And let’s be honest here, we have all had this thought at some point or another. Maybe you were interviewing someone for a job, maybe you were listening to a sales proposal, maybe you were in a conference or a seminar – or maybe you were talking to someone when networking! You were listening and wondering why you were actually involved in the conversation.
I have written previously on making sure that you know who your ideal customer or client is and how to ask for their business. However, what you need to remember is that they are thinking the same thing as you may have thought previously – WIIFM!
There are a number of things that you can do to get past the WIIFM shutters and I am going to share three with you here that you can take out and use.
1. Ask more or better questions:
You may see this as a theme in the articles I write on networking and you would be absolutely right. In networking (and in sales, in fact) the quality of your results really is determined by the quality of the questions that you ask. You need to ask enough targeted, relevant and open questions (from a point of view of interest and not interrogation). Once you are then sharing information on your product or service, you can do so in a way that draws on the answers you received to your questions and the person that you are talking to automatically knows “What’s In It For Them”.
2. Discuss benefits not features:
One of the great things about most people is that they are working with a product or service that they love and are passionate about. The reason I say this is the passion is a great thing, however it can often blinker us to what other people are hearing or actually need to know from us.
One of the ways that we can get past this is to concentrate on thinking and talking about the benefits of our product or service rather than the features.
To give you an example as someone who is not the most technical person in the world: I meet someone at a networking event who sells mobile phones and in the course of our conversation I mention I may be looking for a new phone. Immediately, this person begins to give me the technical specifications of the handset, network and package – and they lose me in about the first 30 seconds.
The reason they lose me is that they are talking about the features yet giving me no benefits or WIIFM.
On the other hand, in the same situation, they hear me say I work overseas and tell me there is a great deal on roaming - then I know exactly why I am listening and will do so for much longer. It is not that I am not concerned with the details or don’t understand them – I just need to know why it is relevant for me to listen any further.
3. Stand in their shoes:
… No, not literally.
This is a great skill to develop in general conversation and in business as well as in networking. Be aware of the other person in the conversation and think about the information you are sharing.
A piece of advice that is often given is to “Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself” and that is a great starting point although not the whole story. What we need to be aiming for is to treat others as they would like to be treated and not assume that they are exactly like us.
If you pay attention to body language, remember their answers to your questions and keep the conversation as a dialogue not a monologue or a scripted conversation, you will be well on the way to standing in their shoes.
Remember that networking is about relating to people, and can be a lot of fun! Don’t leave people asking that same unconstructive question of “What’s In It For Me?” – it really is all about them!
Ruth Thirtle is passionate about helping business people to achieve even greater levels of success. She is a success coach, NLP Trainer and regular speaker at networking events with her company “Your Abundance Now” www.abundantyou.com. She has also worked with the world’s largest business referral organization. She knows the power of maximizing word of mouth referrals and understands how this can greatly help small business. To arrange your complimentary 30-minute coaching call and see what Ruth can do to help you achieve even greater levels of success, contact her on info@abundantyou.com. | 
