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As a sales coach, I often hear a sales representative make the excuse for a lost sale, that their prospect just did not listen to their presentation. Most psychologists suggest that, "Effective communication occurs when the receiver receives the message the sender intended to send." From this definition, it is clear that the responsibility for effective communications rests with the sales professional. Every day in businesses across the country, customer or client contact personnel and prospects, customers or clients have difficulty sending and receiving messages. Although there are many factors that can block or interfere with effective dialogue, one of the most common among sales professionals is the use of jargon or a specific industry's terminology. We use words that are familiar to us because we regularly hear them from our co-workers and read them in our product literature and industry publications. Unfortunately, many of these words and phrases are not understood by many potential customers or clients even though they may have heard the terms before. For example, on a recent sales call with a financial service representative who was presenting a mutual funds to a prospective client, the salesperson moved successfully through each of six steps of the selling process up to the point of presenting his investment product. As the salesperson began to talk about the product, out came a mouthful of financial jargon like: market validity, default potential, investment equity, and more! It was apparent that his potential client was not receiving the message, but the salesperson didn't even realize it. When making a sales presentation, make certain that you leave industry terminology and jargon at the door. To learn more about making effective presentations, check out the new e-learning manual at http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/myths3.htm VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the "best selling" Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/
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