Sales Advice: Selling is NOT telling

Sales Advice - Selling is not telling

Salespeople have been very guilty rightfully so of talking too much.

The outgoing personality style seems to be the style most attracted to selling. There’s more of this outgoing personality style and selling than any other personality style.

Outgoing individuals would rather talk than listen so they have a natural tendency to want to talk.

Selling is not about telling. Telling is not selling.

Selling is about asking questions, shutting up, and listening to the answer, and then asking a follow-up question based on what the response.

Just as psychiatry is, a psychiatrist or psychologist does not run on at the mouth when they are in a counseling session. They may go for five minutes without making a content and rub her chin, and say, “Hmm…. interesting. Tell me more.” And that’s good for about another eight or ten minutes from the client standpoint.

That’s a good model for you to follow–asking questions and not giving a whole lot of answers to things. There’s a time and a place for you to explain what you do, but it’s on the back end–not on the front end.


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