Talk to your prospects

July 12, 2014 at 12:00 AM
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ROI, P&L, acquisition cost, KPIs, EBITDA. Do your eyes glaze over when you read these words and acronyms? These are common business terms, but I have been consistently surprised that so many salespeople get a "deer in the headlights" look when I mention them in sales training workshops.

What does this have to do with selling? Today's salespeople need to become more business-focused if they want to rise above the crowd. We need to think and act like the business people who make up our client base, rather than vendors attempting to hawk a product, service or solution.

What does this mean for you? If you are already familiar with business terminology, jargon and acronyms, all you need to do is present this "business" understanding when dealing with prospects.

If you are unfamiliar with such terminology, you have a bit of work ahead of you. The first step is to become more familiar with business in general. You can do this by reading business publications, such as newspapers, trade journals, blogs and magazines (i.e., INC, Fast Company, The Economist, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Forbes, and Entrepreneur).

If you understand what is important to your prospects and can position your offering accordingly, you will stand out from your competition and greatly improve your odds of closing a deal.

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