IT’S NOT ONLY WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S HOW YOU SAY IT.

The following story was sent to me by my wife. One of the administrators in her school places little tidbits like this in the BATHROOMS periodically calling it “Bathroom Psychology”. When my wife read this she thought it would be a good message for a sales rep and sent it along to me.

The Blind Boy

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said:  "I am blind, please help."  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by.  He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.  He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.  He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.  That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth.  I said what you said but in a different way."  I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind.  But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.  The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind.  Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:  Be creative, think differently and positively.

Handle yourself with confidence.

When you make a presentation, are you simply spewing features and benefits or are you using words that create pictures for the customer?

Is it just a car or “THE ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE”? Is it just a new iced tea or “THE BEST ICED TEA JUST GOT BETTER”?

There is a famous line from the show Dragnet, “ONLY THE FACTS”. As a rep you can give the customer “ONLY THE FACTS” and you will never get in trouble with the customer because you are giving truthful, accurate information. However you may get a little beat up by your sales manager when they look at your sales figures and see that they are not where they should be. Giving the facts in a creative, positive, and compelling way is what will create a desire for your product.

Use descriptive words that really drive home the quality and usefulness of your product. I used to sell a parts washer that had 3 filters. I would work with reps and they would tell a customer all about the 3 filters. They would talk about what they were made of, how they fit into the machine, how often they would need to be changed and an entire menu of other features about the filters. When they were done talking the customer was either asleep or wishes they were asleep. I would ask to talk about the filters for the next presentation. I would tell the customer that our parts washer has 3 filters which make up our exclusive multi-tiered, multi-media, inline passive filtration system which will keep their machines solvent clean and save them hundreds of dollars over the next year. Which description created pictures in your mind? The bigger question is which product would you want to buy after hearing the description?

Pick your words carefully and practice what you are going to say. If you use descriptive words that tell a story, and say them with conviction, your business will grow.

Lorin