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April 30, 2010 at 08:00 PM
Too many salespeople dance around the table too much. In other words, they don’t get right to the main point at hand. They talk about nonsense like the weather, or sports, or whatever they want to discuss, that basically just wastes time and really does not build any true relationships at all.
What made me think of this idea was something I used about 30 years ago and it worked really well then. It has to work even better now since our attention spans have become the same as a Cocker Spaniel puppy, which means we do not have any attention for anything any longer.
I had a small glass and wood egg timer that was about an inch to two inches tall. When I was in someone’s office, whether it was a cold call or even an appointment, I told them that by the time the sand runs out (which is six minutes) I will be done with my sales call.
Sometimes, I even said that on the phone so I could prove it to them when I was in their office on the appointment. Really, think about it–who does not have six minutes in their day to hear something?
My approach was simple, straight to the point and very, very honest. For example, on the phone, I might have said three sentences which were as follows: “Hello, my name is Hal Becker and I work for (fill in company here) and I would like to meet you for no more than six minutes.
“When the six minutes is up (and you can time me), either you will be interested or worst case, you will have learned something new!
