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The curse of every salesperson is in the pronoun “I.” If you’re having trouble connecting and closing, think about how often you use the world “I” or how often in a conversation you spoke about yourself rather than about them. The great poet May Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Do you make clients, prospects and new people you meet feel important? Or are they drowning in the drama of your own life story?
Today we teach you how to use the famous FORD script; a simple memory jogger for those times you catch yourself tongue tied about how to keep the conversations flowing and make it about them instead of you!
You’ve probably heard about other conversation “techniques” such as mirroring and matching as a way to solidify the relationship with a prospect or client. Really? Think about it! If you’re actually paying attention, you don’t have to FAKE it! Tricks like this are a sure-fire way to not only creep out your clients, but also won’t make the genuine connection you’re looking for that will help you in your transactions.
FORD stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Dreams. These topics will be the focus of your conversational questions. You may even think that you don’t need something as “simplistic” as the FORD pattern. Perhaps you feel totally secure as a conversationalist, knowing that you’re always the life of any party…Who wouldn’t want to talk to you, about real estate or anything else? Extroverts like you are actually in even greater need of the FORD script. Why? Because you’re comfortable talking about yourself instead of asking questions!
Today we finish up our series with the final two letters of the FORD script: Recreation and Dreams. Learn to ask questions that create great conversations, are fun to ask and will let whoever you’re talking to know that you really care about them and not just their potential business!
