This article is from Eye on Sales with some key points about how our brains handle information (emphasis mine):
It all goes back to how your brain is wired to work. Despite how advanced our technology has become, the brain inside your head is brilliantly primitive.
There are really only three ways that our brain handles any information that it receives:
If it’s boring or expected, the brain ignores it.
If it’s too complex, the brain dramatically summarizes it.
If it’s threatening, the brain makes you fight or run.
So what you’re saying doesn’t really matter.
Especially if the brain in the person listening to you is feeling threatened or fatigued or flat-out bored. You lose.
So how do you change this? How do you say what needs to be said in a way that gets the right people to listen without their brain killing your sales speak a few millisecond after it leaves your lips?
(It’s certainly not easy. And it probably feels awkward at first.)
But here are a few ideas to help you manage brain parts and conquer better;
- Ask more questions than you make statements.
- Don’t pretend to be somebody that you’re not.
- If things “don’t make sense”, say so.
- Talk about the “elephant in the room” first.
- Look between the lines for personal issues.
- Care on the inside.
In terms of successful selling, you cannot overstate the importance of the first bullet listed above.