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Four Memory Slips That Can Cost You Sales
By Roger Seip
Your palms begin to sweat and you avoid eye contact with
someone you know is a client, but you just can't remember his
name.
Your heart sinks as you hang up the phone after a phone call with
a furious prospect; you forgot you'd made an appointment with
her.
You pound your forehead in frustration as you realize, too late,
what you should have told a customer that would have made the
sale.
Have you ever thought, "If only I'd been born with a better
memory, I'd be better at sales?" Unfortunately, no one is
inherently talented at instant memory recall; scientists have been
unable to prove that "photographic memory" even exists. Like
almost anything related to sales, memory improvement is a
learned skill that anyone can cultivate.
You can become a highly effective and well-respected sales
person. Begin by learning how to prevent these sticky memory-
related situations that you may already have experienced.
Memory Slip #1: Instantly forgetting a prospect's name.
You meet a prospect and shake his hand. He tells you his name,
and no sooner does the handshake break than you have forgotten
it. Socially, people find very few things more annoying than having
their names forgotten or mispronounced, and in sales, what's
annoying can become deeply offensive, enough so that you can
lose sales.
When you immediately forget a prospect's name, two challenges
arise. First, because you know that you have forgotten the name,
you become totally preoccupied with trying to remember it, so it's
difficult to pay attention to what the person is saying. Second, if
the prospect perceives that you've forgotten his or her name, it
sends a very negative message about you, as if you don't care
about the person or as if you're not very smart. Typically, neither of
these perceptions is true, but if you can't pay attention long
enough to remember a name, you give that impression.
With a little practice, you'll find that this particular memory slip is
the easiest to avoid. First, slow down and listen. Focus on the
customer for five seconds at the beginning of the introduction and
concentrate on his or her name. Next, repeat the person's name
back to him or her in a conversational manner. When someone
says, "My name is Bob," respond with, "Bob. Nice to meet you,
Bob."
Memory Slip #2: Forgetting the name of an established client.
If you're a real estate agent, for example, you may run into
someone at a meeting that you sold a house to or for, or if you're
a car dealer, you may go blank as you see a previous customer
showing up unexpectedly on the lot. Most often, this slip occurs
when you meet the client outside the context of your profession:
You know that you know the person, but you don't know how. You
may even remember the details of the sales transaction, but you
can't for the life of you remember the person's name.
This phenomenon is not only frustrating and embarrassing; it can
also cost you a lot of money. Learning to avoid such a situation
takes a commitment to work on improving your memory. You can
improve your chances of remembering a forgotten client's name by
learning to manage your stress. When you know that you know
something, but you can't pull it up in your mind, it's usually
because you are stressing yourself out about it. The stress blocks
your brain's ability to retrieve the information. So try taking a deep
breath and doing a little positive self-talk. Tell yourself, "You know
that you know this. Just hang in there and be a little patient."
Oftentimes, the name or other necessary information will then
come to you.
Memory Slip #3: Forgetting an appointment or showing up late.
Any sales person knows that showing up late is terrible, but
forgetting an appointment altogether is even worse. The solution
is simple but requires a commitment on your part to be better
organized and to take the time you need to plan. Many common
memory challenges arise when people have too much going on
and try to rush to get everything done. A simple, common sense
solution is to keep your memory jogged by writing everything
down, in a daily planner, on sticky notes, wherever will help you to
remember. Take an hour once a week to review what you have
coming up and to plan what you need to do and when.
Memory Slip #4: "I should have saidˇ"
If you've ever thought of the perfect thing to say to someone ten
minutes after you needed to say itˇyou're just like every other
human in the world. But in a professional context, this can easily
cost you a sale. Have you ever thought of the perfect answer to
someone's question or objection right after the prospect walked
out the door? Wondering why you didn't make the sale, your brain
suddenly turns up again and you think, "Oh, no! I'm so stupid! I
should've said that!" (Or shown them that property or
demonstrated that feature or followed that procedure in my sales
manual.)
You can overcome this challenge by memorizing information
systematically. Systematic learning is not rote memorization - the
way you learned your multiplication tables - but developing a
system to help you store and retrieve information easily.
To recall information and train your memory, you must learn to
speak the language of your memory, which means creating
pictures. When you must recall information, if you can see
something, it becomes much easier to recall it, even with a great
deal of detail.
When giving sales presentation or searching for particulars of
product knowledge, you must create mental images and
organizational systems in your brain, in a sort of mental file folder
system. Once you organize the information in your brain, it's quite
easy to find; if it's in a big pile, you may know it's there
somewhere, but who knows how long it will take you to find it!
Learning leads to confidence, the key to success
Sales people need to take their business seriously enough to put
effort into learning. Many "wing it," and don't make nearly as much
money as they want to as a result. No one gets rich in selling by
accident. Those who dedicate themselves to learning and growing
are always the most successful.
The good news is that you can learn to overcome memory slips
and will grow as an effective sales person as you do, because you
will gain greater confidence. And all other things being equal, the
salesperson with more confidence will always get the business
over someone who has less confidence. The formula for success is
the same as the formula for improving your memory: preparation,
listening, and proper learning.
About the Author
Roger Seip is President of Freedom Speakers and Trainers, a company that specializes in memory training. Workshops are presented all over the country. To learn more, visit www.deliverfreedom.com, call 888-233-0407, or e-mail info@deliverfreedom.com
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