Your Obvious Language Barrier

I had half of a conversation in English the other day before I realized that I was apparently speaking a foreign language. How should I have known? After all, I had been getting a head nod and a smile back. But that’s about as far as our conversation went. It wasn’t so much a conversation as a monologue. Google Translate saved the day. They only spoke Spanish and I didn’t pay attention in Spanish class.  

Have you ever tried making sales calls? If the answer is yes, you’re likely one of the very few around who have. Most haven’t attempted because of a language barrier, or the fear of. While we might both be speaking the same dialect, our conversation will often fall on deaf ears when selling.  

It’s not because we lack the skills to have a normal conversation, but that we’re completely misunderstanding what sales actually is all about. We’re too busy with our product to think about our customers. Let me say that again. We’re too self-focused to be properly in tune with our customers’ needs.  

Step one to sales, once understand your product very very well, is to be curious about your prospect. Start conducting daily interviews instead of daily sales calls. If you aren’t making calls yet, but are in sales, I’ll assume you’re into creating relationships. Stop shying away then. It’s not that your prospect wants your relationship, but I am insinuating to give your prospect the chance to communicate with you. It might even be something they’ll get into, as long as you speak their language. Your job before and during the interview is to go figure that out!  

More on that next time.  

Shalom Markman
Founder Merchant Consulting Group LLC

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