Are you any Good in Promoting your Business? The information in this article is probably...
Are you any Good in Promoting your Business? The information in this article is probably far more interesting than what you’re expecting. This article teaches you, business promotion skills that you can immediately implement in every aspect of your communications.
BIG MISTAKE NO 1: FAILING TO “QUOTE” WHEN SAYING SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF
Where would you want to use this? Anywhere that you want to say something good about your company to sound impressive, good things about your services, testimonials from your happy customers, etc. Suppose that I am a very hardworking accountant and I deliver accounting work complete within 7 days from the day I receive the transaction vouchers from clients. If I am in a conversation with you and I want you to know that fact, I could simply state “You know, I deliver accounting work within one week from the day I receive your transaction vouchers!” But is that believable? A statement like that doesn’t sound like it really carries a lot of credibility, does it? We all know that independent evidence is better than internally generated evidence! “Many of my clients tell me they are happy about the fact I deliver accounting work complete within a week of receiving their transaction vouchers!” Suddenly, the sentence is a lot more believable. Instead of me saying that, clients are saying it. This is automatically more believable.
BIG MISTAKE NO 2 -
USING THE“BUT” WORD
Did you know the word, “BUT” can actually be a dangerous word? If you use it during your communication, you’re probably weakening your ability to persuade others about what you want to promote. First, let’s look at what happens when other people use “BUT” as they are talking to you. Suppose I tell you: “I agree with you, but your fee is too high.” I used the word “BUT” in the sentence, and what happened to the meaning? When I said, “I agree with you, but...” what was I really saying? Think about it. What I am really saying is, “I don’t agree with you!”
A very easy way to eliminate “BUT”, is to replace it with the word, “AND”. Consider these sentences. Before intervention: “I agree with you, but I still think that I am right.” After intervention: “I agree with you, and I still think I am right”. Can you hear the difference? So replace “BUT” with “AND” in all the sentences in which you want to be persuasive.
BIG MISTAKE NO 3 – NOT USING YOUR RAPPORT-BUILDING SKILLS
Have you ever met somebody to discover that your business relationships just seemed to “click?” For some reason, you seemed a lot alike. You shared similar opinions and values. And you “fell into rapport” with them quickly. What makes that happen? And why can’t we make it happen all the time? To create this chemistry with other people, all we need to do is look, think and act like them! And to do this, we’re going to mimic two things: the way they act and the way they talk. We are going to start by positioning our body in the general way the other person positions theirs. If they fold their arms during conversation, you fold yours. If they gesture with their hands when they speak, you gesture with yours when you speak. Okay, this may sound strange, but believe me, once you do this, you’ll find it feels perfectly natural! And, more importantly, it will cause you and your prospect to fall right into rapport!
To make your rapport even deeper, you can also pace their voice patterns by altering your speaking speed, your volume, tempo and pitch. In other words, if the other person starts talking very quietly, you should talk quietly, too. If they slow down, you should slow down. If they get loud, you get loud right with them and you’ll experience a remarkable deepening of your rapport with the other person.
BIG MISTAKE NO 4 – FAILING TO ELICIT THEIR VALUES REGARDING YOUR SERVICE
The mistake people make is spilling out their long list of “what they have to offer” before finding out what’s important to the listener. Instead, doesn’t it make sense to find out what’s important to them about your service first? In other words, what if you could immediately discover the “hot button” of your prospect before you start describing your service?
To get their highest values start by asking the question: “What’s important to you about a good accounting service?” The question here is: ’What’s important to your about _______“ and then fill in the name of your service. Once you ask the question, listen very carefully for their answer. Whatever answer you get, make a note of it. Next, you repeat back to them their own answer, explaining how your service satisfies that particular value.
BIG MISTAKE NO 5 – USING THE WORD “TRY” IN YOUR CONVERSATION
When you use the word “TRY,” you presuppose failure, and your listener assumes failure also. When other people tell you they are going to “TRY” to do something for you, you will, from now on, automatically know that they don’t intend to actually succeed at doing it. Suppose someone is saying: “I will try to have that report done by Monday” What he really means is: “I will begin the report and I will fail to get it done by Monday.” Do you see how this works? When people use “TRY,” they are actually assuming the failure of the whatever they are talking about.
To eliminate this, when you ask questions to other people, never ask if they will “TRY” to do something for you. Instead, ask if they will!
BIG MISTAKE NO 6- SAYING BAD THINGS ABOUT THE COMPETITION
Here’s a major mistake that almost everyone makes at one time or another. The sad part is that few people realize the damage they do when they say bad things about their competition. What you say about your competitors says more things about yourself than about your competition. To avoid this mistake speak with respect and understanding about your competition. You’ll gain credibility for doing so.
BIG MISTAKE NO 7- USING THE WORD “IF”
The word, “IF” can be deadly! Why is “IF” deadly? Suppose that I am an accountant talking with a possible client and I tell him “Mr Jones, if you agree on our firm becoming your auditors for the next year then you will be very happy about our service and about the advice you will receive from our company.” This statement may sound familiar to you and you may even use it often. What’s wrong with this statement is the use of the word “if” which presupposes that the person we are talking to is not yet convinced about joining our clientele. Instead, you could replace “IF” with the word “WHEN” which now presupposes that the person will joint our clientele sooner or later and it’s just a matter of time! Hear how the same statement sounds now: “Mr Jones, when you agree on our firm becoming your auditors for the next year then you will be very happy about our service and about the advice you will receive from our company.”
BIG MISTAKE NO 8- DISAGREEING WITH THEIR OBJECTIONS
When people offer an objection to your product, service or idea, the biggest mistake you can make is to start arguing with them about it. We can disarm their objection by first being able to agree with them, then we’re going to handle their objection. The way of turning around any objection someone may have about your service is by appealing to their higher values in order to find agreement. This is called “reframing”.
For the sake of contrast, listen to what happens when you argue with the objector:
Customer: “Your fee is too high.”
You: “No it isn’t. It’s low compared to the local market rates.”
Customer: “Wrong! I know of three other firms with lower prices...”
At this point, you’re in trouble. You’ve:
Fell completely out of rapport with the customer
Made them angry
Ruined your credibility
Probably lost the customer.
Now, we’re going to start by agreeing with the customer. We’re going to actually repeat their words back to them and then search for “higher ground” on which we can really agree. Let’s use the same example:
Customer “Your fee is too high.”
You: “Our fee is too high. And every time I say that, I think, ‘Compared to what?’ Because I know that no one else in this town offers our level of service at this fee, even though some small sized firms certainly offer lower prices.”
Isn’t this smoother? At this point, you can then move forward with your conversation.
The skills taught to you here, come from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and are absolutely at the cutting edge of marketing technology today. Use them always in a “win-win” environment. As with any skill you’d like to perfect, time and practice are the key ingredients. Go over this article a few times. Read it. Practice it. Make it part of who you are. I guarantee that for every minute you spend reading and practicing this material your professional career will be enhanced many times the effort you’ve put into learning this.