I’d just started lecturing at University and worked alongside a very experienced colleague whose students always achieved incredible results.  One day, I asked him how he did it and his answer surprised me …

He said teaching had little to do with command of the content 

 … and everything to do with the control of the energy in the room.

Students learn when they are in a curious state and they don’t learn when they are bored.  

This is as true for the 30 year old learner, as it is for the 10 year old.

He told me that while he knew his material backwards, he had to get into the room first to find out what the energy was like.  

What mood was the class in?  

Was the energy high or low?

Once he discovered that, he could teach the lesson in a way that would engage them at the highest level.

He told me to never teach the way I wanted to teach, but instead, to teach the way they wanted to learn.

All these years later, I often reflect on that life lesson when I think about selling.  

Of course, you must know your product well and understand the problems it solves.  

But you will have a much higher conversion rate if you sell in a way that they want to be sold to, rather than the way that you want to sell.

How do your customers want to be sold to?