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Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Sales Skills #4 …Sharpen Your Message

5 December 2010

Hello there and I hope that you’re not suffering too much under the extra workload that this time of year brings. It’s been terrible for me so far, as I’ve had to eat at least 20 mince pies…my days are already busy enough, without needing to find time to scoff extra confectionery. Preferably warm, with lashings of cream please…

However, I did make the effort to go to a meeting with Marshall Cavendish last week, to hobnob with fellow authors and work out how we could sell more books. Apart from having a great conversation about the use of the semi colon and finding out what makes for a great cover image, I did pick up some useful sales tips from a chap called Bob Etherington, who’s written several cracking books on the subject. Seeing that Christmas is the season of giving, I thought I’d give you my choice of some of his top tips. I won’t gift wrap them though, to save paper.

Here they are:

1. Start your sentences with a word that ends in ‘ly’, such as ‘Probably the best soft skills blog in the world’. Or: Surely the only soft skills blog you’ll ever need. This construction tends to shut off any doubt people have about your product or service. It may feel a bit cheesy at first, but it does generate a huge halo of confidence.

2. Use the word ‘because’ because when you do so people are more likely to buy in to your argument and be convinced. For example; this is probably the best soft skills blog in the world, because it only talks about what works in real life and includes elements of Transactional Analysis to bring depth and insight to the weekly posts.

3. Say it simply. The key to sales success is to have a short, relevant, message which highlights what you are genuinely passionate about and really deliver to your clients. This message is likely to be something you find yourself saying often, and don’t recognise that it’s a core attribute of your business. I was reminded of this during the author meeting when asked to tell people what kind work I did and I replied; ‘I build confidence’.

Primary People is now working with Chilli Pepper Global to bring outplacement services to industrial and service sector clients. We were asked why someone should invest in us and our answer was because we’re;

Probably the best confidence builders in the business.

That’s what we do to a high standard, because we passionately believe everyone has the ability to succeed.

What are you the best at? How would you summarise your competitive edge in 10 words or less? And most importantly; do you make time for mince pies?

That’s enough questions for now. Don’t you think? So, thank you from me for being part of a fantastic year of blog posts. I really do think this is the best soft skills blog in the world, because if I didn’t I wouldn’t spend hours writing and honing it each week. Fortunately for me though, I have my feathery guest blogger to keep my feet on the ground. He’s back next week for a while to cover for me whilst I take a festive break. I do hope he’s not too rude about me.

Happy Christmas, sincere good wishes to you and I look forward to seeing you again in 2011.

– Richard –

Tags: Christmas, sales, tip