Simple Rules to More Effective Communication for Salespeople

Maura Schreier-Fleming
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 12:29:52 +0000

Playwright George Bernard Shaw is alleged to have said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” That quote is absolutely true in sales. Since words are the tools that a salesperson uses to sell, good communication is critical. You will not make the sale if you experience only the illusion that communication has taken place.

Here is how to more effectively communicate when you sell.

Avoid ambiguous “gray” words

One of the most important outcomes of good communication is both parties understanding precisely what has been said. When a salesperson speaks, their objective should be to be clear. One way to be clear is to avoid using gray words or words that are open to interpretation. Gray words can be comparative words like more, less, better, and worse. When you hear a customer say he wants more, do you really know how many more he wants?

Gray words can also be broad like fewer, a lot, always, and never. Anything that suggests an evaluation against a yardstick is a gray word. What happens is we interpret what's been said from our own frame of reference and we are often wrong. If you hear a gray word when you're selling, ask for clarification to improve the communication.

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Choose positive over negative

When a salesperson speaks, they should be easily understood. And it’s far easier to be understood when statements are positive versus negative. Here is an example.

Read the following two sentences and determine which is one easier to understand. The first one is “Selling is easy.” The second one is “Selling is not hard.” Both sentences mean the same thing. I’ll bet you thought that “Selling is easy” was easier to understand. What it took for your brain to understand it was a simpler process. Here’s what happened.

When someone speaks in the negative, the listener first has to determine what the positive means. When you read, “Selling is not hard,” your brain had to first construct what "selling is hard" meant. Then there was a second step where you had to determine that selling was not that. However, when you read, “Selling is easy,” your brain didn’t have to construct a second step. It immediately understood what “selling is easy” means.

You don’t want your listener to have to work when you speak. Avoid using negatives to enhance the understanding of your communication in sales.

Watch your speaking pace

Another objective to enhance communication when you're selling is to be believable. You want your customers to trust what you say. Unfortunately, some sales situations are stressful which can cause a salesperson to get nervous. What often happens when a salesperson gets nervous is they will start speaking faster. This can become a problem in sales because when a person is not telling the truth, they also will start speaking faster—it’s an unconscious way of distancing themselves from the lie. As you can imagine, being perceived as untruthful in selling is an obstacle to effective communication.

To calm your nerves, prepare for your sales calls. Deep breaths can also be calming. The pace of your speaking is an important part of being an effective sales communicator.

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Minimize the use of filler phrases

If you listen to politicians, you’ll hear them using a lot of filler phrases. Examples of filler phrases include let’s be clear, the fact is, and the end of the day. The purpose of filler phrases is to buy time for the speaker. If you get a tough question on a sales call, you could also use them while you are thinking of an answer—but, just remember, you may not want to sound like a politician. Instead of using a filler phrase, you could instead hesitate while gathering your thoughts and then answer. You would then appear to be thoughtful which could enhance your believability.

I can think of nothing worse than leaving a sales meeting where there has been an illusion that communication has taken place, but nothing has, in fact, been decided or confirmed. But if you work to improve your communication skills by following these basic rules-of-thumb, your customers and prospects may start hearing exactly what you want them to.