Have you heard the one about two psychiatrists? They pass on the street, and one nods to the other and says, “Good evening, Doctor.” A block later the other one thinks to himself, “I wonder what he meant by that?”
For most of us, “good evening” doesn’t imply anything more than “good evening.”
But in the sales process, a comment that seems like a brick wall can be a doorway to opportunity. To recognize those possibilities, we just need a positive attitude and curious mind. Continue reading →
In most sales situations you’ve got to know a lot of details about a prospect’s operation before you can offer good solutions aligned with their needs, concerns, values, and buying attitudes.
To learn those details we need to develop skill in asking questions. Skillful questioning is important because people are often reluctant to share information — especially in the initial prospecting stage. Continue reading →
I’m not a big boxing fan. But I’ve seen some pretty one-sided fights where the loser is getting so badly beaten all he can do is keep his opponent at bay.
He’s backpedaling, crouching, bobbing and weaving — maintaining as much distance as possible between him and the other guy.
That’s the right strategy for a prizefight but a completely wrong one if you’re trying to win an account and build a business relationship.
So why use language that creates separation? Continue reading →
Today I want to talk about the impact our emotional currents have on the way we present ourselves to others.
We’ve talked before about the potency of body language. Expansive gestures and postures make us feel more powerful, and in turn we convey that sense of confidence to others. It’s a well-established principle in psychology that the mind follows the body’s cues.
Authority
In 2008 Dr. Deborah Gruenfeld, a social psychologist at Stanford, teamed up with a theatre instructor to offer a class at their business school called Acting with Power. The idea was to go beyond purely academic learning so students could engage their whole beings in the process of influencing others.
Actors, she observed, make their audience believe simply by…well, acting the part. So why can’t we, in our ordinary day-to-day roles, embody and project the person we want to be by simply playing the part? Continue reading →