Laura Khalil: 0:40

Hey friends, it is your homegirl, laura Kalil, and I wanna welcome you to another episode of Big Deal Energy, and today we are diving into one of the biggest conversation killers that might be tanking your business, and that's talking too much. Now I know what you're thinking, laura. Aren't I supposed to talk to sell my services? Yeah, but here's the kicker the most powerful sales move isn't talking at all, it's knowing what to say when you do speak, and today I'm going to share with you three questions. You should ask every prospect. That will help you connect on a deeper level, uncover those true needs and, best of all, never sound salesy again. So, whether or not you're concerned with speaking too much or you're just like not sure what to say on these sales conversations, what I'm going to share will help you better connect to the people you meet. This episode is going to change the way you don't just approach networking events and trying to sell to people, but it's going to help you approach every conversation you have from here on out. All right, sounds pretty cool, so let's jump in Now.

Laura Khalil: 1:54

I want you to picture this You're at a networking event and someone shoves a business card into your hand and they start pitching their services. Right? Does that sound familiar to you? They're dropping every stat, every fact, every testimonial, but they haven't asked you one meaningful thing about yourself. And you nod politely. But if you're like me, you're actually trying to like fake an emergency phone call or like get to the side of the room or get away from them. Right, does this sound familiar? Okay, it's straining, it's frustrating and you never want to be this person.

Laura Khalil: 2:31

And it's for those who may fear that, gosh, I know I talk too much or I know that, like I just get going, this is really going to help you. The problem is that we never want to come off that way. So many of us have a tendency to overcorrect and just not talk at all or avoid these situations or just like non-politely right Now. Ironically, the worst offenders of this are the people who we traditionally think are the quote-unquote best salespeople. We often think extroverts are the best salespeople. Now, I love my extroverts, but this is where they can have the biggest challenges, because they'll just keep going and going. And it's not every extrovert. So you know, you may not have this challenge, but this is definitely a challenge. We see with extroverts way more than we'd see it within introverts, and one thing you have to know is that introverts actually make spectacular salespeople for their business because they harness the power of listening right. They do that much more easily than an extrovert, and and again I'm painting broad brush strokes, so you're going to have to discern this information for yourself.

Laura Khalil: 3:51

What we really need to be doing in any conversation is not waiting for the chance to speak, but really listening, to seek to understand the person in front of us, and that's what I want to help you with today. I want you to trust me Listening is where the magic happens. I'm about to give you three questions that will transform your conversations and take the salesy out of your approach and help you more deeply connect with anyone, whether you're an introvert or you're an extrovert. And when you're listening through what I'm about to share with you, you're not just being polite. You're actually going to be listening for opportunities. You're going to be listening to how people talk about their problems, their goals and their dreams and, to be really honest with you, this is what most people are not doing, so I've been immediately set you apart. Here's something we don't often think about People buy from people they like.

Laura Khalil: 4:51

If you have two of the exact same products facing one another, and you know they're both being sold by a salesperson and there's really very little distinguishable difference between these products. They're going to buy from the person they like more. They're going to buy from the person who makes them feel seen and heard. This is human nature. The more you listen, the more trust you build, and that is, to be honest with you, half of the battle in sales. So in your initial conversations with a new prospect, you're going to do the opposite of what conventional wisdom would tell you to do. You are not going to shove your service down anyone's throat. You're going to focus entirely on them. You're going to focus on building rapport. You're going to focus on leaving people feeling great after talking to you, because if they feel great after talking to you, they are very likely going to want to continue to talk to you down the road.

Laura Khalil: 5:53

All right, because if you've truly listened to what they've said and you feel that you could help them, the approach I'm going to share with you will open doors to the next conversation where you can go deeper into the sales process. You do this through something I call a curiosity conversation. Curiosity conversation is a simple three-question framework designed to uncover what's really going on with your prospect or really anyone. You're talking to all without ever coming across as salesy. And here is the beauty of the curiosity conversation. You can have this conversation with anyone, whether it's a neighbor talking about a home improvement project, a colleague stuck on a task or a potential client at a networking event. And the reason I bring that up is because, with anything we do, we need to get practice at it. So I would, as I share this with you, think about like just trying this out and practicing it with the people you interface with day to day.

Laura Khalil: 6:54

This framework is universal and people will appreciate that you're genuinely interested because, let's be real, like I said earlier, most people are just waiting for their turn to speak. They're not actually listening to anything you say. So here are the questions that make up the curiosity conversation. Question one tell me what are you working on? Question two what would you love for it to look like when it's done? And question three do you need help with that? These questions open the door for connection, understanding and trust. And guess what? They're not sales questions. We're not actually offering ourselves up to solve anything for them or do anything for them when we ask that third question do you need help with that? We're not even suggesting that. Maybe that would be us, maybe they don't need help with that, and that's just a good thing to know. These are simply conversation starters that get people to talk about what they care about, and that's where you'll find out if and how you can help.

Laura Khalil: 7:57

Now, if the questions the way that I presented them feels like a little bit too formal for the situation you're in, you can always adapt them, and so you could adapt them to say like hey, what are you up to these days? And the second question could become how do you hope it'll turn out? And the third question can become could you use a hand with that? So you definitely can adapt these. And when you ask these kinds of questions, you position yourself as a trusted advisor, not just another person trying to talk someone's ear up. Consultants, entrepreneurs, business owners, people like us we are paid for our expertise, our insights and our ability to solve problems, not for our ability to dominate a conversation. So by listening and asking thoughtful, open-ended questions, you're showing that you really want to understand their business and are here to help them solve their biggest challenges, and people will love you for this, because the truth is and I've been doing this for a very, very long time the truth is that very few people take the time to sincerely care about the person in front of them, and when you make that person feel cared about, you are changing the entire game. So this is what has helped my clients.

Laura Khalil: 9:16

When we are rocking and rolling and getting business, when we are signing $20,000 contracts, $75,000 contracts and up, they all have a curiosity conversation at some point embedded into that process. It is simple, it is incredibly effective and it's something that I want to give you some homework to. I want you to go have a curiosity conversation in your back pocket and try it out this week. Whether you're at a networking event, a client call or you're talking to someone in line at the cotton shop, practice listening and asking these three questions and you'll be amazed how quickly people will open up and how much easier selling becomes. When you actually understand what somebody's real problem is. We're not shoving products down their throat that they have said they don't need or we're not highlighting the right problem they face because we haven't listened for it. All right, get curious. Because we haven't listened for it. All right, get curious. I'm excited for you to have a curiosity conversation and tell me when. Until then, I will see you in the next episode of Big Deal Energy.