January 31st 2008
Metaphorically Selling – Anne Miller -ISBN 0-9762794-0-1. Guest post from Chris Jordan
Metaphorically Selling – Anne Miller -2007- ISBN 0-9762794-0-1
By Chris Jordan. Good friend and great sales guy!
Clearly most sales people use the technique of creating rapport by understanding which of the four types of individuals they are dealing with and then mirror it to sell successfully. The theory here is that people like to deal with people they like. In my opinion in today’s B2B world this is redundant and so we need an alternative approach otherwise it is akin to trying to drive a car along a road in the fog without a yellow line to guide us.
Enter Anne Miller and her book Metaphorically Speaking. Anne helps us understand that we all have two parts to our brains and while we may use one side more then the other in our decision making process we still do use both sides. Most of us, as decision makers, look at the facts and figures and then decide and this is a function of the left side. However, this leaves the right side unattended so if we can bind a visual image of our product or service to some of the memories of the right hand side of the brain then it becomes much more powerful.
The book carefully lays the ground work and slowly peels back the layers of understanding as it introduces the key elements of making story telling an effective sales tool through the use of Metaphors.
In today’s world of buying, not selling, where we are helping move the customer-to-be from one habit (old solution or product) to a new habit (our offering), we need to paint images in their minds to anchor them to us via the mind map so our solution will stand out from the “me-too” types; a process similar to what Google earth and maps have done to our understanding of travel and geography.
A short book and well worth the read.
Similar Posts:
- Buying Facilitation. The new way to sell that influences & expands decisions. Sharon Drew Morgen.
- Metaphorically Selling. How to use the magic of metaphors to sell, persuade, & explain anything to anyone. Anne Miller
- Make What You Say Pay. The language that opens minds, closes deals, & wows crowds. Anne Miller.
- Can he buy? Can the person who you are talking to make the buying decision?
- 7-25 Decision Makers on $25K plus sales deals these days.
Category: Marketing, Sales, Sales Efficiency
