No more seller-talk.

So, what about the one in ten who is ready for what you have? How do you know which one it is? And how do you make sure you don’t lose that one by accident?

Many people have confided that they’re certain that they lost a sale or two because they talked too much or because they said the wrong thing. Has that happened to you? Ugh. Here’s advice from the biggest and brightest in advertising.

On May 21, 2003, USA Today asked the new chairman of one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Young & Rubicam (Y&R), this question:

“The biggest challenge in this [advertising] business is creating messages that win over consumers for clients. What’s your answer to that?

Y&R Chairman Ann Fudge, whose clients include Ford Motor, Sears, AT&T and other giant companies, said:

“You always have to put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. It’s not what we think, it’s what the consumer thinks.

Do you agree with that? That what the consumer thinks is more important than what the seller (or advertiser) thinks – about a particular product or service?
OK. So here is the trick question: How do you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer when you are the seller? It’s tricky. Consider this:

Can you tell when a seller starts talking?

Do you tend to go towards that person, or away from them?

Join the rest of the world. When sellers start talking, almost no one listens anymore. Apparently, everyone can tell when a seller starts talking or writing, because they all talk the same way.

Sales people and advertisers have developed a special language all their own. I call it “seller talk”. Like baby talk, it can’t be hidden. Everyone recognizes it immediately.

Seems like everyone wants to escape from seller talk as quickly as possible. Don’t you?

Just like millions of people watching TVuse TiVo to zap the ads. TiVo has become a cult gizmo for people who can’t stand the seller talk ads are filled with. The minute an ad starts, they zap it with TiVo, which can also record the programs minus the ads!

In the person-to-person direct sales world, people can’t use TiVo to zap the person talking seller talk. Instead, they change channels in their minds. They tune out and start thinking of ways to get away from the seller. Have you done that?

Say you meet someone at a gathering of some kind, and you ask them “So, Lulu, what do you do?

She bubbles: “I’m a wellness consultant. We market unique patented nutraceutical products…”

What do you want to do now?

Well others do the same thing when YOU launch into seller talk. They do a mental TiVo. You can tell when they do it, can’t you? You’re doing your spiel, and suddenly, the other person’s eyes glaze over. That’s the sign they’ve TiVo-ed you. They’re now frantically thinking of a way to get away from you politely (sometimes). They’ll say,

“Oh that’s nice. Say what’s for lunch? Or “I have to go to the restroom now talk to you later.” Or, if you’re on the phone and they don’t know you, they just hang up. And that’s the end of that.

Most people run from seller talk. It’s as though the words have suddenly given you B O or a severe case of bad breath. That may be why many of the students in my Three Scripts classes have confessed that they dread being asked “What do you do? and avoid going to mixers. No one wants to be known as someone who has B O.

How can you market your products and services without contracting seller’s B O ?

Here are three tell-tale signs of seller talk. See if you recognize them.

More Excerpts

• First Foreword: To Network Marketers
• First Agreement
• Second Agreement
• Third Agreement
• Forget Their Hot Button
• The Launch
• Deadly Distractions
• Three Tips To Keep Them Listening
• Warm Market

COPYRIGHT Kim Klaver 2004-2009