Stories Sell, Products Tell

Imagine you’re attending a conference, and you’ve traveled between 5-6 hours to attend this particular trade show. Perhaps you’re in the medical field and you’ve got an interest in learning a new technology that will advance your practice using today’s best technologies. You attend an education seminar on a particular technology and they lose you at hello. Their presentation is dry, but worse than that, they banter on and on about their company in an endless self-promotion of their product. Your first impression is set in stone and if you haven’t already stood up and walked out, you’ve disengaged, and you’re texting and emailing on your iPhone until the session winds up. You’ve spent a lot of money and time to attend this conference, and you’re disgruntled at the seminar’s useless content.

Now, imagine a different scenario. At the same conference, you attend a seminar with presenters who snag your attention from the start. Their passionate energy holds your attention and their presentation provides meaningful support for the performance of their product. The biggest difference in their content? … They tell interesting and detailed stories and metaphors that capture the imagination of their audience. They use this flexibility of thought as a sales communication technique that invites their audience (prospective clients) to engage in a visual and auditory learning process in which the product is understood via association with a story that makes sense and offers meaning. You leave the seminar, accurately informed on this product’s advantages, and you’re eager to talk with the company further upon your return from the conference.

Flexibility of thought utilizes creativity and comparison and is a critical element of your sales team’s training for success. I call the skill of leveraging stories and metaphors in the sales process, Million Dollar Stories. Why? Because your prospects can connect with those metaphors better than they can your new product. If you were explaining social media for the first time to someone who’s never heard of it, you could use the metaphor of Facebook, since it’s a widely familiar social media site. If your corporate sales team were pitching a daily deal sales tool, your employees could utilize the story of Groupon, one of today’s most popular discount deals published every day.

Stories sell, so learn how to use them to your advantage! Our team ready to boost your company’s communication process today. Call us and we’ll train your team to better your bottom line.

Matthew Linklater, Sales Training Expert, On Staying in the GREEN ZONE in Communication

Communication Technique: Stay in the Green if You Know What I Mean!

Have you ever engaged in sales communication, where the conversation simply did not go your way? You gave all the details that your prospective buyer would have needed. You offered specific examples of your product’s advantages over the competitor. You outlined examples of success stories from clients who used your company’s service. You offered referral contact information, and even contacted your referrals so they would expect the call. You broke down play by play, how your product or service operates, so your prospective client would understand the specific logistics of the company’s service steps and the product’s functionalities. You did all that! And still no sale. What could you possibly be doing wrong?

In my book, Quick Witted, I cover a communication technique that solves this problem. The technique is called “the ladder of abstraction and specificity”. In my professional sales training process, our clients learn how to stay within the right range between abstraction and specificity with their communication. For example, if someone is selling a medical product, there is an important zone within which the salesperson should stay with their communication in order to maintain the attention and interest of the buyer. Within this zone, the seller is offering enough information so as not to be too general, but he or she does not overwhelm the buyer with too much information. For example, your buyer will probably want to hear important facts about your cutting edge spinal implant, but they certainly do not have time to listen to you tell them everything you know about the product. By strictly keeping a broader perspective with your communication for a prolonged period of time, others will remain interested and buy into your product or service more easily.

This is true for any form of communication – not just sales. Think about all the concentrated time you may have spent with your family members and friends during the holidays. Did you ever feel overwhelmed by information? Maybe your Aunt Judy went on and on about the dental visit that her friend’s child endured the month prior. Or, did your Uncle Tom ramble on about the specific weather patterns and bird lifecycles in Kansas? It might be interesting to talk about bizarre (and somewhat funny) news happenings, but not many people’s interest will be held if the conversation goes further, about specific bird afflictions and illnesses, found in the European coasts, etc. You’re out of the green zone.

In any opportunity for communication, it’s critical to consider the GREEN ZONE in your “Ladder of Abstraction and Specificity”.  The Green Zone is the sweet spot to not getting too specific in your sales presentations.  Most sales reps revert to product dumping or go right to pitching their product.  During your sales training, it’s important to have regular gut checks with yourself and with your sales team: Am I getting too specific? Are my stories and examples still in touch with the big picture? Does my audience still appear to be actively engaged in what I’m saying? Especially over the phone, this communication technique is very important for sales success. In fact, we have exclusively designed product scripts for communicating within the GREEN ZONE, as well as a workbook for company communication by phone. It’s so easy, you wouldn’t believe it! But it works. If you are interested in learning more, contact us directly, today!

Matthew Linklater, Sales Trainer, Personal Coach and Business Mentor Expert, Publishes a New Article on Abstraction in the Sales Process.

Matthew Linklater, author of Quick Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big and trainer in the areas of business and personal success, writes about the method of using abstraction for winning sales in your business.

Chicago, IL – January 13, 2011- Matthew Linklater, certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, expert in Time Line Therapy^TM, hypnotist, speaker and author, recently published an article on his website (www.thelinklater.com) about a supporting argument for his sales process of flexibility of conversation, asserted in his book, Quick Witted. The article, titled “Let Your Abstraction Set the Stage with Your Sales Prospects,” argues that training your sales staff to learn abstraction can lead to an increase in concrete sales.

Linklater writes, “Recently, I started reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as a recommendation from the Founder of today’s wildly successful email marketing company, Groupon, Andrew Mason. The book was suggested as a tool for better understanding an approach to subconscious and conscious thought processes, and how those concepts can be used to enhance sales training that leads to heightened success on the bottom line. In fact, after reading through the book, I discovered that one of the many boldly inventive ideas that Ayn Rand proposes through Atlas Shrugged, (once unpacked from its complexity and understood more fully), strongly supports one of the primary sales tools that I leverage in my sales training.”

“The person who controls the big picture – or abstraction – controls the conversation. It’s the responsibility of the sales representative as a front-line representative of your company to illustrate a picture in the mind of the consumer, of how your product fits their specific needs or wants. The salesperson ultimately can control the specific meaning and the concrete reality of your business in the mind of your target market. Your company’s salespeople take the concrete products and services that your business has created, utilizes the information and techniques that you have given to them through proper sales training, and applies that concrete information to an abstraction, customized for the individual consumer that they are working with,” argues Linklater.

Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman are co-founders of TheLinklater.com and former Vice Presidents of three fortune 100 companies and are accomplished motivational speakers and life-changers.  Authors of three books, Quick Witted: Saying The Right Thing to Win Big, Basic Training: Sales Boot Camp, and Counter Attack with legendary Brian Tracy, these two Sales Gurus combine extensive business experience with their expertise as certified master practitioners, trainers and coaches of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy^TM to help you exceed your sales goals!

The entire article can be found at http://thelinklater.com/2011/01/let-your-abstraction-set-the-stage-with-your-sales-prospects/

About Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman:

Matthew Linklater, and his business partner and fiancée, Denise Wayman, help clients with personal development, positive thinking and action orientation – teaching others to effectively identify and grab hold of their dreams. In addition to their specializations in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Time Line Therapy^TM, this high-impact duo utilizes their expertise in hypnosis for their clientele’s personal and professional development and training. The dynamic success mentoring team works with individual clients on their career goals as well as business teams on sales and performance goals, to manifest extraordinary success for top-line growth and bottom-line profits. Together, Matthew and Denise have a revolutionary Live Your Vision process that aligns mind, body and spirit in the right direction for success.

As Authors, Speakers and Success Coaches, Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman offer powerful business consulting and high-impact personal coaching. They have trained business leaders to increase in the critical areas of sales coaching, building instant rapport with others, 3D Communication for negotiation and conflict resolution, motivation of team members, goal achievement, product scripting and leadership. This team’s personal coaching methods incorporate powerful NLP techniques, Time Line Therapy®, the Live Your Vision experience and the Ericksonian Hypnosis method.

To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit www.thelinklater.com.

Matthew Linklater, Sales Trainer, Personal Coach and Business Mentor Expert, Publishes a New Blog That Unpacks a Technique for More Clear and Memorable Communication

Matthew Linklater, author of Quick Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big and trainer in the areas of business and personal success, writes about a sales training tool that helps your sales team to better click with your clients.

Chicago, IL – January 12, 2011 - Matthew Linklater, certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, expert in Time Line Therapy^TM, hypnotist, speaker and author, recently published a blog on his website (www.thelinklater.com) explaining a way to change you communication style for a more effective alternative. The blog, titled “Use Speech That Clicks and Sticks,” challenges sales representatives to break from their product script and use the language that will be best heard and understood by the prospective client.

Linklater writes, “Do you ever have that feeling that talking with some people is easier than communicating with others? Some people just don’t seem to click with you when you’re trying to exchange ideas. And your message certainly doesn’t stick with them after you’ve expressed it. And forget settling on an agreement with each other – you’re often completely on different pages when it comes to that! Well, we have a solution for you.”

“Utilizing some strategic and simple speech techniques, you can bridge the gap between your own thoughts and others’ thoughts and feelings with more crystal clarity than ever before! By using speech that appeals to the primary senses including visual, auditory and kinesthetic, you will click with each other and your message will stick with greater effectiveness than you’ve experienced ever before.” argues Linklater.

Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman are co-founders of TheLinklater.com and former Vice Presidents of three fortune 100 companies and are accomplished motivational speakers and life-changers.  Authors of three books, Quick Witted: Saying The Right Thing to Win Big, Basic Training: Sales Boot Camp, and Counter Attack with legendary Brian Tracy, these two Sales Gurus combine extensive business experience with their expertise as certified master practitioners, trainers and coaches of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy^TM to help you exceed your sales goals!

The entire blog can be found at http://thelinklater.com/2011/01/use-speech-that-clicks-and-sticks/

About Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman:

Matthew Linklater, and his business partner and fiancée, Denise Wayman, help clients with personal development, positive thinking and action orientation – teaching others to effectively identify and grab hold of their dreams. In addition to their specializations in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Time Line Therapy^TM, this high-impact duo utilizes their expertise in hypnosis for their clientele’s personal and professional development and training. The dynamic success mentoring team works with individual clients on their career goals as well as business teams on sales and performance goals, to manifest extraordinary success for top-line growth and bottom-line profits. Together, Matthew and Denise have a revolutionary Live Your Vision process that aligns mind, body and spirit in the right direction for success.

As Authors, Speakers and Success Coaches, Matthew Linklater and Denise Wayman offer powerful business consulting and high-impact personal coaching. They have trained business leaders to increase in the critical areas of sales coaching, building instant rapport with others, 3D Communication for negotiation and conflict resolution, motivation of team members, goal achievement, product scripting and leadership. This team’s personal coaching methods incorporate powerful NLP techniques, Time Line Therapy®, the Live Your Vision experience and the Ericksonian Hypnosis method.

To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit www.thelinklater.com.

Let Your Abstraction Set the Stage with Your Sales Prospects

Recently, I started reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as a recommendation from the Founder of today’s wildly successful email marketing company, Groupon, Andrew Mason. The book was suggested as a tool for better understanding an approach to subconscious and conscious thought processes, and how those concepts can be used to enhance sales training that leads to heightened success on the bottom line. In fact, after reading through the book, I discovered that one of the many boldly inventive ideas that Ayn Rand proposes through Atlas Shrugged, (once unpacked from its complexity and understood more fully), strongly supports one of the primary sales tools that I leverage in my sales training.

Rand writes, “In learning, we draw an abstraction from concrete objects and events.  In creating, we make our own concrete objects and events out of the abstraction; we bring the abstraction down and back to its specific meaning, to the concrete; but the abstraction has helped us to make the kind of concrete we want the concrete to be.  It has helped us to create to re-shape the world as we wish it to be for our purposes.”

In other words, the person who controls the big picture – or abstraction – controls the conversation. It’s the responsibility of the sales representative as a front-line representative of your company to illustrate a picture in the mind of the consumer, of how your product fits their specific needs or wants. The salesperson ultimately can control the specific meaning and the concrete reality of your business in the mind of your target market. Your company’s salespeople take the concrete products and services that your business has created, utilizes the information and techniques that you have given to them through proper sales training, and applies that concrete information to an abstraction, customized for the individual consumer that they are working with. The salesperson takes the information they have about the product, and the information they have gained from the consumer, and builds an abstraction through their conversation to re-shape and form-fit your company to fit the previously un-met desires of the consumer.

This application of what you know in business to what you’ve learned about the person you’re pitching to is also conveyed in my book, Quick Witted. The concept in this sales training book is based on the importance of being the flexible in your communication with others, so you can tailor your response to something that will win results for you. You must stay on your toes and listen carefully in order to apply the right strategic response for the successful sale.

You can also think of abstraction as another approach to staying in the “green zone” or the “undeniable truth” area of communication. When your company’s staff is effectively trained to interact with your customers in a way so that they win the interest and attention of others, then the won-over crowd is more open-minded to allowing their desires to be shaped and molded by your abstraction, into the concrete – a sale!

Use Speech That Clicks and Sticks

Do you ever have that feeling that talking with some people is easier than communicating with others? Some people just don’t seem to click with you when you’re trying to exchange ideas. And your message certainly doesn’t stick with them after you’ve expressed it. And forget settling on an agreement with each other – you’re often completely on different pages when it comes to that! Well, we have a solution for you. Utilizing some strategic and simple speech techniques, you can bridge the gap between your own thoughts and others’ thoughts and feelings with more crystal clarity than ever before! By using speech that appeals to the primary senses including visual, auditory and kinesthetic, you will click with each other and your message will stick with greater effectiveness than you’ve experienced ever before.

One of the ways we perform effective sales and management training with our clients is to ask them to think about the ways in which they communicate. Are they commonly explaining their ideas using deliberate, sincere and wordy speech (kinesthetic), or by talking quickly and excitedly with filler words (visual/auditory)? Visual people will say “picture this,” while auditory people might describe something to “sound like,” and kinesthetic folks are likely to say “I need to get a grip on…”

In addition to detecting the clear senses that are important to your customers, the best way to effectively express your company’s message to them is break from the product script and use the words that they use. When you customer is talking about what they need from your company and what they are looking for in your firm’s services, really listen to the words that they use. If you are on the phone with this customer, begin writing down the words that they are saying to describe what they need. These are the words that mean something to them. Write them down and incorporate them into your own speech back to them, so they feel comfortable in knowing – on a subconscious level – that you understand their perspective and that you are making your best effort to suit their needs. Use language that will click and your message will stick!

If you are interested in learning more about this communication technique for your sales staff training, visit my website http://thelinklater.com/ and purchase my book, Quick Witted, for a full analysis of your communication style and speech pattern. It’s a great tool to use on clients, friends and even your significant other to improve understanding in conversation.