It came to me in a blinding flash the other day. Conversation.
We've lost sight of conversation. We use words like "Rapport" which isn't much of a word we use in everyday conversation. "I had great rapport today!" I know, some of us are introvert and shy, so am I, but it is about just having a conversation with people.
We've overanalysed and broken down and built up, what should just be a normal chat with people. I take my guide from The Cluetrain Manifesto, and those guys (Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Chris Locke) for how it's becoming, plus the Fifth Beatle, Dave Winer. The first 5 points from the 95 Theses of Cluetrain;
- Markets are conversations.
- Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
- Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
- Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
- People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.
So I'm doing away with the word "Rapport". It's a conversation. The category will be "Conversation". My thinking behind this, is, I strongly believe that Selling can be split up into 3 categories through which all the skills can be classified.
1. Qualifying
2. Conversation
3. Networking
And there's a fourth, which is Self Development, which includes things like Getting Things Done.
So now we have the second category of 3 main ones, Conversation, and it's probably Networking, for the next post.
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