Over time for many sales professionals the process of first impressions and conversations start to become a subconscious effort.
Do anything enough times and it’ll happen, but the difference here is that for a sales professional the first impression is one that opens up the doors for further conversation – and then you have to deal with that too!
First Impressions
You have 15 seconds (some will debate that it’s 8 seconds) to provide the best possible first impression to your clients. How are you planning on creating the most effective and fulfilling impression?
Take a moment to consider these questions and role play the general approach you use when meeting a new client. You’ll probably be doing fine however some key aspects of the first impression many people forget to even consider.
Forget about the 15 second first impression rule and align yourself with the idea that the first impression is going to last the duration of the meeting – could be 5 minutes or it could be 30 – either way you need to be able to create and maintain that first impression throughout the meeting.
Get Fashionable
This is not to say that you have to raid Gucci for all of their finest cashmere but instead realise that scruffy looking sales people generally do incredibly poorly when it comes to first impressions and even maintaining the relationship.
Haircuts are a must; no matter how likely you are to close the deal, every first meeting needs to portrait a positive image. Sales people generally have a “uniform” when it comes to attire so it’s best to just stick with that – pinstripes should be forgotten about right now.
Read the News
It doesn’t matter what your political opinion is about current affairs just ensure you’re up to date with everything that is happening in the world. Not only does it provide an easy conversation starter it also can help create an idea of the clients though processes and most importantly it builds bridges.
Also avoid comic newspapers where they’ll discuss the mechanics behind why a baked bean looks like a religious figure.
There are plenty of news feeders out there that let you read a synopsis of the top news for the day, alternatively you could set up a Google Alerts for keywords that involve your industry or your clients.
Basic Etiquette
‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ seems to have gone missing these days, simply by using these words you’ll start to leave an instant impression. Again simple things such as firm handshakes and removing hats indoors can be the key difference between someone that’s remembered or forgotten – another note to consider the fact that the client may not be used to this etiquette so it’ll be an instant shock when you do it.
Much like the news, books and articles/blogs can be a key ingredient for building up relationships. Not only does it show the client that you’re interested in similar pieces of writing, it also helps you become even smarter!
Interest
Looking away whilst shaking hands? Asking irrelevant questions? All signs of someone who just doesn’t give a damn – they don’t have their head in the game.
Don’t be that sales person who turns off when the client is talking, you should be giving your full undeterred attention at all times. Not only does it help you to qualify and learn about the customer it also makes the client consider you to be a good listener.
If however it’s the other way around, the client is uninterested, do yourself a favour and cut the meeting short – there’s really no need to waste time if someone is realistically never going to buy from you.
The Conversation
WHY?
You’re a sales person so you need to understand why exactly are you about to go into this meeting, why are you making this call and so on. The last thing a busy client wants to get is a “catching up” phone call that only has the purpose of you trying to maintain mindshare.
I’ll tell you how to quadruple that mindshare – add value with every contact. Turn a catch up into an educational intensive course on a new law/rule/advancement that will directly affect your client. Something like this is going to stop them in their tracks and listen.
Always, before any form on contact is made, know exactly why you’re calling, what the end goal should (ideally) be and how you’re planning on doing that. Even if the conversation goes off course you’ll have the game plan to get you back into place.
What Did You Say?
If you’re listening and doing it well you’ll never have to ask for something to be repeated, obviously if there’s a load noise you may be excused to ask again, use this as personal test whenever you’re in a meeting to determine if you’re actually listening.
I can’t promote enough the need to listen and to do it well, it has a considerable effect on how you’re perceived as a professional but also it gives you the chance to arm yourself with an incredible amount of knowledge and dig deeper to further produce a solution directly to your client’s needs.
Think First
Part of being a sales professional is to address the client’s needs and to offer viable and effective solutions – however many of us can get caught out in the later/final stages of the sales cycle just to simple close the deal.
At this point it’s vital that you don’t lose your cool and start offering brash discounts and free items without first calculating or thinking what you plan to say through.
Ultimately the point of thinking first and then answering is that you’ll be able to, again, have a meaningful conversation that digs deeper into the needs of the client and gives you the characteristics of a good listener.
