"It's awesome to profit from spreading the word about things you care about while making a difference in the lives of others and profiting too."
Could you be shooting yourself in the foot with your mouth? Do you suffer from Too Much Information Syndrome? According to Louann Brizendine, author of The Female Brain, women use 20,000 words per day while men use 7,000. Women are excellent communicators, and we love talking and sharing information and ideas; we even get a chemical dopamine rush when we do it! But there's a dark side: over-talking sounds like a whooshing sound and it's easy to tune out.
Too Much Information Syndrome, coupled with poor listening skills, erases the hard work you've invested in a buyer/seller or boss/employee interaction. If your monologue goes too long, the wall goes up or they exit stage left. This dilutes your message and the valuable information you are imparting. What might have benefited and attracted customers instead falls on deaf ears. This is where pre-planning your stories and selling points comes in. Later, once they are hooked, you can illustrate more with longer examples and stories.
Sometimes we talk too much due to nervousness stemming from feeling you aren't enough or don't know enough. Maybe you feel your offering has little value. Lack of confidence in pitching services or products results from not being trained to sell well or not having enough practice. One common mistake is not asking good questions. Sellers don't want to look dumb or intrude, so they try to be psychic and guess without engaging in crucial conversations which will reveal the buyer's motives and hopes.
RX. Prescription: Curb your chatter by tuning in to yourself and your prospective customer and dialing it back - slow down your words and the intensity. Talk in 20-30 second increments and let them say something and respond. Listen carefully and speak sincerely. Curtail urges to interrupt to set them straight. Gingerly interrupt, but only if they don't have their facts straight. If you are trying to prove just how right you are and the tone isn't right, I can predict that you will lose. Learn to paraphrase; if you didn't get it right, they will correct you. This is one of the best skills for gaining clarity and getting on the same page, thereby building trust and rapport.
A technique I used to become more aware of my verbal blabber was to pinch the area between my thumb and forefinger to remember to slow down and wait. Within 60 seconds, I was able to be less reactive and ask critical questions. Finding a remedy for TMI Syndrome is better for all parties. Collaboration is the new name of the game, and reciprocal conversational skills are required.