When you go to one of your kid’s school concert and the children all come out on stage, who do you immediately look for? YOUR kid, of course. Prospects and clients are the same way. They want to hear about their company not yours. In today's Sales Psyched! episode, Dr. Croner gives an opening line to help focus your sales presentation on the "prospect's kids" and set the right tone for the meeting.

 

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At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Dr. Chris Croner here. Let me ask you a question: When you go to your kid's school concerts and the kids all come out in a line, and then get on the stage, who do you immediately look for? Or when you receive the class picture, which person do you immediately try to find?

[00:47]  Of course, you're most interested in your kid!

[00:50]  And have you ever been over to a neighbors, who likes to show home movies or videos of their vacations? (sigh) Another glass of wine please.

[01:00]  Here's where I'm going with this, when you're meeting with the prospect or a client, they don't want to see pictures of your kids. They want to see pictures of their kids.

[01:13]  But, how many sales presentations are not set up that way? In fact, they're set up exactly the wrong way.  Starting out with an opening that goes something like this "Ms. Prospect, thank you for having us here today. We would like to start by talking about who we are and what we have done."

[01:36]  It's too bad, you can't hear the silent scream going off in your prospects head at that moment. "Oh no. How long is this dog and pony show gonna last?"

[01:46]  Top salespeople know that the first thing the client wants to hear about is their world, their hopes and dreams, their problems and your solutions. Their kids.

[02:00]  For the most part prospects, and certainly clients, already know enough about you to have invited you to meet with them. But, to the extent they want to know more, they'll invite you to talk more about your company and credentials. When that happens, be prepared to always tie that information back to their situation via specific references and success stories.

[02:27]  One of my favorite opening lines, which sets a great tone goes something like this, "Ms. Client, thank you for having us here today. We have a lot to talk about. But before we go any further, is there anything you want to be sure we discuss as a top priority?"
 
[02:47]  Then, sit back and listen to the story of their world, their kids. They will lead you right to the heart of the sale.

[02:56]  See you next time. 

 

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[03:01]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[03:19]  Until next time, take care!