From time to time I feature a guest post when I read something that jumps out and grabs me. Such was the case with Anne Miller’s (Author of Metaphorically Selling and blog Make What You Say, Pay!) recent blog post which she has graciously permitted me to reproduce below. It’s a great piece; I trust you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Make “You-Turns”
Which would you rather look at: pictures of my friends and family, or pictures of your friends and family?
Let me take a wild guess — you would prefer to see the latter. You know your friends and family. You relate to them. You have feelings about them. You “see” yourself with them. You have none of these reactions or connections to pictures of the people in my world.
In selling or presenting an argument, every time you say, “I/We have…” “I/We do…” “I/We can…” or “I/We think…” you are, in effect, forcing your listeners to “look at your pictures” – which creates no particular emotional reaction in them and little inclination to buy what you are selling. Presenting everything from your point of view makes you guilty of “I-Strain.”
Make “You-Turns” People care about what they get, not what you have. They get excited by the pictures they see in their minds, not the pictures you see in yours.
Next time you present, change your pronouns from a speaker to a listener focus. Examples: “You’ll like how easy it is to implement” vs “Our programs are easy to implement.”
“When you work with us, you’ll be able to customize the software to your needs. For example, you can…” vs. “We have software that is easily customizable. We can…”
“As you look at the chart, [you] notice how consistent the growth has been in all markets.” Vs. “I want to point out how consistent the growth…”
“Something you’ll find particularly interesting is how you will be able to… vs. “I think it is particularly interesting that our process lets people…”
“Clients [implied is like you] are able to double their…” vs “We produce very good ROI on…”
“You may be wondering, how does this work?” vs. “Let me tell you how this works.
“In summary, working with ABC, “you’ll get…, and… to meet your objectives.” Vs “In summary, WYZ (my firm) has …, and … which makes us your best choice.”
The Power of “You”
Pronouns matter. “You” draws people into what you’re saying. It gets them seeing themselves using your product or service. It fires up their imagination as to the possibilities of your offer. Bottom-line, the pronoun “you” makes a huge difference in how your buyers receive what you are saying.
At first, making “you-turns” may feel a bit unnatural as you are no doubt very proud of your product or service to help clients and you want to share that enthusiasm. However, like anything else, the more you practice it, the easier it gets, until it becomes totally automatic.
Try It
On your next phone or in-person call, make more “you-turns.” You’ll notice how much more receptive your listener will be. You’ll feel more connected to your listener. You’ll have a much easier time moving forward in the sale cycle.
Great advice Anne, thank you!
Clayton Shold
Salesopedia
