The Most Interesting Salesperson In The World

Tell the truth, didn’t you just envision the guy from the Dos Equis commercial?

I LOVE those commercials but even though the spots are clearly designed to be funny they illustrate a very common misconception. The misconception is that whoever has the most interesting stories, life, etc. is obviously going to be able to hold the attention of others as “The Most interesting Person in The World.”

I have found selling to be a lot like dating. If you went on a first date and all you did was share stories about your experiences scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, surfing in Hawaii, winning the Employee of the Year award, the Top Producer trip, etc. how “interested” would the other party be in a second date? No one wants to hear someone else go on and on about themselves no matter how impressive their accomplishments might be and yet that is EXACTLY what many sales professionals do about their company or product in order to catch the “interest” of a prospect.

I see this frequently when attending networking events. A shark on the prowl asks you a cursory opening question and listens just long enough to avoid talking over you before launching into a soliloquy about them and their company. In fact, sometimes they actually DO talk over you while engaging in what we affectionately call “spilling your candy in the lobby.” How excited are you to keep talking to people like that, let alone refer them to anyone else?

So how does one become the most interesting salesperson in the world? I hate to over simplify this but if you are allowing prospects to talk at least 70% of the time the chances are you may ALREADY be there.

We have a saying at Sandler Training that goes like this: “A prospect that is listening is no prospect at all.” In fact, that is also known as Sandler Rule # 14.

The way to be the most interesting person in any room or the world) is to be the most INTERESTED person in the room. Curiosity may have killed the cat but it MAKES the salesperson.