Human interaction is a game of signals, and therefore so is selling.
Everything we do or say – or indeed, don’t do or say – gives others a signal.
Expert communicators (for instance negotiators, therapists or coaches) tend to be pretty good at correctly interpreting signals – and if you want your communication, as well as your sales to be easier, you might want to take a page out of their books, by installing what I can ‘doubt-bias’.
If you do, it can instantly, dramatically, improve your communication skills, and your sales.
It’s very simple, too: Whatever you think the other person meant to say or signal, you question whether or not you got it right, by default.
Instead of the standard "Oh they said this, so what they mean is that", you call your assessment into question, and ask yourself if you actually got it right, instead of simply believing that what you think they are saying, is actually what they intend for you to hear.
Because more often than not, we make interpretations and inferences based on confirmation bias, and we misread the message.
But by calling your interpretations into question, you stay open-minded to the message and signal that people are actually trying to send.
This matters a lot in the context of selling your work.
Because we all live with confirmation bias.
And all too often, that causes us to interpret signals that the other person is interested, as a signal that they are committed.
Clearly, obviously, those two are not the same.
And if you interpret an interest-signal (the buyer is interested in your solution, in the sales conversation, in how you work your magic) as a commitment-signal, you’ll react in a way that makes them tune out or back away.
They’re signalling "Interesting, tell me more" and your reaction signals "Great, let’s proceed to checkout!"
A fine way to break the sale.
Selling effectively really comes down to nothing more than correctly reading signals, and responding to the signals people intended to give, instead of the ones you think they gave – or, the ones you want them to give.
As long as a buyer stays interested, and you don’t misinterpret that as commitment, the conversation will continue, and they’ll get more and more ready to commit, all by themselves.
That’s how nice people sell their work: by letting the buyer enroll themselves.