My top favorite three words in the English language are “chocolate,” “theatre,” and “fun.” What are your three favorite words? (Keep it clean, now!)

In sales, my three favorite words are vastly different. They are “oh,” “tell,” and “when.” In this article, I’ll share with you why these three words will work magic in helping you to close more sales. After you have finished trying these words out in your calls, indulge in YOUR three favorite words!

The first word, “oh,” is a great catch-all to assist you when you either:

Have a difficult question from your customer You’re shocked by what you’ve just heard your customer has just shared valuable information about your competitor You’re stumped.

As an example, you are in the middle of your product presentation and the customer interrupts you and says, “No need to go any further—I’ve heard this before.”

Now it’s your turn to say, “Oh?” The customer will elaborate upon where he’s heard the presentation (from an ad, your competitor, a Web site, etc.) and you have information you can use to advance the sale. Remember, you have not argued with your customer nor agreed with him. You are simply inquiring in a professional, non-threatening way that you simply want more information. It’s gold. Try it.

Next is the “tell” word. This is my personal favorite because it is a technique to gather information from your customer without an interrogation of who, what, where, when, how, why, etc. until the customer is tempted to scream “uncle!” from having to answer too many questions when she doesn’t have the time.

Here’s how to use this one: Let’s say you need to find out about the decision-making process from your customer. In the past, your qualifying may have sounded like this:

“Who makes the decision?” “When is the decision going to be made?” “How much is your team planning on investing in this?” “What usually occurs when you meet to discuss the purchase?” “Why don’t I show up here to make a more formal presentation when your group meets?”

Now replace these five questions with one excellent “tell” question. Here’s how to gather the same information with only ONE question, replacing the series of five:

“Frank, tell me about the decision-making process.”

Then be quiet. Frank now has to tell you a story of how the process will take place, who is involved, when they’ll meet and the rest. You get more value for your intelligent qualifying and, in the meantime, your customer sees you as a bright, experienced and confident sales professional he can trust.

My last favorite sales word is “when.” I see more and more sales professionals in our sessions who have the “two-week” disease. You know it. The disease sounds something like this:

“So, Frank, I guess you now know what we have to offer. How about I call you in two weeks to follow up?”

First of all, you have now set the criteria for following up. Why should that be YOUR decision? What if Frank is ready to buy today? Think you’ll get the sale? What if Frank can’t get the approval until April? What good will two weeks do for you?

See why I refer to this as the two-week disease? What’s so magic about two weeks? It’s a waste of time to impose this arbitrary timeframe on your customer when it really makes no sense whatsoever.
Nancy Reagan coined the phrase, “just say no.” I’d like to coin the phrase, “just ask when.” It goes like this…

Now Frank will tell you and you’re on his timeframe—not yours. If he says “tomorrow,” you’ll close sooner than expected. If he says “April,” at least you won’t be wasting valuable time calling him every two weeks UNTIL April!

Try my favorite magic words and watch your customers react more positively and close more sales. Oh, and for the other three? Chocolate, theatre and fun? I’ll work those into my sales calls! Happy selling!