Facing uncertainty can be challenging – being a business owner facing uncertainty is tougher.
Red Direction helps you [fast track and] grow your business – authentically, pragmatically, and resiliently.
Starting the conversation…
What does modern sales language look like and sound like?
Host: Jessica Dewell
Panelists: Liz Wendling, Dr. Ingrid Pyka
What You Will Hear:
Use every sense when communicating to evaluate the connection and conversation.
Recognize that the multi-channel experience of connecting can illuminate automatic dialog patterns.
There is a continuum of communication we work with today.
It’s a new time with new ways to interact, and it’s time to acknowledge the indirectness.
Pain points matter.
When we question more we engage our listening.
Emotion always drives us, and those we interact with.
Tips to listen more.
Be direct, efficient, and clear to build trust.
Factoring in credibility (which is all about another’s perception of us).
Relationships occur in transactional situations too.
Independent components of sales: product AND service create an experience of value.
How our personal values influence our sales interactions.
Growth plateaus indicate a time to work into the solution for what’s next.
Skills and actions are successful when we stay authentic.
Sales language is about your audience and what they want to do.
It is BOLD to avoid language that erodes credibility.
Notable and Quotable:
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 2:13
I like talking about the six senses when we deal with any kind of a business entity and how people perceive us. So the first one, obviously, we’ve got the site, we’ve got the sound, even smell, and taste, and t hen the feel, and don’t forget the sense of the gut feeling is the sixth sense, The more of each one of those senses that we can capture with it all the better have an impact on language reusing, you
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 2:49
You have to look at it from the perspective of yes you as the business, but also about the buyer. Who’s buying it? And ultimately who’s the end-user? Use that composite all the way together to develop a constant messaging all the way around.
Liz Wendling 3:25
Modern language looks and sounds like a brand new conversation. It’s a new way to show up with different words. A way to stand out and differentiate yourself by not saying the same thing as everyone else on the planet, and everyone else in your industry.
Liz Wendling 3:49
“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” that makes sense five decades ago prior to the internet. But that cliche no longer holds true. It made sense when we did a lot of face-to-face, human-to-human interaction. But now, because we’re in a time where emails and texting have taken over a significant percentage of how we interact, these days it’s both. It does matter what you say. And it does matter how you say it.
Liz Wendling 4:57
I always say, “It’s about breaking the patterns of our predictable language in order to break the patterns of our prospects thinking.”
Liz Wendling 5:06
Someone says, “Hi, how are you?” “Good, how are you?” It’s all these patterns of programmed language that does nothing to change the conversation.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 7:18
When I was mentioning the different senses that we were talking about, that sales language, that’s the way you are still able to connect with your audience and your target market, by creating that almost facade, so that they can build that connection and that relationship within their own selves.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 7:40
So the more you can color the world for them, the more you can develop that sense of what they’re losing through either the phones, we’re only on Instagram or Facebook or the zoom. It’s learning exactly what your audience most connects to, so that you can still pull back from those old sources that are still very valid today, but learn how to adjust them into the new evolution of our marketing today.
Jess Dewell 8:47
Understanding a specific pain point can be very difficult because we’re a little close to it. We think we know, but we’re not listening. Or we’re only validating what we think we know.
Liz Wendling 9:08
We don’t have one pain point anymore. If we don’t get in there and change the language and the questions, and find out what’s under the surface and the deeper level, then all we’re doing is the same old school sales stuff that we did in the past. We haven’t really changed our communicating with someone.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 9:50
It truly is about learning what they want versus knowing what they need. We know what they need because we see the the spinning wheels of why they can’t get to that next sales process? Why can’t they message their marketing materials correctly? Why can’t they figure out how to use a live video?
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 10:59
You listen, then you hear.
Liz Wendling 11:03
Our ears will never get us in trouble, but our mouth does.
Liz Wendling 11:21
Actually look someone in the eyes and be present with them. Watch their lips move, look into their eyes, connect with them from the heart not the head. And actually be in the presence of someone and hear what they’re saying, really feel what they’re telling you, and get out of here [pointing to head]. Get out of the need to, “I know what to say, I want to answer that right away,”or “I have a better idea,” and be present.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 11:50
It’s not about me, it’s about you. It’s not about us, it’s about them.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 11:54
How can we learn more? And so asking questions has been the key in me being able to listen. It’s because I don’t ask the traditional questions.
Liz Wendling 12:33
Right out of the gate, the first words out of their email our “How are you?” like you really care. And we think that’s creating a connection, but actually it’s only aggravating and irritating people when you say, “Hey, I hope you had a great weekend.” I’m not saying don’t be nice. I’m just saying that nowadays it comes across cheesy and phony. And that’s where our language has to start changing.
Liz Wendling 14:47
People only have three to seven seconds now. It’s like, “what are you calling me for? Tell me! We’ve lost precious time.
Liz Wendling 15:00
We used to have 20 seconds to get someone’s attention. Now we have three to seven. So why waste it on stuff that makes us look old school, outdated, insincere and cheesy?
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 16:20
The clearer things are, the more that it is open, it builds the trust.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 16:37
Think about the quacks from the days old. They succeeded because people trusted them, because of the nuances. That shifted, so people’s distrust increased. So now and our languaging, we have to overcome the trust factor, because so many people have been fooled and lied to in the past.
Liz Wendling 17:05
In the past, it was always salespeople that you couldn’t trust. Now it’s every profession under the sun because everyone sells something now.
Liz Wendling 17:23
Now trust is at an all-time low because everyone is selling, but they’re not doing a great job at it. They’re selling like we did 30 or 40 years ago. And that’s why there’s a modern process that has to be updated.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 17:52
It’s how can I help versus how can I sell. It’s a complete shift in dynamics.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 19:55
It may not necessarily be that you have million-dollar successes in the past, but it may also be just the credibility of, “you are who you are,” and you’re able to produce a value. It’s about that value and commitment.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 20:21
Nowadays we have that huge advantage of being able to record video testimonials of writing it on to LinkedIn and putting it into a speaker sheet. And in our books, we have those that credibility is shared by word of mouth and when you got the word of mouth, your trust builds up. From there
Liz Wendling 20:59
You can start to build credibility when you intentionally connect with people. When you actually set out to do that as your mission.
Liz Wendling 21:12
It’s that heart-to-heart conversation that you have with someone, where someone actually feels like you care, that builds such credibility. Because when someone sits in the presence of another person who truly, truly cares, and you can feel it, credibility and trust skyrocket when that happens. But when it feels like it’s just a prospect in a situation of a buyer and a seller, and credibility isn’t built there, then it just feels like a sales transaction, not this beautiful interaction. So credibility is built from that connection piece. And I think you can do that very quickly and by how truly you are connecting with that person intentionally.
Jess Dewell 22:33
Everybody, even in transactional situations, must rely more and more and more on the relationships we have.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 25:21
We all know, a hamburger tastes so much better when it’s in a great ambiance and it’s really an awesome experience. So the experience and the product work hand in hand to provide success. And that’s where there are very different strategies for an organization to be able to develop both of the best. You want high quality as well as the highest service and customer experience, so it’s five star all the way around.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 31:19
What is your mission, where do you really want to go is the vision. But if you don’t have that initial mission, the why, why are you doing what you’re doing? You can’t align it with the evolution of our current sales language and of our current where we’re going and your target market. That’s really what sales language is about. It’s about your market. So how do you parallel that and bring it to your new vision of the evolution of, not way back there, but we’re going for a future, and we’re going big. Yeah.
Liz Wendling 32:06
There was a time where I thought asking for help was a weakness. And I see that when clients call me. That they’re at that point where they’re like, “Well, I think I’m okay and business is pretty good,” but they’re calling me for help. So I could see that in them because that was me. So for me to always have a coach to be able to see something in a different way, or I bring something to her and she’ll help me on packet, and it’s so beautiful to watch her in action and coach me, and for me to be the recipient of coaching, because now I know what my clients feel like when I coach them.
Liz Wendling 33:01
The moment I started investing in me, is when my business started exploding. That’s when I realized, “Oh, I paid for that. I get this skill because I didn’t have it. Now I own that skill forever.” But I had to buy that skill. I had to invest in that skill in order to have that skill. And I think that’s what a lot of people resist now. They think they just read a book and figure out how that works internally for them, and then how to bring that into their business. It’s nothing like it used to be, so it’s getting that help that’s customized to you, so that you can then take that skill and go make money with that.
Jess Dewell 34:05
and that I strongly believe in. I was thinking about this. And I was I’m actually thinking,
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 40:11
Always be planning to put it out there, and be ready to change, because if you’re not ready for change, you are going to be stuck.
Liz Wendling 41:35
Everyone is busy. Toddlers are busy. So, when you say, “I know you’re busy, so I won’t take up too much of your time,” you really just took up too much of my time. And you just aggravated me in the process. Tell me what you want, and get to the point.
Liz Wendling 42:47
You can’t get someone’s attention if you’re using language that sounds like “I’m really sorry to bother you, but can I have a few minutes of your time?” That’s not bold. Bost is, “Hey, I had a question for you. Can we chat for four and a half minutes” And just asking for that, and being bold enough to say “It’s only going to take me four and a half minutes I’ll start the timer now.”
Liz Wendling 43:12
Speak to people as a human being, not prospect to prospect, or someone you’re trying to sell to. We’re always two human beings coming into a conversation that we get to shape and frame.
Dr. Ingrid Pyka 43:47
Bold is about daring to listen, daring to truly understand your strengths and your skill sets, and how those connect whether it’s as solution, or whether it’s something pleasurable that that’s really something that hey want to do. It’s understanding what people who are going to invest in your product, what they’re looking for, and being daring enough to put it out there. And willing to change it if you need to.
Resources:
Stop! Step Back and GROW: : the 3 Keys to Long-Term and Repeatable Success
Tags:
experience, listening, connection, communication, credibility, changing customer expectations, value
