Glenn Mattson
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Glenn Mattson
Hey, welcome everyone. Season six. We're in episode three of the Building Blocks of Success. As you know, Glenn Mattson, over here at MEI, we've been working and helping individuals for well over 30 years, to well over 250,000 people and 15,000 entrepreneurs develop and grow their business. One of the things that I've noticed as we're getting into the season is something that you see all the time, but it's really becoming more of an issue.
Glenn Mattson
It's the fact that individuals are finding themselves talking way too much during sales calls. You have two ears and one mouth. We should try that ratio for a little while. But today I want to share with you, what I've seen is, hey, we're spending way too much time talking, we're not listening enough. How come we're doing it? What's the impact because of it? And, because of that, what can we do to get a little better?
Glenn Mattson
So, I want to spend some time with you today just on that piece. Now, some of you may not know this person, some of you may never even know the show. It's called The Honeymooners. The Honeymooners was a show way back, and you had this individual who was a bus driver, and he was called Ralph Kramden and his wife, and they had someone upstairs that was his buddy. To make a long story short in this whole thing, Ralph always complained about his mother-in-law, that she would never stop talking, and all she would do is berate him nonstop. He would get in trouble with his wife all the time because when his mother-in-law came by, he constantly called her a blabbermouth.
Glenn Mattson
So, I want to talk to you today about blabbermouths. How come we find ourselves talking way more than we should? I mean, let's just get basic for a second, right? The person you're talking to is the judge and the jury, and they make the decisions. What they do, when they do it, how they do it, are they going to spend the money? So, if they're the ones with the problem, they're the ones who understand the reasons and the impact, and they're the judge and the jury. Why are we doing all the talking?
Glenn Mattson
You are going to hear me say it a couple of times. There are some simple rules. 70/30. 70% of your calls should be listening. Listening. Use your ears. You’ve got to remember the rule, you’ve got to remember this, man. A prospect will always tell you what you need to know to close them, if they're closable. Remember, a prospect will always tell you what you need to know to close them if they're closable. Yet, I found that in the last four or five months, there's more and more of it happening. So, I had to jump online and just say something about the necessity that people are starting to have to literally just talk and talk. So, let's get into it.
Glenn Mattson
When you look at individuals who have a tendency to talk way more than they should, historically, usually, one of the primary reasons is the fact that they're nervous or they have discomfort, right? Look, a lot of salespeople are sitting down, they are younger, maybe they are sitting in front of people that have maybe a little more tenure, a little more experience, they earn more money, and all of a sudden, you're brand new in a situation. You kind of know what you're doing a little bit. You may have an idea, a track to run on, then all of a sudden, you're in these meetings, and you are over your skis. You really don't have equal business stature, and because of that you become nervous. So, nervousness is when people talk excessively to mask their anxiety, to mask their discomfort. They're completely panicking inside, especially when they're dealing with really new situations or challenging situations.
Glenn Mattson
So, let's think about it. You're brand new in the business and someone teaches you one talk or how to have your approach talk, and then you go onto a sales call. Well, they taught it to you. You're uncomfortable to be there. So, the next thing you do is just start going because you're uncomfortable. So, you have got to remember something. Your confidence comes from the ownership of your techniques and your process. That means that you know in your heart that you can do this. It doesn't mean you will, but you can do it. You can build confidence. Without confidence, you have anxiety.
Glenn Mattson
So, one of the things that you have to take a look at is, if you are a nervous person, you have discomfort. I understand, I got it, I was there. Identify what causes this discomfort to happen and then start to work on the confidence to overcome that. Sometimes it's dealing with people that are just the bigger deal. Sometimes you'll walk into a room and there's gentlemen or individuals in the room and it was more than you expected. I even have a client that anytime there are older people in the room, she panics a little bit. So, the nervousness and discomfort aren’t unusual, but you need to identify what causes it. Own the tactics and strategies that you need to know, especially your approach or referral talk or any of those. You have got to have confidence. Confidence will make you comfortable. Confidence in what you need to say will help with the nervousness and the discomfort.
Glenn Mattson
Another one I see that happens is, people that are nervous and have discomfort, have a tendency to do information overload. So, information overload is they need to share every detail about the product, the service, and quite honestly, even when it's not relevant or they're not sure if it's relevant, but they're just going to throw the kitchen sink at them. So, when you have an individual that is looking for information overload, and that's why they're talking right? A lot of times what's happening is, is that you have got to remember the Sandler rule. The Sandler rule says that you never answer an unasked question. Let me explain what I mean by that.
Glenn Mattson
I was selling one of our homes and at the time, we had a pretty big boiler, right? It was the original boiler. It did steam, and it did baseboard, and it was big. I'm not going to say it wasn't, but it was a machine. When we were selling the house, the husband and wife were downstairs. I'm downstairs in the basement and the real estate agent is there. Now, we were down in the basement and the real estate agent hadn’t stopped talking since we walked around the house. We've been downstairs and she is nonstop talking in the basement. She's not listening. She's talking. The individual turns around and says, “Wow, that's a big boiler.” That’s all he said, “Boy, that's a big boiler.” She turned around and said, “I understand that. Well, I'm sure Glenn can go and get a quote on having a wall unit that's an instant heat.” She went on for three to five minutes about the boiler, just nonstop. I’m kind of staring at her, and as any of you know me, this is not what I would’ve done. So, as the wife went upstairs with the real estate agent, I kind of stood in front of the husband, and said, “You know, that is a big boiler.” Then he goes, “Yeah, it is.” I said, “You know that I've investigated to see if it makes sense to convert it.” Then he goes, “Oh, you did? I said, “Sure, why do you think it's still here?” And he goes, “I don't know.” I said, “It's going to take me too many years to make up the gap. Right? Because of the efficiency. So, the things a beast, and I haven't changed it.” And he goes, “Okay, I'm cool with that.” And he left. By the way, six years later I was at the house and the boiler was still there. So never answer unasked questions. All he said was, “Boy, that's big.” He didn't say he didn't like it, didn't say he wanted to replace it.
Glenn Mattson
The other thing you have to remember is in information overload, do not forget the rule. The problem they bring you is never the real problem. The problem a prospect will bring you is never the real problem. So, if it's not the real problem, we have to really learn to stop assuming and stop giving information overload. Another big reason that some people talk too much is honestly they want control, and they want persuasion. They think they're being a salesperson by talking more than they should. They believe that talking more will allow them to control the conversation and persuade the customer to buy, right? Man, you got to remember the rule. Again, we have rules, right? Rule number 14 says, if the prospect is listening, they're not a prospect. What that basically means, if you're talking, you're not selling. Selling is listening. Selling is great questions. Selling is not talking. Selling is not giving information. That's later. That's in the presentation part. In the beginning when you're qualifying, it's all about asking questions.
Glenn Mattson
So, the people that do talk too much, again, get nervous, have discomfort, are looking for some control and, or information overload. Now, there are some who are uncomfortable with silence. They just feel super uncomfortable, so they feel like they have to or are compelled to fill the space. Now, believe it or not, I even have individuals that will talk too much, and this is a rare one, it’s not rare, it's just not as dominant as the others. A person will talk too much because they want to feel like they are covering all the objections, right? So, before they do anything, let me tell you what's going on. The people that perceive to cover all the objections, they're the ones that are solving things that don't need to be solved, right? Remember, never answer an unasked question, right? Big, big, big stuff. The problem they bring you is never the real problem. So don't feel like you have to throw the kitchen sink at somebody.
Glenn Mattson
One of the big ones I see is the desire to impress. A lot of new people that are either new to the industry, or are newer to sales, yeah, they're nervous. Yes, they have discomfort, they have some anxiety for sure, right? They feel like, hey, let me throw the kitchen sink at you really fast, I may not have another opportunity. So, they just do information overload. Your veterans may be in the controller and persuasive mode, which is, “I've been down this road 6,000 times. You're the 5,000th person I've talked to. I know what your problem is. I know what the solutions are. Just sit back and let me tell you what's going on.” That is happening. But it's the desire to impress. I want to spend a second on the desire to impress. It is really about those who, again, are nervous and in discomfort. So, because they have anxiety, what they want to do is prove, “Hey, listen, I'm pretty good at this. I actually have some respect. I have some experience. Let me share it with you.”
Glenn Mattson
So, they want to impress someone, they want to impress their buyer with knowledge. What that really does is, we call it don't spill your candy in the lobby. What that means is, no mind reading. What that means is that you're wanting to show someone that you know what you're talking about, right? Hey, maybe you're young. Listen, when I first got started in the business, I had people that would ignore me, and one of them literally said, “You realize I have sneakers older than you?” So, when I found myself getting in front of people, I found that I had to throw everything in the world at them, just to have something maybe that shows, “Hey, just because I'm young, I still know what I'm doing.” Well, you have to realize very quickly that when you're talking to individuals, you want respect.
Glenn Mattson
Respect is gotten. Respect is achieved by the questions you ask, not the information you give. Let me give that to you again. If you're new, if you're newer in the position, if you're new in your role, if you're new to sales, just make sure that you realize that from where you sit, the size of your commission check, the impact that you have on others is determined more by the amount of information that you can obtain, than the information you can present. I also want you to remember this. You can actually impress people. You can have the ability to gain respect from someone, especially if you're young. It's not on the information you give. It's on the questions you ask.
Glenn Mattson
So, if you're someone who's a blabbermouth and you're, again nervous, or you're someone who wants to do information overload or you have a desire to impress, which is really the majority of them, I want you to realize a few things happen, alright? When you're doing too much talking, you’ve got to look back at your own world when this happens, when you have someone who just throws the entire kitchen sink at you, when you have someone who's not really listening to what you're saying. You know that when the desire to impress, or people are trying to remember the scripts that they were supposed to do, that's a big one, right? They're not listening to the client because in their head they're saying, “Oh my God, what am I supposed to say next? Then what am I supposed to do?” or “Oh my gosh, I'm supposed to say this, and I'm terrified of doing it.” So, they're doing a lot of self-talk. That's part of nervousness. That's part of not having the confidence in knowing what to say. So, when you talk too much, I want you to realize you reduce your sales effectiveness immensely. Immensely. So, if you're in a meeting, learn your process and realize if you are talking more than you should be, remember the rule 70/30. 30% of the time, you are talking. So, for an hour, that's 18 minutes, team, that's 18 minutes.
Glenn Mattson
Have you ever had someone who talked too much and you're not a talker? Talk about personality style clashes. Heck, we just bought a beach house and the closing attorney that we used was a talker. I would always say to my wife, I can't call him during the day because I only have three minutes, and I have one question to ask, and it's kind of a yes or no, but I know Bill's going to be on the phone for 20 minutes. So, we have to ask ourselves, does it impact rapport? Does it impact our ability to have customers who are potentially frustrated? And the big one is; missed opportunities. What I mean by missed opportunities, if you haven't had the opportunity to do this, you should have a sales call with a peer of yours. Maybe your manager or someone who sits in on the call. They don't say anything. They don't participate in the sales call. They just take notes. It's very interesting about how that person who's taking notes can hear so many different things than you did, can see so many different gaps that you missed. So how come a person who is a quote-unquote third person to this event actually is gaining more clues and more insights than the lead salesperson? The reason being is the lead salesperson is in the game. They're thinking about what they're supposed to do next. They're not being free in the moment, and just purely listening, you’ve got to remember the rules. The problem they bring you is never the real problem. The size of your commission check is more about how much information you can get than you can give. 70/30.
Glenn Mattson
So, being a third person to your own selling event is ultimately your goal. If you find yourself out there talking too much, being a blabber mouth, it's actually okay to say to someone, “Hey, I have a tendency when I start to understand what the problem is, and I know we can solve it, sometimes I get too excited, and I go right to solve mode, and I apologize for that upfront.” So, you can do things to fix this, but remember talking more than you should is not good in sales. Understand why you have this desire to talk too much. Is it nervousness? Is it information overload? Is it the fact that you only get one person to talk to, so you're going to tell them everything you can? Is it your desire to impress? Maybe it's your desire just to control the meeting. Find out what is occurring and fix it. You must be better at active listening. You must have the ability to ask much better questions. To make sure that you can tailor the conversations so that it is a discovery meeting, not an information dump meeting.
Glenn Mattson
As we continue on our quest to develop more skills and mindsets within the Building Blocks of Success. Remember, when you're out there, the value you bring has more to do with the information you get than you give, and how you show respect and how you show you're credible, how you show that you're knowledgeable is by the questions you ask, not on the information you give.
We'll talk soon.
Glenn Mattson
This is the Building Blocks of Success with Glenn Mattson.
