| I was sitting at my desk last week when my | | | | phone to make a sales call, what are you hoping |
| phone rang. I picked it up and said, "This is Ari | | | | will be the outcome? |
| with Unlock The Game." The woman on the other | | | | Let me guess: |
| end of the phone said, "Hi, my name is Julie | | | | Get information |
| Jackson, I'm with XYZ company and we are | | | | Find the decision maker |
| a...and we offer...". As she continued to speak, I | | | | Schedule an appointment |
| stopped her in mid-sentence and said, "Hi, Julie." | | | | Make a sale |
| There was dead silence on the phone. | | | | In other words, you want something even before |
| I could sense her struggling to react to my | | | | the person you call says "Hello." |
| spontaneous overture at making personal, genuine | | | | It's time to throw out your "selling" language and |
| contact. She was so locked into her presentation | | | | unlock your natural language. |
| or script that she had no idea how to respond to | | | | Here's how: |
| me. | | | | Be willing to challenge everything you have learned |
| The idea of just conversing with me in her most | | | | about selling up to this point. If you aren't open to |
| natural way was a completely foreign concept. | | | | questioning conventional sales thinking, you'll never |
| (She eventually took a deep breath and we | | | | have a chance to experience selling in a |
| transitioned into a very pleasant conversation | | | | completely different way. |
| about the possibility of us being a "fit".) | | | | Replace your goal-oriented agendas with |
| What has happened to us? | | | | trust-building agendas. |
| Can't we just strike up a conversation with people | | | | Learn to enjoy the processing of building a new |
| we don't know and build a relationship that way? | | | | relationship. |
| It's ironic that most of us take it for granted that | | | | Build a dialogue. |
| spontaneous, natural communication is the right | | | | Avoid centering the conversation on you and your |
| way to relate to our friends, spouses, relatives, | | | | offerings. |
| and others in our personal lives -- but, when it | | | | Enter the conversation without assumptions. |
| comes to selling, our language becomes, almost | | | | Trade overconfidence for humility. |
| robotic. | | | | Any signs of overconfidence when you first |
| Why the breakdown? | | | | make contact with a potential client will only set |
| Because when we make a sales call, we want | | | | off "sales alarms." Humility (not weakness) starts |
| something. The people we're talking with sense | | | | the trust-building process. |
| this immediately. They put up their guard. Our | | | | Visualize the person you are speaking with as a |
| hidden agenda and their reaction immediately | | | | potential friend rather than a potential client. This |
| destroy the trust-building process of | | | | will help you to converse rather than "sell." |
| communication. | | | | When you tap into your natural language abilities, it |
| We go into our personal relationships wanting to | | | | triggers the person you're speaking with to tap |
| simply know the other person. But we go into | | | | into their own natural language as well. |
| sales situations with agendas and assumptions. | | | | Like you, they will abandon their "business |
| And because we've been conditioned that a sale | | | | language" and begin communicating with you in |
| can happen only if we control the process, we | | | | their most natural way. |
| never even consider the possibility that there can | | | | Natural language is the crucial secret to |
| be total flexibility in how we communicate and | | | | transforming the outdated, ineffective |
| build trust. | | | | "buyer-seller" role into a trust-based relationship |
| Quick self-assessment: When you pick up the | | | | based on open, natural communication. |