I’m a pretty good listener. I try to stay aware of the other people in the room, asking second and third questions to reach a stimulating conversation. However, I also love telling stories and contrary to my wife’s opinion, I’m pretty good at it … just ask me. Every now and then, I’ll catch myself telling a story to a customer or prospective customer and realize that they probably started daydreaming ninety seconds ago. Then, I feel stupid. After all, I teach this stuff.
Has this ever happened to you? If not, tell me how the water surface feels on the bottom of your feet. This happens to all sales and business professionals at one time or another. What do you do? Should you continue to the end of your story? Should you finish, but shorten the story? What about abruptly stopping? This last technique might relieve your audience, but it could be awkward.
I’ve come up with a very simple method of handling the “I’m boring my audience” scenario, and thought it would be a good idea to share with you …
Once you catch yourself and your audience, make it obvious. Be real about it. It can be as easy as stopping mid-sentence and saying: “Sorry about that. I could talk about fly fishing all day. Let’s get back to the matter at hand, shall we?” A self-deprecating joke always works: “As you can tell, I’m very passionate about security as a service. You’re not the first people I’ve bored to death. So, where were we?”
Sometimes, getting off track and bringing the audience back with humility and self-confidence makes the meeting flow smoother than if you never bored them in the first place.
So, the next time you bore your customer or prospect, stop mid-sentence and laugh at yourself. Be real. Your audience will love you for it.
