I’m traveling for business this week (I’m in Tewksbury, MA as I type) and heard a sales discussion in the lobby this morning.\u00a0 One salesperson was working hard to convince 2 others about, well, I’m not sure the exact pitch, but it did involve purchasing produce.\u00a0 Hear is what caught my ear during the salesperson’s pitch:<\/p>\n
Nobody knows more about tangerines than Jim…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Absolutes = unbelievable.\u00a0 Absolutes like\u00a0 always, never, nobody, etc. trigger an effect in prospects to disprove or doubt it especially if they are not familiar with the absolute being stated.\u00a0 Jim may know more than anyone else, but I am skeptical.\u00a0 Instantly I start wondering about who would know more than Jim.\u00a0 A scientist?\u00a0 A botanist? A geneticist?\u00a0 Instead of believing in Jim’s knowledge I start trying to disprove it in my head.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this is a subtle point, but it is one that I notice when trying to build credibility with a prospect.\u00a0 I would rather hear something to the effect of “Jim has forgotten more about tangerines than most people have learned.”\u00a0 Ok, now stop, I know the “tangerine” part makes it somewhat amusing, but the structure is my point.\u00a0 It is a strong statement that doesn’t challenge the listener.\u00a0 It is humorous which makes it disarming and it is not absolute since it uses “most.”<\/p>\n
Now off I go to refill my coffee and eavesdrop on more sales pitches<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m traveling for business this week (I’m in Tewksbury, MA as I type) and heard a sales discussion in the lobby this morning.\u00a0 One salesperson was working hard to convince 2 others about, well, I’m not sure the exact pitch, but it did involve purchasing produce.\u00a0 Hear is what caught my ear during the salesperson’s pitch: Nobody knows more about tangerines than Jim… Absolutes = unbelievable.\u00a0 Absolutes like\u00a0 always, never, nobody, etc. trigger an effect in prospects to disprove or doubt it especially if they are not familiar with the absolute being stated.\u00a0 Jim may know more than anyone else, but I am skeptical.\u00a0 Instantly I start wondering about who… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[551,1175,1176,687],"class_list":["post-1871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-techniques","tag-sales-communication","tag-sales-pitch","tag-selling-a-prospect","tag-selling-skill"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-ub","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2105,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/09\/q-is-for-qualifying-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1871,"position":0},"title":"Q Is For Qualifying Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I come across this often \u2013 a company wants to hire a superstar salesperson and the hiring manager\u2019s first instinct is to find a loquacious talker.\u00a0 Perhaps you have seen this approach too?\u00a0 Clearly no readers of the Hire Sense would administer this approach in their hiring. 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A couple excerpts: Rather, Feldshuh, the president of the merchant-services company, tries to gear agents to move from the lagging 80 percent into the top 10 or 20 percent of sellers. He does that through concentrated, thoughtful, in-the-field\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1472,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/03\/candidates-that-do-not-wow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1871,"position":3},"title":"Candidates That Do Not Wow","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been on this topic a bit lately, but it is mission-critical to successful selling.\u00a0 Asking questions...asking the right questions is tantamount to qualifying prospects.\u00a0 Most sales managers know this, yet we often see them displaying selective amnesia when it comes to interviewing sales candidates. 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