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7 Ways To Quickly Lose A Prospect’s Attention
By Ken Varga | February 6, 2010
There is a very short window of time that you have when you initially contact a new prospect by telephone, in a face-to-face meeting, or networking. If you fail to make an impression quickly, you have tuned them out.
Here are some of the things I’ve experienced where the person lost my attention.
1. Opening the conversation by introducing themselves, their company and what they do.
2. If they are in my office, making small talk about the “stuff” they see.
3. Explain to me how your product or service will benefit me. (This is not a misprint. Read below to understand.)
4. Telling me what other companies they have worked with.
5. Showing me the awards they have received.
6. Giving me a brochure immediately.
7. Starting a telephone conversation with, “Hi, how are you?”
Again, these are just a few of the things that have turned me off and you have probably experienced the same.
The moment your prospect senses that you are trying to sell them something that they don’t need or want, they will tune you out and look for a way to disengage or disconnect from the call.
They really don’t care about you. They don’t want to know about your company, listen to you talk about your products or services, or making small talk.
What they do want is a solution to a problem. They want to know how you can help them improve their business. Here are some thoughts on how you can accomplish that.
You must direct all of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about you or your company.
When you meet someone, say something like the following, “Mrs. Prospect, many of our clients are currently experiencing (insert the problem here). How does that compare to your company’s situation?”
This demonstrates that you are knowledgeable about their business and/or the industry, and it gives them the opportunity to tell you about their most important concerns.
Over my last 40 some odd years, I have found that most people will tell you anything you want to know providing you give them a reason to do so. The key is to develop and ask high-quality questions.
Here’s really the bottom line…
The more time you spend talking about your product, the less inclined a prospect will want to continue that conversation.
The more you focus your attention on their situation—their problems—and demonstrate how you can help them improve their business, the more you differentiate yourself from your competition.
And this goes for anything you do in life. Whenever you are in any situation, if you talk about yourself, you lose them.
You only have a few moments to connect with a prospect, so keep it brief. Keep it focused. Keep it about them and you will keep their attention.
You’ve all experienced this, so tell me one of your stories.
| For more information on Ken Varga, visit: http://www.kenvarga.com |
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Topics: Attract More Clients, Attract more customers, Differentiaing yourself from your competition | No Comments »