1) Treat everyone you meet as if they are a close friend or family member.
By treating the prospect as a close friend or family member, you will ensure that you have their best interest in mind. People have a sixth sense and they know when you are more interested in making a sale than you are in helping them out. Thus you need to focus on the other person and what is best for them, as opposed to focusing on you, your company, your product, or the sale.
2) Work on the relationship and the connection before you focus on the sale.
Most salespeople are so focused on the sales process, the questions they need to ask, and the points they need to make, that they forget to focus on the prospect and make a personal connection before proceeding with the sale. See each prospect as an individual, each with a unique life experience with distinct needs and desires. Build some solid rapport before moving into the sales portion of the call.
3) Make a friend.
Your first objective is to be likeable, agreeable, get along, and make a friend. Your focus is not on showing the prospect how much you know or how little they know, or in getting in a debate over what they think they need versus what you think they need. Before you can educate the prospect and have them listen, or lead the prospect and have them follow, you must have a good connection and rapport.
4) Focus completely on the person to whom you’re speaking.
Be present with the person to whom you’re speaking and make sure you are paying close attention, asking good, thoughtful, relevant questions, and listening well. Do not focus on the phone in your pocket, the siren on the fire engine driving by, or the person who just walked in the door, give the person you’re talking to your undivided attention.
5) Treat each person as the most interesting person in the world.
If you ask people who they are most interested in, the majority will say themselves if they answer honestly; treat them as if they are. Ooze caring, empathy, and understanding while keeping in mind that these feelings must be genuine.
6) Have friendly, relaxed conversations.
Converse with each prospect as you would with a close friend. For the most part people are mirrors and will return what you send out. If you are relaxed, open, conversational, and show you care, your prospects will tend to mirror that.
7) Make sure everything about you sends the right message.
Make sure you are perceived as a consummate professional. Speak professionally and intelligently, in other words, use proper grammar and be knowledgeable about your industry. Dress the part and be well groomed, have a good handshake, make good eye contact, and conduct yourself professionally at all times.
The seven tips above will enable you to build trust and rapport rapidly and make a good first impression. Once you’ve made a good first impression, be sure to have strong follow up by doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it. After the initial meeting, your next objective is to make a good second, third, fourth impression, etc.
Have a sales question? E-mail John at johnchapin@completeselling.com. John Chapin’s specialty is helping salespeople and sales teams double sales in 12 months. He is an award-winning sales speaker, trainer and coach, a number one sales rep in three industries, and the primary author of the gold-medal winning “Sales Encyclopedia”. In his 24+ years of sales, customer service and management experience, he has thrived in some of the toughest markets and economies.
For access to John’s free monthly newsletter and white paper on what it takes to be successful in sales, visit John’s website at https://www.completeselling.com
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