How To Think With Dan Henry How to Know if You Talk Too Much on a Sales Call
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“If you are talking more than 10% of the time, you’re talking too much in your sales calls.”
If you think you might be talking too much during your sales calls…
You probably are.
Remember, your job is to ask questions. Allow the prospect to say things that help them to reach a conclusion to buy on their own.
If you talk too much, you miss important information that your prospect might have shared with you if you allowed them to speak.
Let me share what you need to look for to know if you are talking too much during your sales calls and what you should be doing instead!
In this episode, I am going to cover:
- How much should you be speaking in your sales calls
- What to say and how to say it when you do speak
- How to review your calls to find out if you are talking too much
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— TRANSCRIPT —
How to know if you talk too much on a sales call. That's what we're going to talk about in today's episode.
All right. How do you know if you talk too much on a sales call? Well, you probably do if you're listening to this episode. I had an issue happen recently where, you know, I noticed one of my sales reps' close rate was going down, and I went and listened to some of her calls. And lo and behold, I find that she's having these immensely long conversations with prospects, and she's just going on and on and on almost to the point where I can tell the prospect is getting tired of just listening to her talk. And you have to remember when you're on a sales call everybody's there to make a decision. You're not there to have a chit-chat. And, sure, there is a short time at the beginning of the call where you want to build rapport. Absolutely. But you can't just make it this big, long a BS session.
Okay. And I noticed this with my clients, and I noticed this with, you know, people that come to me to learn high ticket sales. They're always talking, talking, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And so let me just sort of break this down when you're on a sales call, and you are trying to figure out what's important to the customer. And you're trying to, I hate to use this word, but persuade the customer. You have to realize that the customer is far more likely to buy when they persuade themselves. Meaning your job is to ask questions that allow the prospect to say things to themselves that make them go, wow. I really do need to make a change. Wow. I really do need this product. The second you try to persuade them to buy your product, you've already lost. And in order to allow your prospect to think and say things and talk so that they can convince themselves, you have to shut up, and you have to let them talk.
When I ask somebody a question, I say, well, why is this important? What's important about this to you? What's your motivation for getting to this revenue or whatever the question is. And they answer me. I say, okay, got it. And then I ask the next question. I don't provide commentary. I don't sit there and BS with them. I listen, I shut my mouth, and I listen and sure. I'll talk a little bit in the beginning, to get a little rapport going. But ultimately, I shut, and I listen. I don't go, Oh yeah, blah blah blah. You know, plus think about this. The more you talk, the more opportunity you have to say something stupid and to lose the sale.
If you ask the right questions, like for instance, let's say they give me an objection, and they say, well, I just, I don't think, I think it's too expensive. I just, I can't, you know, it's just really expensive. Okay. Now, most reps would sit there and try to defend why their product is too expensive or not, or not too expensive. Instead, always ask them. 99.9% of the time, when somebody gives you an objection, you should be asking for clarification. In other words, you should be shutting up, ask a question and shut up. Well, does that mean that you think the product is not worth it, that you won't get a return? Or does that mean that you don't have the money right now? Oh, well, no, no, no. The product's totally worth it. I know I get a return. I just don't have the money.
So you see what happened there. Now we've identified that they actually do think the product's worth it. And they just said something that, you know, they just said that because it's just something that you say. And so when you ask for clarification, you find out, okay, they don't have the money. Now, when you begin asking questions like, well, if it's something you want to do, do you have any ideas on how you can get the money? And you can go down that path and actually get potentially to the sale. But if you sit there and you say, well, you know the programs worth it, you're arguing with your prospect over something that isn't even a concern for them. You just took one thing they said and went ham on it instead of asking for clarification, in other words, allowing them to talk. For instance, there's another one.
Well, you know, what's the difference between you and your other competitors? You know, I've taken courses before. I've had coaches, and they weren't that good. What's different about you? Well, let me ask you, what didn't you like about your last coach? Oh, well, you know, there was only one call a week, and I just didn't think that was enough time. Oh, okay. Well, we actually four calls a week. Do you think that if you had 400% more calls to get help, you would do better? Oh yeah, I would. Wow. Okay. See how that conversation went. I didn't sit there and go, well, I'm different because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Cause I don't even know why they're asking that. I don't even know why they're saying that.
Yeah. So instead of me yakking and opening my mouth, flapping it all over the place, I ask what he didn't like about their last coach. Now, if they tell me something like I couldn't call him personally on the phone and have dinner with him and his family. Sorry, ain't no amount of money. You can give me in this world. They don't print enough money for you to get my phone number or have dinner with my family and me. So I would, at that point, say, Oh, that makes sense. Got it. Well, we don't offer that. And that's not something I'm willing to do, but thank you for the call. Have a nice day. And now I don't sell somebody that's having these insane expectations that I'm not nor willing to meet.
But if I say, well, what didn't you like about your last coach? And they tell me a specific reason. And that specific reason is something that in my program, I know is totally different. I mention that, and then they go, Oh yes, I guess I would get more results. And now that objection has been completely handled, and they're either going to buy, or they're going to move on to another objection. And then you just handle that. But the way you handle it is by shutting your fricking mouth. Don't laugh. Don't talk. Don't tell a story unless you're literally telling a story of a client that in that way quickly addresses their objection. You know? Well, I don't think you have anybody selling e-commerce. Actually, we have a few clients selling E-Commerce. One of them did X, X, blah, blah, blah. You know, now that you know that, does that make you feel more comfortable?
And again, I even ended with a question. So that's the thing. I hear people, and they're just going on and on like a school girl on prom night. Shut up, let your prospect talk. Because when you let them talk, you learn what their actual issue is. And most of the time, they don't tell you what their actual issue is the first time around. They don't articulate it. Do you think all these people that want to buy from you have level 1000 articulation skills? They don't. They're normal people. They're not going to articulate exactly what their issue is or what they're feeling the first time. So instead of you yakking, ask. Ask and let them talk. The more they talk, the more you will learn. And then you don't have to talk that much.
You can respond to the real issue and make the sale. So the next time that you're on a sales call, and it didn't close, go back and listen to it, and ask yourself how much did I talk? Transcribe it, look at it. Look at the paragraphs. Were you talking more than 10% of the time? If you were, then you're talking too much. I aim for more like 5%. I am to barely talk. I should not be talking hardly at all. I should be talking in, in short little, teeny, tiny segments and listening, let your prospect talk. And by the way, you should be listening to them anyway. You should not be, be talking. And, you might say, well, Dan, why are you being so aggressive? Why are you saying that we're yakking, and we're, we're flapping our gums?
It's because you are. And if you're offended by that, you shouldn't be in sales anyway, because sales is not for the weak of heart. Sales is not for people who get offended but look; you're a salesperson. That is a tough industry. Or if you're selling your own product, it's tough. You're asking for five, 10. I close 55,000 over the phone all time, all time. I closed three last week. And you know why? It's not because I'm this amazing salesperson. I mean, I have worked extremely hard to become very good at high ticket sales. And that's why I've taught hundreds of people to be good at high ticket sales. But ultimately, it's not because I was born this amazing salesperson. It's because I know how to shut up and believe me, I like to talk a lot.
In fact, that's the number one thing that most people say about me, is Dan never shuts up. All my employees, my friends, my family, Dan never shuts up. Dan never shuts up. Yeah, but when it's time to make a sale, you have to shut up. So if you're sitting there saying, well, Dan, that's just not me. I'm a talkative person. That's not who I am. Well, change or go and get in a different industry. There's a time and a place, and on a sales call, that time and that place is for you to shut your mouth because you're talking too much. You're not listening to your prospect. You do not understand what's important to them because you're too busy yacking.
By the way, you're probably wondering what happened to the rep of mine that I had this conversation with. Well, I told her essentially the same thing I told you in this podcast. She acknowledged it. She went back, and she reduced the amount of that she did probably by 80%. And lo and behold, I started seeing the sales come in one after another, from her. And she says, wow, Dan, I didn't realize how much easier it was to make sales by shutting up. So it does work.
So if you think you talk too much, you probably talk way too much. Think about that the next time you get on a call and try to let your prospect talk, and try to ask questions that allow them to talk and close your mouth so that you can hear. All right. I hope this is helpful to you, and I'll see you in the next episode.