus sit inside and not get dirty by talking to people and selling.
And that didn't insulate me from the small minority of jerks.
We still got to deal with them, right?
And I decided to do whatever it took to become excellent at it.
And the more I learned and practiced and the harder I worked, the more I got paid.
Funny how that happens, right?
If someone chooses a job, they've contracted and agreed to provide the stated value for what the employer is paying.
I remember a quote from Brian Tracy early in my business career.
I'm paraphrasing this maybe a little bit, but the quote was, when you're doing anything, why not do it to 100% of your ability and with excellence?
Everyone has that choice every day.
And we all do make a choice at different levels on that scale.
Now, for us in sales, let's circle back to the listening part.
This is the easiest to master from a purely physical perspective, but perhaps the most difficult to execute for many.
The problem isn't with knowing how to listen.
Everyone knows how.
It's the why.
When I cover listening in my training workshops, I go through the P's of listening.
Purpose and pause.
The purpose is having a reason for listening.
And for those who right now are saying, yeah, but I can't even get through to people to have a chance for them to even listen to me, the reason why and the problem usually also is purpose.
The salesperson has a me attitude, making his messaging about him or her and not the prospect.
Of course, people don't want to talk to him.
Instead, when you have an other focused purpose, your attitude, your approach, your messaging, your desire to listen takes on a different level.
And then the pause is simply that.
Silence.
So I suggest you pause at two points in the question asking and answering process.
Pause after you ask a question and then pause after they answer.
You might be amazed at what you can learn.
Also, a hindrance to good listening and comprehension is tuning out and being distracted.
Since people speak at about 120 to 140 words per minute and we can listen at a rate of up to about 10 times that, we often quit listening because we assume we know what the other person is going to say.
That's dangerous.
Practice slowing down your listening, focusing on every word and thought from the speaker.
It's going to help you pay closer attention and gain better comprehension.
So really, there's my contribution to soft skills training today that can and does produce hard results and more money for you as well.
All right.
Hey, you know what time it is?
You ran into the iron.
Every way you'll never feel what this is.
The art of the sales.
The quote of the day.
That's right. It's time for the quote of the day. Today's quote comes from the great basketball legend, Larry Bird.
And Larry said, I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.
So true.
Hey, if you're getting value from this show, would you do a friend or colleague a favor and turn them on to it as well?
Perhaps do a lot of people a favor. Maybe post it on social media.
Post an episode on LinkedIn along with the link to the particular episode and the show site.
And you can find all the episodes at theartofsales.com, theartofsales.com.
Your network will appreciate you. I will as well.
And I promise I will also comment on your post.
Thank you so much for investing your valuable sales time with me today. Until next time, go out and make it your best sales day ever.
I'm Art Subcheck.
Okay.
Okay.