“Butch, You Talk Too Much”

Blessed with the Gift of Gab but need to control it?

There are many great quotes in the classic movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” One of them really applies to a particular sales skill of balancing the amount of time you talk vs. listen. In this scene, Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy is talking incessantly about ideas, problems, and options. Talking so fast that the ever-stoic Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid gets tired of listening to him. Finally, Sundance delivers his quote, “Butch, your problem is that you talk too much.”

Frequently as a sales coach, I run across this same problem. The person I am coaching is nervous or just has the bad habit of trying to fill the verbal void. So, they talk too much, which leads to several negative effects. First and worst is unselling your sale. This happens after you close the sale and then continue to sell. We have all done it. Why? The sale took a lot of discussion and negotiation. Then we closed but the customer was hesitant. After much indecision, the customer agreed to buy but still seems on the fence a bit. So, what do we do? We keep selling and selling and selling to confirm they made a good choice. Eventually, they pull the sale back off the table to reconsider.

The second negative aspect of talking too much as a salesperson is the customer is so inundated with words, they stop listening. What a tragedy. We had so much to say, so much information to deliver, so many slides to go through and so many benefits of our products. You just used too many words and didn’t achieve a discussion. What contributes to this?

– Our natural born gift of gab. Ever heard that before? “He would be great in sales as he has the gift of gab.” Warning: That gift could be killing your sales results.

– The “Silent Type” customer. We all have them. Calling on grain and livestock producers over the years, the percentage of customers in this category could be as high as 40%. They don’t talk much or at all. So, we fill the discussion with our own words. In a nervous flurry, I have seen salespeople talk for five minutes and never really say anything. Or worse yet, they make back to back contradictory statements. This either confuses the customer or disengages them from the discussion. We don’t know because they haven’t said a word.

What to do if you are a super talker or find yourself in one of these positions on a sales call!

Stop talking: Physically close your yapper and quit talking. Put your hand over your mouth if you have to. Hold the silence for as long as you are capable of. Give the customer a chance to talk. They may be super polite and don’t want to interrupt. They may have a huge issue going on and can’t even think of you or your products. Give them a chance to talk.
Recognize it: This is the most important aspect to someone that over talks. Step one in fixing any problem is to recognize it. Reflect back on the last couple days of sales calls. Did you talk more than 50% of the time? If so, you may have a problem. Get help from a person that will tell you the truth. You don’t need false kindness here. You need honest feedback, even if it is painful to hear. If you are a sales manager/coach and have someone that needs this feedback, then do your job and deliver the news to them. Sure, you need to let them know you still love them. But, you are not doing them a favor by not telling an over-talker the truth.
Ask questions: How do you fill the silence left by your lack of words? Ask questions and then- Let Them Answer! (capitalized for emphasis). Over-talkers love to ask questions and then either fill in the answer or continue talking about the justification of their question. Take notes while they answer to keep from talking. Pre-call planning is critical if you lack the ability to come up with questions on the fly. Tip: use open-ended questions.
Change of scenery: Your customer might be bored, feel overwhelmed or distracted depending on the location. Get them out of the environment and the discussion might pick up. One of the great ways to do this on a farm call or any sales call is asking for a tour. Everyone loves to talk about their favorite subject – Themselves. Watch the discussion pick up as they show you their new combine, barn addition, livestock handling area, or feeding system. They might even have an area they are struggling with. What a great networking opportunity when you can recommend a product or service to help them with a problem area.
Directly ask: Finally, you can directly ask. “You seem kind of quiet today, did I catch you at a bad time?” or “You look like you are thinking of something. I’ve been talking too much and not giving you a chance to talk.” Or “You look like you have some thoughts on this” or “You’re thinking hard on this. What are your thoughts?”

Tempering our gift of gab can be difficult. It is our natural tendency in many relationships. You can certainly ignore the signals and continue your path of over-talking. One of my most difficult coaching cases would always tell me, “Oh Greg, that’s just me. My customers know me and are used to it.” That was true. His customers did know him and were used to it. Guess how they dealt with it. They didn’t answer his phone calls and didn’t accept his appointment requests unless they had hours to kill. They knew it would be a marathon sales call. So, they simply screened him out as much as they could. Complete steps 1 and 2 above and then try either, 3,4 or 5 to break the cycle of talking too much.

As my friend Alan Berg says “Shut up and Sell More.” He even titled his book with that quote. While focused on selling in the wedding industry, the concept applies to anyone in sales.

Start today and decide to be a better listener!

Want to learn more about the critical skills of being an Ag Sales Professional?

Four of the most critical skill areas to grow your territory and dominating your market
If you enjoy and learn from my blog posts, you will love these webinars. They dig deeper into the four areas.
Practical skills you can take out and apply immediately to your sales calls

Learn More – Click on the link below!