{"id":29,"date":"2006-05-15T12:32:44","date_gmt":"2006-05-15T17:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/?p=29"},"modified":"2006-05-15T15:19:29","modified_gmt":"2006-05-15T20:19:29","slug":"29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/29\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Fat and Skinny Words&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Part of a salesperson&#8217;s role is building rapport with a prospect &#8211; it is a vital skill.  A salesperson needs to match a prospect&#8217;s communication style since people naturally tend to relate to those they perceive to be similar to themselves.  This older article from eyesonsales.com from Patricia Fripp, entitled <a title=\"http:\/\/www.eyesonsales.com\/articles.php?a=364&#038;865dfbde8a344b44095495f3591f7407\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eyesonsales.com\/articles.php?a=364&#038;865dfbde8a344b44095495f3591f7407\" target=\"_blank\">Fat and Skinny Words: Levels of Abstraction<\/a> throws an important concept into the rapport-building mix.<\/p>\n<p>Not only do salespeople need to adjust their communication style to match the prospect, but also their level of abstraction to match the organization level with whom they are communicating.  The author explains her point by using the simple analogy of an automobile.  If a salesperson is talking to a high level in the organization, for instance a Vice President, the salesperson could refer to an automobile as a wheeled passenger vehicle or as surface transportation.  Generally speaking, Vice Presidents tend to look at big picture concepts and not minute details.<\/p>\n<p>As salespeople move down into the organization, they need to the have their words become &#8220;skinnier&#8221; (her description).  At the end-user level, the automobile would then be described as a red, four door sedan with a V6 engine.  The author&#8217;s summation of this level of abstraction &#8211; &#8220;Eventually, you would be talking about a specific car.  Those are &#8220;skinny&#8221; words.  They are essential for conveying instructions and solving technical problems.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of a salesperson&#8217;s role is building rapport with a prospect &#8211; it is a vital skill. A salesperson needs to match a prospect&#8217;s communication style since people naturally tend to relate to those they perceive to be similar to themselves. This older article from eyesonsales.com from Patricia Fripp, entitled Fat and Skinny Words: Levels of Abstraction throws an important concept into the rapport-building mix. Not only do salespeople need to adjust their communication style to match the prospect, but also their level of abstraction to match the organization level with whom they are communicating. The author explains her point by using the simple analogy of an automobile. If a&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/29\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-techniques"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s5Oho-29","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2499,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2012\/06\/rapport-sells-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":0},"title":"Rapport Sells More","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is one of those topics I always believe people inherently know\u2026and then I come across a robotic salesperson.\u00a0 Apparently not everyone is aware of this truth.\u00a0 This quick post from Selling Power speaks to the importance of rapport-building and successful selling (and I lifted the title from them). A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":478,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/12\/the-most-important-thing-in-communication\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":1},"title":"The Most Important Thing in Communication&#8230;","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"...is to hear what isn't being said. -Peter Drucker We have assessed hundreds if not thousands of salespeople and the vast majority of them are extroverted in some form (High I being the most common). We have also assessed a handful of purchasing\/financial employees who tend to have introverted tendencies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/understanding-using-communication-style\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":2},"title":"Understanding &#038; Using Communication Style","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"May 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a different link for a post - a good audio segment on SalesRepRadio. The featured segment this week is a broadcast (is that the right word?) named Outcome Focused Selling. The speaker, Anne Warfield, discusses a different approach to selling. Instead of being focused on solving problems, salespeople\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":808,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/sales-traits-series-relating-to-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":3},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Relating To Others","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's focus is on the ability of a salesperson to connect with their prospect.\u00a0 Building rapport is first step in starting an effective qualifying discussion with a prospect.\u00a0 Of course, some salespeople can only build rapport - we call them schmoozers.\u00a0 Nonetheless, an strong salesperson with this trait is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aptitudes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":417,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/11\/anecdote-more-rapport\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":4},"title":"Anecdote &#8211; More Rapport","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I was watching Selling Power Daily Report and today's video interview is with Dan Seidman of Sales Autopsy. Dan is a sales trainer who has written a book by the same title which is a collection of sales horror stories. In today's video he recalled a horror story that happened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anecdotes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anecdotes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/anecdotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":616,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/01\/6-body-language-clues\/","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":5},"title":"6 Body Language Clues","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Managesmarter.com offers this article - Express Yourself - to provide salespeople with 6 easy reads of their prospect. Nose or face scratch implies dislike. Head tilted to the side implies interest. Eye rub implies deceit. Hand or finger blocking the mouth implies lying. Thumb tucked under the chin with index\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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