Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #2: Posing, part 2.

Duncan rightly ascribes sales success to learning the language of your prospects. He says, "to do away with posing and close sales in an effective manner, you must communicate in the language that is most easily understood by your prospects and clients, and that language is trust." [p. 34]

On pages 34-6, Duncan identifies five traits that communicate trust:

1. Timeliness: Talk to people only when they expect you to do so.

2. Relevance: Talk to them only about what they care about.

3. Understanding: Understand their needs before you try to sell them something.

4. Sincerity: Treat your customers with respect.

5. Thoroughness: Cover all the bases. Don't make them wait for you to get back to them.

I would update Duncan by adding authenticity and permission. Authenticity in that your communication comes from your heart and is not put on. Permission, such that you have their permission to talk to them.

If you don't have their permission, ask for it. It's the basis of all successful interactions.

See Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of posing? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.