Getting a prospect or client to speak can often be challenging, particularly if you haven’t developed a relationship yet or established trust. Opening the initial sales call Socratically (after the initial social pleasantries are over) is a seamless way to transition to the sales part of the meeting and can go a long way to getting the hesitant prospect to talk. A talking prospect is one of the fastest ways ...

There may be times in business or other venues when you’re called on to lead a discussion. Good discussions don’t always just happen. Planning and a great deal of thought are crucial to their success. Planning well and keeping control of the situation is much easier than trying to regain control once it has been lost! There are several common facilitative skills that will help you lead a productive discussion. ...

Hostile or challenging questions are typically designed to weaken your position or damage your credibility. You can neutralize such questions by rephrasing them, thus maintaining the strength of your position and your credibility. It’s critical that when you rephrase a challenging question, you don’t change the issue. If you change the issue, your credibility will be negatively affected, and your position is likely to be viewed unfavorably. For example, if ...

Think about the last time you received service that was exceptional. And by exceptional, I mean exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. How you were communicated with is often what shapes your impression — good or bad. Imagine you walk in to an office, there is someone behind the desk typing on the computer. They don’t acknowledge you and when you finally get their attention by clearing your throat, they look ...

We’ve all heard about the importance of listening, especially when a prospect is speaking. The more the prospect talks, the more you can discover about their situation and what they really need. However, good listening also involves interaction on your part. It involves playback and questioning. Playback, sometimes called paraphrasing, helps you make sure that you’ve heard the other person accurately and correctly interpreted what they’ve said. Additionally, it verifies ...

While many people don’t have to give presentations every day, they often have to give updates or briefings. A briefing is a mini presentation that you can give in a short period of time. It could be as short as 30 seconds or as long as a few minutes. It might be planned, or it might be a spur of the moment, impromptu briefing. A briefing can be a shorter ...

As he did for so many other sciences and branches of philosophy, the Greek philosopher Aristotle created a model for communication that reigned for thousands of years. His model had three elements: speaker, speech, and audience. As new communication media arose (first print, then radio and television), communication scholars renamed the components “sender,” “message,” and “receiver.” But the model remained essentially unchanged: the sender transfers meaning to the mind of ...

Price is often the “elephant in the room” when it comes to closing a sale. There will always be someone who will undercut your price. Any customer who buys on price alone, will leave you in a heartbeat. There is no loyalty with that type of customer and little hope of a long-term relationship. However, if you are truly convinced your product or service is of the highest quality, lowering ...