Now you’re speaking my language

by: Chasity Monk

When coaching our financial institution clients on how to sell SWBC’s products (like GAP, MMP, credit life insurance, etc.), our training team encourages participants to provide ongoing feedback. We want to know if the tactics and messaging we taught them worked in a real-life sales situation—and, more importantly, we want to know if they didn’t work.

As one might expect, some institutions report having great success, while others tell us that customers decline them before they even finish the first sentence.

Although I understand objections (and know that could be a topic on its own), there’s one thing I’ve noticed that most, if not all, of our lower performing clients have in common—and spoiler alert: it’s not difficult customers who are unwilling to buy.

Whenever a financial institution tells me they are having a hard time selling our products and services to their customers, I immediately respond with one question: “Are you speaking their language?”

This simple question stumps people every time. The typical answer I get is: “Of course I speak their language. I mean, I speak English. Heck, I even speak Spanish. How else would I communicate the benefits of this product in the first place?!”

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