Is Your Message Getting Through?

By Virden J. Thornton    

     As a sales coach, I often hear a sales representative make the excuse for a lost sale, that their prospect just did not listen to their presentation. Most psychologists suggest that, “Effective communication occurs when the receiver receives the message the sender intended to send.” From this definition, it is clear that the responsibility for effective communications rests with the sales professional.

     Every day in businesses across the country, customer or client contact personnel and prospects, customers or clients have difficulty sending and receiving messages. Although there are many factors that can block or interfere with effective dialogue, one of the most common among sales professionals is the use of jargon or a specific industry’s terminology. We use words that are familiar to us because we regularly hear them from our co-workers and read them in our product literature and industry publications. Unfortunately, many of these words and phrases are not understood by many potential customers or clients even though they may have heard the terms before.

     For example, on a recent sales call with a financial service representative who was presenting a mutual funds to a prospective client, the salesperson moved successfully through each of six steps of the selling process up to the point of presenting his investment product. As the salesperson began to talk about the product, out came a mouthful of financial jargon like: market validity, default potential, investment equity, and more! It was apparent that his potential client was not receiving the message, but the salesperson didn’t even realize it. When making a sales presentation, make certain that you leave industry terminology and jargon at the door. To learn more about making effective presentations, check out the new e-learning manual at http://TheSellingEdge.com/myths3.htm

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge^®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and WalHMart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications, Inc. Menlo Park, California. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's new manuals, 101 Sales Myths and Organizing For Sales Success, just click on either of the titles above.

Note: You can contact Virden at virden@TheSellingEdge.com. You can also see an expan- ded biography at http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/bio.htm.

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