When trying to sell our services, we automatically want to talk a lot: passionately explain the cool benefits and features of our ergonomic offers, and demonstrate our deep knowledge. Trying to flood potential clients with information is ineffective. Using that approach is like risking losing sales. To make your sales process a little easier,  I'll be sharing with you a very simple technique that I've used before when closing deals with clients. You can read my suggestions below and put it to use the next time you chat with a prospect or want to close one of your ergonomics offers. 

Sales Tip: Talk Less

Let’s face it: people tend to pitch their services too much when trying to win a sale. You know yourself that your offers are going to help an organization, whether it’s training or assessments, so you want to convince them to work with you. However, pushy people don’t go too far. While I value being passionate about ergonomics, fervently sharing information about all the things you can do to assist your client won't necessarily help you close a sale. I find that the most difficult part of the sales conversation is just shutting your mouth. That might seem simple, but it's actually quite difficult. Talking too much is one way to alienate your prospect, and you’re going to miss the opportunity to understand their needs. 

There's a reason why people talk too much in their sales conversation: having the ability to just stop talking requires nerves of steel. There's certainly going to be empty spaces in our conversation, so we tend to fill that gap with more information. But I want you to avoid doing that. It's a good thing not to feel compelled to close the gap. If you learn how to talk less, you might just find yourself closing more clients as a result.

How Much Should You Share?

Give them enough information. Of course, you must educate them on what types of services you offer in order to close that knowledge gap between where they are and where they need to be. It's the most effective to establish the need for your services and avoid saying things that are unimportant to their problems. Once you've educated your client up to that point, it's time to make the sale - will they move forward with your services?

What Happens When You Do Too Much of The Talking?

Let’s talk about what happens when you’re the one doing all the talking. I'm going to share a scenario of what happens when (for whatever reason) I felt the need to fill the lull in the conversation instead letting the conversation go silent for moments.

One of the things that I've noticed happens is that I usually ended up adding more information that doesn't help my prospect to process what we just talked about.

More information is not going to help you... or your prospect!

You've already explained the features, benefits, managed objections in your pitch. I've found what works best is when you resist the urge to fill the lull. This is also the most challenging part of sales.

I think back to times when I added more information to break the silence and it changed that energy and shifted the discussion to something else, which in many cases, is not what I intended to do!!

Sometimes, adding extra information brings in a whole *NEW* tangent that's nowhere near the service offer that you were going to make and it confuses them.

Have you ever been in a similar situation before? You could feel that they're interested in your offer, but for whatever reason, you weren’t able to close the sale.

Of course, we want to impress our prospects with all the cool benefits and the amazing features your services have. But what I learned from my past sales conversations is that silence is a powerful tool. Learning to get comfortable with silence allows you to understand more about your prospect and gives them an opportunity to organize their thoughts and build on the conversation.

Why You Should Talk Less

When I don’t fill the gaps in a sales chat, the opposite happens. When I just close my mouth and give the client enough time to process what I communicated, this is where they ask me really meaningful questions. You don’t have to fill the air, especially when talking to your prospects virtually on a zoom call or even in emails.

The silence will naturally feel longer compared to talking in person.

The best thing that I've ever done is to wait patiently. Listening more and giving them time to process the information will help you understand your prospect’s needs.  

Generally speaking, we already have a knowledge of what we can do for every single business out there, but only a vague idea of what they really need. Typically, we're going to be dealing with discomfort complaints, managing workers’ compensation claims, or helping them figure out the best chair for them. We know how to approach and include that type of messaging in our conversation up to this point. Once you've addressed them and made a business case, it’s time to just listen and not present any more information. The best way to know how to close a prospect is by letting them tell you themselves. Let them do the talking, and they’ll eventually unfold their main pains and needs.

Until you close a contract, don’t say anything that won't help you close that particular sale. If there are other opportunities that you feel you can provide value with in their process, you can bring that up after you close the contract. But before then, you have to focus on the one thing that you're talking about. Otherwise, you’re going to make it more complex, and they’re going to get overwhelmed. 

What’s Your Next Action?

So what are you going to do next to incorporate this idea into your business? Do you want to learn more about how to use modern marketing techniques to sell ergonomics and find paying customers? I can help you grow and scale your business through the Accelerate program. 

We have members who are just learning how to do ergonomic assessments and members who are looking to start their own ergonomic business as a side hustle. I show you how to use modern marketing techniques to build their business in a systematic way by providing you the tools and materials, so you can focus on executing your assessments and their marketing plan.

It's an AMAZING Community!

I’m opening an enrollment for the Accelerate program at the end of June 2021. If you’re interested in joining, sign up here to get on the waitlist. I'll be sending out some updates to everyone on the waitlist real soon.