“You Talk Too Much” – Sounds of Marketing
“You Talk Too Much,” King of Rock (1985) by Run DMC
Listen while you read!
Watch the video!
Shut Up!
Don’t you wish you could say that to those people who go on and on in meetings or selling situations?
You Talk Too Much…
It seems like they say the same thing over and over again.
Hey! You over there, I know about your kind
You’re like the Independent Network News on Channel 9
They barely pause to breathe and love the sound of their own voice.
Twenty-five hours, eight days a week
Thirteen months a year, is when you speak
Sometimes overconfidence leads salespeople to wing it or think they know more than the customer. In other instances, anxiety or a lack of self-esteem makes the presenter go on and on without thinking of the consequences.
You talk about people you don’t even know
You talk about places you never go
Your mouth’s moving fast and your brain’s moving slow
The end result of all this jabbering? Failure to convey your message. Rejection of good ideas. Lost sales. Misunderstandings.
You wonder how you got in this mess
Just think of what you said, then take a guess
How can you avoid this fate? The first step is to prepare prior to your call or meeting. Set clear, specific goals based on what you want to achieve or your desired outcome from the interaction. As you read this, you might be thinking this is common sense. But do you do it prior to every call, meeting or conversation? It doesn’t take much time and it will change the outcome dramatically.
Listen actively to your target audience rather than planning what you will say next while they are talking. Watch their body language and respond accordingly. Repeat back what you think you heard to clarify things. Then listen some more and work to meet their needs. Make it about them.
You talk too much! Homeboy you never shut up
There’s no magic potion or secret sauce. It’s easy to understand what to do. Plan, prepare, listen, meet their needs. Run DMC might’ve broken it down another way: stop illin’ and start listening.
