Tweet

Sales Skills For Service Professionals Part 3

Written by: Sandy Schussel

Article Overview: The third of three skills everyone who sells a service needs to develop is the ability to relate moving stories and metaphors.

Sales Skills For Service Professionals Part 3

In Part I of this series, we introduced three skills that are essential for selling professional services:

(1) The ability to ask provocative questions
(2) The ability to listen with total focus on the client
(3) The ability to relate moving stories and metaphors

Let's discuss the third skill: The ability to relate moving stories and metaphors.

Testimonials about your service help you get clients because human beings are hard-wired to believe stories. Even before humans developed language, they could tell stories with cave paintings. As language developed, one of its first uses was to sit around the campfire and tell stories of great exploits.

Even when there are no clients around to give testimonials, however--or campfires, for that matter--stories of your exploits can assist you to turn an uncertain prospect into a ready client.

My client Michael, an attorney, is a master at "sales" stories:

"Joe, your situation is very similar to a client I'm helping at the moment. He had a little more money invested in his piece of real estate, but what the seller did in his case was almost identical to what happened to you. Just like you, he struggled with whether he should spend the money on starting litigation or not, but then he decided he couldn't let them get away with it and asked me to go ahead with it."

It's a rare instance when a prospective client doesn't yield in the face of stories like these.

Michael also uses metaphors. I remember our discussion about a client with a small case, who asked Michael whether or not she could handle it herself, without a lawyer.

"Sure you can," Michael told her, "But then you'd be like a leaf on a rushing stream. With no rudder and no one to steer, you'd be rushing toward whatever result the system intends for you."

The woman took out her checkbook and wrote a retainer check.

One of my favorite masters of metaphor was Ben Feldman, one of the greatest insurance salesmen in modern history. Ben could look prospective insurance purchasers in the eyes and say things like, "with the stroke of a pen, you create an estate," and the prospects would pick up their pens to sign the application Ben brought with him.

Another client, Larry, is a financial advisor. To explain a Roth IRA, where you invest with after-tax dollars into an account that can grow income tax-free, if held long enough, Larry uses a farming metaphor:

"If you were a farmer and you had to pay taxes," he asks, "would you rather pay taxes on the seed, or on the crop that you harvest?"

"The seed, of course," is the prospect's reply.

"Why is that?" Larry asks.

"Well, the tax on a huge crop is probably a lot more than the tax on the seed would be," is the response.

"That's why I want you to make this investment," Larry tells his prospect. "You'll have already paid taxes on the seed-and you'll be able to harvest the crop tax- free."

In case you missed it, Larry manages to put all three skills together in his presentation. He asks provocative questions, listens carefully to the answer, and uses a metaphor that allows his prospect to make the right choice.

These three skills will help you get more clients, get better clients and keep the clients you have.

Related Articles
  You Can Win More Sales by Accepting & Working with Change Than Denying It
  The 'Being Efficient' Myth In Sales
  Hire A Six, To Consistently Produce Sales Success
  Why Sales and Customer Service Should Be the Same Person if You Want To Increase Sales
  Sales Training Is Much More About Great Attitudes than Superior Sales Skills

Article Tags: ben feldman, campfire, cave paintings, checkbook, exploits, human beings, insur, insurance salesmen, lawyer, litigation, masters, metaphor, metaphors, modern history, professional services, prospective client, provocative questions, rare instance, retainer check, rudder



Related Forum Posts
Re: Service Or Product? - I agree with starting a Service-based Business in the economy. Here is what I think is critical: 1. Researching that your Service business has a market. 2. Marketing the Service with as much leverage as possible. 3. Product-izing the Service (aka Package Expert Knowledge). This will only help elevate you as "the" expert in your niche and make you accessible to people in different price points.
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Wearing different hats in Business - I have a business that produces beautiful custom rugs for home and business environments. Different hats that I'm wearing... Rug Fabrication - 10 [i:21cr28m8](partially outsourced to an outfit here in the US)[/i:21cr28m8] Customer Service / Sales - 8-10 Bookkeeping - 1 Marketing - 6 Website development - 5 [i:21cr28m8](mainly outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8] SEO, SEM - 6-8 Accounting - [i:21cr28m8](outsourced)[/i:21cr28m8]
niche forum categories - I think Kevin just touched on the point that I was going make... and that is developing 'categories' that stick. Sales and Marketing may be too broad for example. However I can almost guarantee you that you would see many more sign-ups if you tailored a category to 'internet marketing' for newbies. I've seen this work on other forums, however, [i:1i903wkn]it can get a little frantic[/i:1i903wkn]... Fine tuning the categories, or expanding the scope should be effective. I think a lot of IM folks are surfing right on by because they're not finding what they're looking for here... Just a few thoughts: Better Blogging Developing Info Products Internet Marketing Presentation Skills More How to's Another point is... a lot of people don't know that they can benefit from participating in forums. The signature links to their site - if they have one - can / should be motivation enough to get more involved. The more internet savvy members that have signatures seem to stick around more... Don't you think?
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

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

Coaching Tip: Identify Your Core Values

Starting A Set of Books

What I Really Want Is...

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.