The key to good sales is good prospecting. And a huge portion of that is making your prospect feel OK. In Sandler, we talk a lot about the importance of bonding and rapport.
Good bonding and rapport is not about finding a family photo or sports memorabilia in someone's office and commenting on it. It's all about the subconscious ways you can connect with someone. Then they feel OK and can have a real interaction with you without becoming defensive.
Part of making them feel OK is using language they're used to. Now, I'm not talking about English or Spanish or French. I'm talking about using terms and concepts they're familiar with in their world.
One of my clients works with a lot of churches. Most salespeople might just use terms they're used to when talking about the leader of the church. If a salesperson grew up saying "pastor," then he would probably say that when talking to a prospect.
Instead, my client does some research ahead of time. He finds out if he should say "pastor," "preacher," "minister," or something else altogether. And he's found that it's a huge differentiator!
In my world, I often talk with people who are looking for leadership, management, or sales training. Some organizations I talk with like to talk about investment per person and others like to talk about overall investment.
If I'm speaking with someone about a boot camp, I've found a huge differentiating factor is when I ask the question, "Before we get to investment, do you prefer to talk in terms of investment per person or investment overall?"
Often, especially for organizations with twenty or more people, they want to talk about investment per person. Because that's how they're used to talking about investment, it's more comfortable for them. Even though the total dollar figure can end up even higher, it makes them feel OK!
So concentrate on speaking your prospect's language. If you make them feel more OK than your competition does, it will be a huge differentiator for you.
