I bet you’ve done this before whether you knew at the time or not. Perhaps, when you got off the phone or left a meeting you noticed, upon reflection, that you “made it personal” without intending to. We’ve all done it many times and breaking this habit can be difficult. The worst part is that you may not even realize that you are doing it.

I’m talking about giving autobiographical responses. What often should be impersonal ends up being personal which may not be such a good thing. In sales, related conversations where we have all talked about our kids, our families, where we live and so on, I’ve found that much of this is too personal in some cases. Sometimes people simply want to share their thoughts or feelings and even offer advice. In almost all cases, this has nothing to do with why you’re meeting or speaking with said person to begin with.

You should ask yourself some questions when exercising this… how does this pertain to my work at hand? Will it help sell more of my business opportunities that I need to be selling by divulging personal information that has nothing to do with my  business opportunity? Does this help the person I’m sitting down with understand me or my franchise better? You would hope that it is the later as you are solely there for business purposes.

It is always a good thing to establish a rapport with your customers or prospects. That is very true and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there is a fine line between talking about personal relationships or recent incidents in relation to what you are selling which can help boost the bottom line. Sometimes less information is better if you know what I mean.

So, the next time you think you’ve been too personal with a client or prospect you probably were. Try to keep it less personal and more professional. This may help close more sales and ultimately make more money.

Carpe Diem My Friends!