O CC U PAT I O N A L M E D I C I N E Learning to be Direct in Sales Negotiations ■ FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH “We aren’t in 1939 anymore, Alice.” Rule #2: Enhance Your Verbal Communication Style I Cleaning up your written material is comparatively easy—pro- vided you take the time—because you give yourself a chance to go back and clean things up. Not so with the spoken word; once said, spoken words are forever. Be vigilant about streamlining your verbal communication. n 2008, we live in a vastly different world in which we feel information-saturated, overburdened, and pressed for time. It is a world in which long dialogue is generally a nui- sance and short, to-the-point interchange is embraced. It is a world that values Headline News, USA Today, and Internet blogs more than traditional news shows or in-depth books. In short, we live in a world in which people want things short, simple, and digestible. That includes decision-makers to whom you are trying to explain the benefits of your services. We all need to learn how to prosper within the confines of the sound bite world in which we operate. To do this well, we all need to “cut to the chase” to get our core message across. Rule #1: Mince the Written Word Whether you are writing a proposal, designing promotional material, or simply sending an e-mail, eliminate verbosity to yield big results. This can be accomplished in three simple steps: Ⅲ Review everything you write and eliminate any para- graphs you can. Ⅲ Then review the remaining text and eliminate any sen- tences you can. Ⅲ Finally, review your remaining sentences and elimi- nate any words you can. The shorter a written document, the more likely a reader will read the remaining words and absorb your central point. Frank Leone is president and CEO of RYAN Associates and executive director of the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals. Mr. Leone is the author of numerous sales and marketing texts and periodicals, and has considerable experience training medical profes- sionals on sales and marketing techniques. E-mail him at fleone@naohp.com. 34 Rule #3: Set the Stage State your objective(s) up front in clear and concise terms. Begin sales calls, phone calls or meetings with a clear decla- ration of your objective. Don’t be afraid to define exactly what you are doing (e.g., “My objective is…”). Be honest and keep it brief. Rule #4: Speak Sparingly, but Carry a Big Stick When you are engaged in dialogue, it is generally a good practice to limit each comment to two or three sentences. We often value depth of detail ahead of being concise when just the opposite should be true. You want the other person to feel that they are controlling the conversation. The best way to create a perception of buyer-control is to let the buyer do most of the talking. In many respects, you are trying to create the verbal equivalent of the aforementioned written communication dictum: “eliminate paragraphs, then eliminate sentences, then eliminate words.” Rule #5: “Because” Tying a reason to everything you say—usually within the same sentence—saves you time. The word because should be used over and over again. Rather than say “We’d like to have you tour our clinic,” say “We’d like to have you tour our clinic because it is the best way for you to understand the quality of our program and compare us to other options.” Rule #6: Call a Close a Close Many sales professionals are uncomfortable asking for the JUCM T h e J o u r n a l o f U r g e n t C a r e M e d i c i n e | M a r c h 2 0 0 8 Continued on page 36. w w w. j u c m . c o m