Are You a Person of Interest?

A good friend of mine recently remarked to me; "To be interested in people is to be interesting to them." We were discussing at the time the subject of sales people and their treatment of customers; particularly we were talking about the conversations sales people have with potential customers. His summary of it all was in the aforementioned statement .

To be Interested...is Interesting

As a young man growing up with a father who was a sales professional, my friend often recalled how he was advised to always get into the other person's world when talking to them. Allow the people you are in contact with to talk about the things they want to talk about and not what you want to talk about. Don't give in to the urge to talk about yourself or your concerns as a sales professional. Rather, get into the habit of listening to what other people have on their mind; what their concerns and needs are instead of what is important to you at the time. Do this, his father would advise, and you will be a successful sales professional.

A Bore is Someone that Talks about What is Important to Them

Don't be a bore to your customers. Resist the urge to talk about products and services that you offer from a company-centered perspective. By company-centered, I am referring to the trap many sales professionals fall into when having a sales conversation with someone. Company-centered conversations are focused on what it is you have to sell. It is a conversation that revolves about product details, service contracts, costs & price, logistical support and other metrics to prove your product or your service is better than the competition.

A company-centered sales conversation ignores the needs of the customer...It assumes the customer will draw the natural conclusion that if the product being offered is bigger & better than anyone else's, it must be what the customer wants. That just isn't the case oftentimes.

If I ask You What Time it is...Don't Tell Me How to Build a Watch

The above cliche' rings eternally true in the world of sales. People are not interested in what it is that you have to sell...They are interested in what it does for them. That is what people buy. They don't care about the company, the agency, or you, for that matter. At least, customers don't care about those things as much as they care about themselves and their own particular needs. It's a natural part of the human condition. It is neither right nor wrong to be naturally interested in oneself. It simply is a fact of our nature.

And in knowing and understanding human nature, the prudent sales professional recognizes the necessity in being "interested" in the customers they speak with on a daily basis. To be interested is truly interesting to customers.

Interest Earned is Profit Made

Being interested in customers, or prospects, results in increased revenue and profits for the insurance professional. If you show interest in people, ask them questions about their lives and their concerns; and if you seek to understand them and their needs, they will be drawn to you and, in turn, will find you to be an interesting person. That just may be enough to persuade them to buy from you instead of some other, "boring" salesperson. Get interested in people, your agency's survival depends upon it.

Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu