I recently found myself suffering from a lousy cold; all the
coughing, snuffling and sneezing symptoms which send other
people running for cover.
I also found myself apologising to people I’d come into
contact with – “You must excuse me, I’m suffering from the
cold” would be my obvious statement.
However, instead of any sympathy all I heard was – “Oh, I’ve
got it too and my whole family’s had it and it’s a whole
lot worse than yours!” Okay, so they didn’t exactly say the
last bit but that seemed to be the underlying message.
This response isn’t the best for people who want to be good
at “selling themselves.” To be a first class salesperson or
a successful manager or just a good communicator, you need
to be good at selling yourself and building rapport.
So when someone says – “You must excuse me, I’m suffering
from the cold,” it’s far better to say something like – “I’m
sorry to hear that, it can be a real pain having the cold.”
Similarly, when some tells you about a holiday they’ve just
had or about to take, don’t say – “Me too, I’ve been there,
it’s great.”
Far better to say something like – “That sounds fantastic,
I’m sure you’ll have a great time!” Ask questions about the
holiday and how they enjoyed it. You could then go on to
tell them about how much you enjoyed it when you were there
but quickly get back to talking about their experience.
Selling yourself (or anything else) isn’t about talking
about you or what you do; it’s about listening and
understanding the other person’s situation. So if you want
to be INTERESTING then be INTERESTED!
Discover how you can generate more business without having
to cold call!
Alan Fairweather is the author of “How to get More Sales
without Selling” This book is packed with practical things
that you can do to get customers to come to you.
Click here now
