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Words to Sell By: 3 Power Phrases to Help You Sell More

Sales

Words are the tools of the sales trade. Just like you wouldn’t expect to work as a carpenter without a few basic tools, there are certain words you need to say if you want to sell more.

Here are a few simple yet powerful phrases to include in your sales arsenal:

'I don’t know.'

Why is it that so many sales professionals are afraid to say these three words? Perhaps it's because they don’t want to look stupid. One new sales professional, on the job for just a few months, was asked a question for which he didn’t know the answer. Instead of saying that he didn’t know, he fabricated an answer that was entirely unbelievable.

Looking stupid was the least of it. He clearly lost all credibility. That was probably worse. The danger of not telling prospects and customers that you don’t know is that you’ve validated the adage, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.” As his manager related, it took this salesperson quite a while to regain the trust of this customer.

'Tell me more.'

A patient salesperson can sell more. Patience comes in handy when you have to wait for decision makers to decide, evaluations to conclude, and other situations that are needed for your sales process to move forward.

Patience is needed when you’re talking with a prospect and you think you’re ready to present your solution. You have to have patience so you can get all the information that you need to make a sale; you have to be patient so your prospect will share more about the consequences of a problem they are experiencing.

What you get when you say, “Tell me more” is usually more information that becomes useful for selling. Remember, the consequences of a prospect’s problems are what motivate them to buy. When the consequences are big enough, it forces the prospect to act and buy. "Tell me more" often generates far more consequences than what you’ve already heard.

'And why is that?'

A great salesperson is a problem solver. Solving a problem often requires deep understanding of the issues causing the problem. In the quality process, this means getting to the root cause of the problem, and to do this requires having an understanding of why something is happening.

Imagine a company with a process that could be improved. You ask about a certain step in the process: “And why is that being done that way?” You are told: “Because we used to have a situation X.” You then ask: “Does X still exist?” The reply: “Well, no.” You and the customer both learned some very useful information to act on and that there is a reason for change.

Salespeople use their words to sell. Be sure to start using these words so you can sell more.

Profile: Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and sales consulting company. She works with business and sales professionals to increase sales and earn larger profits. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips. Maura focuses on sales strategies and tactics that lead to better sales results. Maura is a sales expert for WomenSalesPros. She is part of their group of top sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams.She speaks internationally on influence, selling skills, and strategic selling at trade association and sales meetings, demonstrating how her principles can be applied to get results. She successfully worked for over 20 years in the male-dominated oil industry with two major corporations, beginning at Mobil Oil and ending at Chevron Corp. She was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. and was one of Chevron’s top five salespeople in the U.S. having sold over $9 million annually. Maura writes several columns to share her sales philosophies. She's been quoted in the New York Times, Selling Power, and Entrepreneur.