subject: What To Do With Chatty Customers [print this page] This puts me in minds of an ex-neighbor the ultimate non-stop talker. A single guy, he had adopted our family as his, and was in the habit of showing up for dinner at every holiday.
We invited him to Thanksgiving dinner at our house one year. He and I were relaxing afterward in the living room. He was droning on and on. Im sure you know about the after-Thanksgiving dinner drowses? I nodded off in a short nap. When I woke up, he was still talking. He never slowed down, or even noticed, my ten minute nap. Where it might be acceptable to nod off in the middle of your neighbors monologue, but its not a good idea on a sales call.
There is, however, an easy solution. Politely interrupt with a question. The question should direct the customer to the subject that you want to explore. When you ask a question, you direct the customers thinking, interrupt his train of thought, and move him to think and then respond to your question. For example, lets say your customer started in on last nights football game, and has been going on for seven or eight minutes. Youre beginning to get a little groggy, are having a hard time staying awake, and visions of lunch keep popping into your head. In a moment of desperation, you interrupt: John, excuse me, can I ask how youre doing with the new agenda?
Once John pauses, he'll launch in on the agenda evaluation. Notice that you were very polite. Notice also that the question stopped his train of thought, and re-directed his thinking to an issue that you wanted to put into the conversation. Thats one way successful sales people redirect.
A good question is the sales persons most powerful tool. The incredible power of a question is that it directs the thinking of the person to whom the question is directed. There is something in human beings that, when we are asked a question, we automatically think of the answer. Conversation proceeds from thought. To stop or change the conversation, you have to interrupt or redirect the thoughts. And, the most powerful tool to do that is a good question.
Thats just one thing that makes a question such a powerful tool in the hands of a good sales person. A good question has multiple other uses. So, whenever you want to deal with a customer, or anyone, who is talking on and on, just politely interrupt with a question that directs the customers thinking to the area that you want to discuss.
