The number #1 reason to keep your sales conversation clean

Video transcript

Hi there. When you’re having a sales or a negotiation conversation, it’s really important to keep it clean.

And what I mean by that is when you’re trying to have a purposeful conversation ideally to reach an outcome, right?So, when you were trying to negotiate something with somebody, even if it’s a sales conversation, you want to keep them focused on what the important points are.

Now, often what happens is when the stakes are high, we add in all this extra stuff; we either start to talk fast, we add in extra stories, extra details, extra case studies, we talk so much. But what this does, it makes us confusing.

And this is the equivalent of if I was talking to you now and over here, there would be balloons behind me, streamers, fireworks, confetti and glitter. You actually wouldn’t know where to look.

So what it does is it distracts you from listening to me because you’re too worried about what’s going on behind me.

It’s the same as if you’re having a sales conversation or a negotiation, you only want to put in that conversation what belongs and don’t put in that conversation anything that doesn’t belong.

And the best way to apply that is to use a habit; follow a structure in your conversations. The way you can really enhance this is by the use of strategic silence.

So when we are nervous, we tend to talk a lot or talk fast. We need to resist the urge and resist the temptation to talk fast by simply asking a question or making a statement and then shut up (Instructor whispering).

Let the silence play out.

Because what happens when the silence plays out, is the person you’re speaking to, the other party is thinking. And if they’re thinking, surely we want to know what’s on their mind, right?

So the next time you have a sales conversation or a negotiation, try and keep it clean. Don’t put extra stuff in there that doesn’t belong and see how that helps your conversation move forward.