Verbal economy

This morning I was listening to an interview with the novelist Salman Rushdie who spoke of his time working in advertising. When asked what he learned during his advertising career to which he responded "Advertising taught me the value of every word." As an advertising copywriter he learned to get is his point across in a concise direct manner. This is a good lesson and one that has relevance to advertising salespeople as well as copywriters. When we are with a customer we have a finite amount of time. Their time and especially their attention span is very limited. Every minute you fill with meaningless "chit chat" is deducted from the time you have to present the value of your product. Obviously you have to observe the normal conversational niceties, but most clients are busy and appreciate a sales person who gets right to the meat of the interview. Having a goal and planning before a sales call will help keep you on point and focused. A focused a salesperson is more likely to keep the customer engaged. Doing this will save both you and the customer time.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks--Jim Busch