by Don Sanders

Talking is an Art!


Great salespeople have one important thing in common—they know how to talk to people. They know how to carry on intelligent conversations with everyone, and are able to talk to each person about things that he or she enjoys.

The best performers don’t need to use “scripts,” because they have a diverse range of personal knowledge that enables them to make conversation in all situations.

Having the ability to talk to everyone about a variety of subjects will allow you to do the following things:

1. Distinguish the buyers from the lookers

2. More easily identify good prospects

3. Cut down on rejection.

4. Make better use of your time

These four points are important building blocks of selling. If you can master them, your sales performance will increase dramatically. Being proficient at talking effectively with others puts you far ahead of your competition.


Recent technological advances such as email and voice mail have taken a toll on the art of conversation. What once came as second nature to almost everyone--feeling comfortable in conversations-- now seems impossible for many people. Some salespeople have such difficulty communicating with prospects that they appear to simply go through the motions.

Some people believe that you are either born a ‘natural’ talker or not, but nothing can be further from the truth. In reality, good conversationalists have worked at honing this basic life skill. You, too, can improve your ability to talk to others by taking the following actions:

· Know what’s going on—Being well read on a variety of subjects makes it possible for you to talk with anyone of any age or income level. If you’re a senior, read magazines that younger people enjoy reading. Conversely, read material for the middle age set if you are personally under 40 years of age. That way you’ll be able to talk to everyone about almost anything.

· Look everyone in the eye—Always make direct eye contact with people when you come in contact with them. This one action, coupled with a genuine smile, will exponentially increase your chances for a positive response.

· Keep it clean and truthful—Keep gossip to a minimum and never use profanity. In today’s world we are so connected by the Internet and cell phones that you never know who may see your email messages or might overhear your conversations. The easiest way to lose a sale is by talking negatively about someone to your prospect, then learning that he or she knows the person about whom you were gossiping.

· Be curious—Start conversations by asking about a person’s family and you will have a sure “ice breaker.” Ninety-nine percent of people love to talk about their family members and pets!

· Listen up—Refrain from interrupting too frequently. Being a good listener will win points and give you the opportunity to learn more interesting and useful facts about the person with whom you are visiting.

· Don’t be a know-it-all— Be agreeable and resist the urge to correct people. Even if you feel that you are ten times smarter than the person you are talking with, never let them know it.

· Always excuse yourself in a polite manner—Don’t abruptly leave or slink away when you are finished talking with someone. Otherwise you could unintentionally make someone feel slighted, because you didn’t bring your conversation with him or her to a polite end.


Learning how to talk to people does not have to be an arduous task. It just takes some effort and common sense. Anyone can improve their conversational abilities by doing the following things:

o Be attentive everywhere you go—Instead of always talking on cell phones or listening to your headset when in public, listen to everything that the people around you are saying.

o Greet everyone you meet—When someone approaches or passes you by, always extend a polite greeting by saying “Hello” or “Good Morning.”

o Ask questions—Most people are not very curious today. They don’t question why things happen; instead they tend to believe that they just do so for certain reasons. If you will be more curious about the world, you’ll understand why people think the way they do.


Here’s how one distributor changed his selling performance by increasing and diversifying his reading material:

I started my distributorship in 1990, and did pretty well early on. After a few years, it really bothered me that I was never able to get my sales higher than $400K a year. I considered several options to
help increase my business, including hiring an additional salesperson. But in the end, I decided that the simplest and most cost-effective thing to do was to improve my own performance.

I knew that I needed to expand my horizons, so I visited a bookstore
and purchased thirty different magazines on a wide range of subjects. After looking them over, I subscribed to ten of them. After six months of reading, I realized that my sales world was changing. I could now talk to anyone, because I always had something interesting to talk to them about. As I look back, I can’t image there was a time when I wasn’t reading at night. Besides learning about all kinds of new things, both my confidence and my sales have soared. I’m happy to report sales of $700K per year!


As we are reminded each day by the media, we live in a diverse world. Gone are the days when you can be successful only calling on one market segment, or only on customers with your point of view or interests. You must expand your horizons by always learning new things.

There is no degree plan or college course that teaches people how to talk to the people they meet. The good news is that you can teach yourself by implementing all of the suggestions. The end result is that you will make more money and have more fun talking to more people than you ever dreamed possible.