What Prospects Think When You Won't Stop Talking

As a salesperson, you may think that the more you talk the more likely you are to land a sale. While talking is the best way to establish a business relationship, many of your potential clients would prefer you to keep your sales pitches more concise. According to Gergard Gschwandtner and his article, “Why Sales Reps Talk Too Much,” here is how lengthy sales pitches may make you appear:

Unprepared

We’ve seen it time and time again during interviews on TV. When someone doesn’t necessarily have an answer to something, they will talk themselves in circles hoping that they’ll eventually come to a satisfactory conclusion. At the end of the day, someone who knows what they’re talking about will be able to easily describe it to someone else. Don’t bury your point in long-winded answers.

Nervous

Nervous people tend to ramble. If you feel your prospect is going to turn down your sales pitch, you’ll only be adding more fuel to the fire with every additional unnecessary word that leaves your mouth. Rambling is unprofessional and only succeeds in doing one thing: wasting everyone’s time.

Narcissistic

When you talk a lot during your sales pitch, you give your potential clients less time to ask questions and respond themselves. The sale is about their needs, but when you take up the allotted time by talking, you appear to be vying for the spotlight instead. The pitch seems to become more about how fantastic you and your product or service are and not necessarily about how your potential clients' businesses could benefit from purchasing it. When you let your clients talk, you’ll know exactly what you need to be saying in order to make the sale.

Boring

Let’s be honest, there is only so much you can say about your product/service or yourself that is actually relevant to your sale. Eventually, you’ll just be repeating yourself or grasping at details that your potential client has little to no interest in. When that happens, they will get bored and be less inclined to buy from you. The average human attention span is approximately 12 minutes long, so keep your clients interested by keeping your pitch precise.