I remember reading once that the best way to be perceived by your boss or co-workers as being a hard worker was to move quickly and appear to always be busy with something. While this may indeed be true when trying to fool your cubical-mates it will often fail to influence any serious prospect. I think this sort of quick-talking, mercurial behavior can be very counterproductive if one wants to be perceived as respectable and confident in a selling situation.
Let's be honest, your prospect doesn’t care how busy or hectic your day is, they only want to know that whatever you’re selling is worth their time to hear about. While you never want to be seen as having lots of free time, it’s important to look as though you have control over your schedule and are relaxed and comfortable in your own skin. Why are you so comfortable? Because you represent a valuable, much sought after product/service and you don’t need to convince anyone of it. You're happy to talk about whether or not it is a fit but you don't need to "sell" it.
So, this all goes back to the theme of what we project and how we wish to be perceived by others. Ultimately, what is the image we want to have that’s most conducive to business and sales success? Quite often the simple answer to this is – to simply do the opposite of what’s expected; Everyone expects the cliché “fast talking salesman” so why would we want to present that way?
I’m the first to admit that, at times, I’ve been guilty of this type of rapid-fire talk-a-thon and I have had to step back and ask myself why. Maybe we think that by overwhelming the prospect with information we can avoid rejection or talk our way past objections, obstacles and ultimately rejection. Of course this doesn’t work, but we still do it. One step to reversing this that I have found effective is to simply slow down the actual speed that I speak when engaging a prospect and allow the right energy and attitude to follow
How do you do this?
Simple - slow down. The next time you are on a sales call, whether you are giving a presentation or asking questions or telling a story and building rapport, just slow the pace of your speech. Try to be aware of your words and speak more deliberately and confidently. If you find yourself grasping for words, simply stop talking. With some practice you may find that your rapport with clients improves and more importantly you may find yourself listening to your clients/prospects more.