---

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

Imagine just by changing 7 words that you currently use now as a sales professional you could quickly increase sales. Would that be of interest to you?

Years ago, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale said "Change your thoughts, change your world." I believe that in sales as well as in life if you change your words you will change your results. The words that we think and speak have a tremendous affect upon those around us. As a sales professional, this could dramatically increase your sales. And who wouldn't like a little more money in the bank?

First, do you think of your potential buyers as prospects? What picture does this generate in your brain? What actions do you associate with finding prospects? Do those actions (sales skills) possibly make the prospect an object of your desire? Have you unintentionally devalued that individual sitting across the table from you? Consider replacing the word prospect with the phrase potential customer or potential qualified customer. Would this create a different picture in your mind's eye?

Second, by changing the word prospect into the phrase potential qualified customer, you are no longer just prospecting, but rather qualifying potential customers. This allows you to work smarter and not harder and really maximize your sales skills or talents.

The third word is to replace the word yes with the word agree. What this word does is to convey a contract even if none has been sign. Agree has 100 time more emotional value than the word yes. And let us be honest, who wants to hear the word yes more, your potential customer or you as the sales professional?

Earn is the fourth word that can increase sales for you. Every time I hear this phrase “close the deal” or close the sale, I inwardly cringe because this word means to shut off. From my perspective as someone who has been in sales for over 30 years, I still cannot figure out why any sales professional would literally want to shut down their potential buyer.

Number five is not a word, but a phrase. In working with potential qualified clients, I realized that a proposal put me in what have come to call the Sea of Sameness. I am like all those other gray suits out in the marketplace. Also, I realized that I am in the sales business and not in the proposal writing business. To be the Red Jacket, I created this phrase, statement of work, when asked to submit a proposal. Of course, I now write very few statements of work because I have learned to better qualify potential buyers and not waste time writing those darned proposals.

The sixth word that I have found to increase sale is educating. No longer am I selling my services or solutions, but rather educating suspects, potential customers and qualified potential customers. I look at every opportunity as one to educate someone else. Through this education process, I have demonstrated the value of my solutions. For many sales professionals this is somewhat difficult because they have been conditioned through sales based marketing. This approach is no longer as effective as it once was. What is far more effective especially for service professionals is education based marketing or EBA.

Now the seventh word is possibly the most important one and that word is Ask. When sales professionals take the time to ask for referrals, to ask to speak, to ask if they can help, a vast pool of opportunities are suddenly opened to them.

Sales Coaching Tip: You can increase sales and even improve your sales skills by changing the words that you think and speak. These are not the only ones, but are a good beginning.

Related Articles

  How the One to Three Speaking Ratio Can Dramatically Increase Sales
  Lose This 5 Letter Word to Win More Sales
  Four of the Most Common Mistakes in Persuasive Speaking
  How to Increase Sales With Questions That Seek Greater Clarity to Gain Greater Specificity
  Speaking Can Increase Sales If You are A Business Coach or Business Consultant
  Increase Sales Coaching Tip: Understand How the Nos Get You Closer to the Yesses
  Watch Your Language - Medical Sales Training
  Are Your Sales Lagging Because You Are Failing to Ask for the Business?
  Critical Judgements Required To Increase Sales
  Effective or Easiest - Which Path Will Your Salespeople Choose?
  Public Speaking Simplified
  How Fear of the Competition May Potentially Keep You From Your Goal To Increase Sales
  Women, It’s Not Enough to Know What You Know …
  How to Speak & Present Without Notes
  How 2 Beliefs Increase Sales
  How Positive words can change the mind of the customer
  The Unsung Business Tool: Public Speaking
  Jazz Up and Energize Your Vocabulary To Increase Sales
  Increase Sales By Jazzing Up, Energizing and Limiting the Words You Speak and Write
  Sales Coaching Tip: Lose the Business Development Title If You Want to Increase Sales

Related Forum Posts

Ad words
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
Re: Alexa Rank - How To Get A Better Alexa Ranking
Different Hats

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Substance Abusing Employee

Top Ten Home-Based Businesses

The Importance of Location for a Coffee Franchise

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.