The Three Forms of Sales Communications: Which One Are You?

I have, once again, been recently asked about "Handling Objections" and why I felt that this antiquated approach dedgrades the profession of "Sales".

Once again, it all comes down to the proper mindset which gives way to much more gracious language and a much more professional approach. First off, handling objections is an antiquated idiom which is still being propagated by sales people and sales professionals alike. Let's first assume the position that we are not 'handling objections' as much as we are 'addressing people's concerns' and I think all of us can agree on the basic and subtle, yet striking difference, in approach. If not, please allow me to explain.

There are three forms of communications in sales with each having varying degrees of effectiveness. They are:
1. Presenting or instructing;
2. Debate; and,
3. Dialogue.

"Presenting", as you may have already surmised, is when the sales person pitches, presents, shows and tells in the hope that something will "stick to the wall" in order to close a sale. I call this "hope-ium" the drug! You know the ones...they love to pitch, present, show, and tell all the features and benefits rather than the unique, extrinsic value of the products and services in the "hope" that they will close a sale. They neglect to "map" the unique value of their products and/or services to the prospects' real (not perceived) business issues and pains. This is the least effective form of communication for obvious reasons yet one which is still, to my disbelief, being used. It serves nothing more than to perpetuate the classic stereotype of a "salesperson". Remember the CA commercials that ran a few years back? It had a carboard cutout of a sales person with a recording saying, "So, how much do you want to buy today!?" Another good example is "Vince" from the "ShamWow" infomercials. This style of selling only works well when the value of the product(s) is intrinsic and not extrinsic to the offering. Many reputable studies have been conducted and show an inverse correlation to this approach.

The second form of communication is "Debate" and it is slightly more effective than the first. However, this is a line of communication where your answers assume the form of "...yes, but...". This is yet another classic sales person, stereotypical (and quite predictable I may add) form of communication. Realize that when one uses this "...yes, but.." form two things happen - one, your answers or line of communication fosters an adversarial relationship with your prospect and, second, the objective then becomes to 'win' the line of discussion, or point of contention, causing more stress and tension that already inherently exists within the buyer-seller relationship. A lawyer is a very good example of this main-stay of communication.

The third, but the most effective form of communication, is "Dialogue" or "Socratic Dialogue" as I position in my e-book. This form of communication is a pathway for arriving at the "Truth" yielding ultimately a collaborative approach (with consensus) to move things forward. When implementing this form of communication, one helps the other to define and realize the real consequences of given situational factors or scenarios. However, the payoff with this advanced form of communication is that it ensconces a "solutional" mindset within your prospects and clients! In other words, in helping your prospect to focus and arrive at real solutions to their very real business issues and pains, they start to see you as a trusted advisor and a partner who can bring real value and real solutions to their business.

Socratic Dialogue can be characterized by 4 very important elements:

1. We must engage people in "honest and open conversation" whilst at the same time maintaining our sincerity and desire to help;
2. We must engage the person by posing "provocative questions and/or scenarios" focused on finding solutions;
3. We must "encourage and guide dialogue" by further questions, comments or insights; and,
4. There must be "consensus at the end or agreement to move forward".

To discover a whole new mindset to handling people’s concerns in sales scenarios and for more information on our e-book, please feel free to visit http://www.nonlinearselling.com.