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How The Right Words Can Win Over Your Sales Prospects

Written by: Jim Meisenheimer

Article Overview: Making a good impression is easy when you sound articulate and interested in your prospects and customers. Language is a primary sales tool that every professional sales person should pay more attention to.

How The Right Words Can Win Over Your Sales Prospects

First - a quick story about a customer service experience which leads to an
invaluable sales tip for you.

In July, Bernadette my wife, my niece who's graduating from college and
two close friends a going to Rome. For my niece, Morgan, and two friends
it's their first trip to Europe.

We'll be in Rome for five days and another seven days aboard a cruise ship
in the Mediterranean.

Helen - my 88 year old mother in law lives in an assistant-living facility near
our home in Lakewood Ranch Florida.

Gunner is our 13.5 year-old Yellow Lab. He's moving at a slower pace
these days.

Rudy and Eileen, my father and stepmother, have been recruited to take
care of Gunner and look in on Helen periodically.

Well, that's the situation and Bernadette and I are a little nervous about
being gone for 12 days.

So it's time to go shopping for a new telephone which allows us to make
and take calls and gives us internet access while we're in Europe.

I realize there are many options - but decided to stay with Cingular and
upgrade two of our telephones.

So I get the biggest zip lock bag I can find and stuff it with our phones, auto
chargers, and battery chargers.

You have to admit, the technology that comes with the newest phones is
absolutely mind boggling.

Imagine being able to make calls, dictate messages to yourself, get
directions, send e-mails, browse the web, take pictures plus another 97+
optional tasks.

While the technology is impressive the process of buying a phone and
selecting the right plan for me at least, was nothing short of aggravating.

At the first Cingular store I visited, I was able to identify the plan and the
phone I wanted. I chose a Palm Treo 680 and which included International
World Traveler access.

That was the good news. The bad news was they didn't have any in stock.
The sales agent checked other stores for availability and told me to come
back on Monday.

During the conversation I asked the sales agent how long she'd been
working at the store. She said, "six months." I asked her if she liked the
work. She said, "Not really!"

I start thinking how would you like to have a salesperson, who doesn't like
the work, selling your products? She then volunteered that this was her last
day. My thought was - good for her and good for Cingular.

So Monday comes, and I go back to the store to buy my new Palm Treo.
When I got to the store, I could see the sales agent, the manager, was
having a difficult time explaining options to a senior citizen. She had the
patience of a saint - based on what I heard.

I decided to leave the store, do some other errands, and return later. When
I returned 45 minutes later, the sales manager was wrapping up with the same
customer.

I wasn't surprised, that the first sales agent dropped the ball and my phone
hadn't been FedExed. The store manager called around and found another
Cingular store with the Palm Treo in stock. Yippee!

You could say I'm not the most patient person in the world. You could also
say that after three visits and still no telephone my frustration level was like
a volcano ready to explode.

So I drove 20 minutes to the other Cingular store. As I walked into the
store, I could see two sales agents each working with customers.

Immediately I start to think - another long wait. No sooner did I walk into the
store, one of the sales agents looked up at me and said, "Something we
can do for you real quick?"

My attitude immediately shifted from being disappointed that I would have
to wait to being impressed by the attention I got as soon as I walked into the
store.

All he said was,"Something we can do for you real quick?"

He acknowledged my presence, he offered to help me, and made me feel
good - all that with only eight words.

I told him I was there to buy a Palm Treo 680 and a new telephone for my
wife.

In just a few minutes, Marilyn, the other sales agent was saying goodbye to
her customer and offered to help me.

It took an hour and 45 minutes to get everything set up. High-tech
telephones with borderline Neanderthal set up procedures - company
policy!

The service of this store was very good - I want to make that point very
clear.

Anyway, when the other sales agent - Michael was available - I
complimented him on his opening statement and asked, "Who taught you
that?" He said no one - he developed it on his own.

I told him it was a powerful opening statement and I wanted to write about it
and share it with my newsletter subscribers. I asked him for his business
card. I told him I would send him a copy of the newsletter which would
describe my experience in his store.

His name is Michael Degirolamo and he happens to be the District
Manager for six Cingular phone stores located between Tampa and Naples
Florida. He was a bucket of enthusiasm. He started describing the results
he was getting, within a very short timeframe, from the stores.

He wanted to know the name of my newsletter and my name. I said, "My
name is Jim meisenheimer and the newsletter is Knockout Selling Tips!"

I almost fell out of my chair when he said, "Hey Jim - I'm already getting
your newsletter - I read it every week."

Well - that's the story and here are two sales tips I promised you.

Two sales tips you can begin using immediately:

1. Inject the words "Real quick" when it's appropriate during a sales call.
I'm sure Michael won't mind if you borrow his exactly terminology.

2. Whenever you're talking a prospect/customer, either on the telephone or
face-to-face, you can make them more agreeable to talking with you when
you say this, "I'd like to ask you a real quick question." That's a sales tip I
learned from Bob Burg.

It never ceases to amaze me how the right words and phrases can
influence the outcome of a sales call.

When you're articulate, you can say less and sell more.

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