Build rapport, be polite!
Politeness doesn't necessarily sell, but the lack of it can kill a deal. The president is a prodigious thanker. In Fargo on Thursday, he thanks everyone at the Bison Center for comin' (droppin' more g's than he does in Washington). He thanks his hosts at North Dakota State University, thanks the governor, congratulates North Dakota State's women's basketball team for bein' unbeaten. Wherever he goes, Laura sends her best.
Like many politicians, the president loves to speak plainly about how plainspoken he is, reiterating that he is speaking "as bluntly and frankly as I can" about "the perils we face." Also, like many politicians based in Washington, Bush loves to talk about how "invigorating" it is to get out of Washington. It is a nod to the audience, granting himself another dash of he's-one-of-us credibility. Bush mentions crop reports in North Dakota, cowboy hats in Montana, college football in Nebraska and beef in all three states.
"If you find common subjects or interests with a prospect," Gitomer writes, "you can establish a business friendship." In an interview, he adds, "You never start your pitch until you're friends with someone."
Gitomer calls himself the "best sales trainer in the world" and, more to the point, someone who has "hundreds of thousands of friends."
Use visuals (including yourself)!
At each event, Bush stands in front of a big chart describing the "Demographics of Social Security." In 1950, there were 16 workers paying for one beneficiary, the chart says. Today there are 3.3. It displays in stark terms what Bush calls "the math," or "the problem." He used to call it a "crisis," but he rarely uses the term anymore.
But a seller's most important visual tool is his own body. According to research by UCLA psychologist and body language expert Albert Mehrabian, verbal cues convey only 7 percent of a message while vocal tones convey 38 percent. Visual cues convey 55 percent.
Bush dresses professionally in a pressed gray suit and bright red tie (eschewing the open collars and jeans of his campaign). The president walks briskly onstage, which sends an energetic message. "I want to do business with people who move fast," says Hopkins (who adds that he himself walks faster than anyone he knows).
Bush needs to work on his verbal cues, some experts say. He mispronounces words and smiles at odd times. "It can make him seem a little unsure of himself, or that he's covering something up," says Dave Lahkani, author of the forthcoming book "Persuasion -- the Art of Getting What You Want."
Bush's fast-moving manner can make his listening skills appear suspect, Lahkani says. This point is bolstered during Bush's onstage "conversations."
In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, "I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters."
"Fantastic," the president exclaims, and he tells her she has "the hardest job in America, being a single mom."
Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems "uniquely American" and "fantastic." He asks her if she gets any sleep.
