She’s very, very good at getting people to open up and talk about sensitive, revealing subjects. Over four decades she’s been interviewing politicians, business leaders and entertainment icons of all stripes. And anyone in sales can learn plenty from listening to her work.
We’re talking about Terry Gross, host of the Peabody award wining NPR show Fresh Air. Recognized for her artful probing and fearless drive to understand her subjects’ choices and motivations, Terry’s conversational style gets to the heart of things and makes it all seem easy.
We’ve picked just four aspects of her approach that insurance producers and prospectors would do well to emulate.
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In selling, questions play a central role. They’re the sales pro’s Swiss Army knife. You’ve got a multi-faceted tool that you can employ in almost any situation.
You’ve been making prospecting calls for the last hour and haven’t reached a single decision maker. All of a sudden on your next attempt, you’re transferred to the head of finance at a good-sized assisted living organization. Not surprisingly, he sounds busy and distracted. You barely have a chance to introduce yourself and he responds coldly, “What’s this about?”
Have you noticed we’re living in a world of short attention spans and constant distractions? But maybe you were busy checking email or Facebook and didn’t notice.