I decided to sit down and speak to my sales group at work about how we can win the business of our client and the science behind that. We got the group together and invited people from other departments such as shipping and also the processing departments.

Starting out I explained the life cycle of what we do what we that is important. I wanted to make it a point that we were all on the same page, even if that meant a little repetition for some people. I then went into depth on a description of who our client is and how we find them. In this particular scenario I explained that our client is a purchaser of bulk super fruits. Much of our clients have much need for our fruits and buy in large quantities, but for one reason or another they don not prefer to go outside the United States to seek the fruit from a cheaper source. This is where we come in. Because of our expertise of going outside the continental U.S, we can bring the fruit to our clients. This process feeds the appetites of both parties. They are willing to pay a little more for the fruit they need without having the issue of international customs to deal with and shipping costs involved.

It is not hard to find a client and make a sale. This was not the point I wanted to drive home in this training. What I wanted to drive home was that of how we view a client and how we can have them as a reoccurring client versus a one and done deal.

When  working with our clients we want to know more about them than just simply what they want. We want to know what they require. Are there any processes that they have to go through when we give them the fruit that we can already have done for cheaper for them? We don't merely want to appear as a seller to the client but a lionize and a friend.

A lot of times I will go visit our clients in person. I spoke to the group about this in depth and why it is so important. To be able to know my client better than the next broker, I need to go and get to know that client. What would set me apart from the other brokers is that I can now relate more to them individually and lets me draw from a well of trust that strengthens our relationship. At this point we then are talking to our client on a regular basis and we are not only looking at a one or two sale deal but a residual of sales and now become their go-to guys.

My Linkery Survey that I passed out had questions that would rate me on my filler words. How well I related to the audience. What the situation and speech applied to the individuals where they felt investment in the speech and closer because of it? I was happy to see for the most part I was able to see that my audience felt engaged and involved. They felt that the discussion was beneficial for them and time well spent. I still use filler words. What I found interesting is that when I used visuals in my speech and examples to explain my filler words were used a lot less. My filler words increased when i was not drawing off of other "props" to help my case , speech out in getting my point across.

This has helped me to realize that I need to focus more on being able to prepare and know how I can more productively change my habits of filler words without props. Just starting to notice this myself through these grading scales I gave out has helped me to be more cautious about using less filler words and also aware of what I need to do instead.