How to make a great first impression on prospects on the phone and in a sales meeting
One of the situations we faced is having a sales conversation where customers feel uncomfortable or annoyed. This can be due to a bad initial impression. The prospective customers lose patience fast. So, we need to know the steps, to start the sales process on the right foot.
In this article on "first impression in sales", we'll charm you with: leaving a solid impression on the phone and next part in face to face meetings.
Before we start, let's postpone the numbers a bit to see how good first impressions matter.
Statistics of the importance of making a good first impression on customers
Almost 3/4 of the customers will market you to six people or more. Meaning that, if you leave a good first, at least 6 people will hear about that. You can read more here.
You have around 20 seconds to build a positive attitude on your potential clients. You can read more here.
Table of content
How to leave a great first impression in sales phone calls
Let's say you are in a grocery shop. You have a shopping list, and you are concentrating on what you need to buy. Suddenly, a sales rep is calling you. He wants to sell you a communication package including internet and cable TV. He starts to speak, but he doesn't do active listening. You are in a rush, and he doesn't appreciate your time. Hence, you tell him that you don't want anything. He leaves a bad first impression!
This is only one example of how we fall, at the beginning of the sales call. In this section, we'll charm you on how to avoid common mistakes when starting a sales discussion on the phone. In addition, how you can make your actual customers curious about what you have to say next.
The common sense of starting a sales call and which mistakes to avoid
Let's start with an example. A mortgage advisor is calling you:
Mortgage advisor: Hello, Am I speaking with MRS Jones? You: What? Who? (You are in a mall with your children and there is a loud noise) Mortgage advisor: My name is Smith. I'm an expert in lowering your mortgage payment by at least 10% a month. You shout because you can't hear the advisor. No, I don't need anything.
In this case, if you were at home, and you could hear the advisor, you may show interest. However, now if he will try to call you again, you will be annoyed. This is due to the fact he disturbed you and didn't respect your time.
As you figured it out, you don't want to have a first bad interaction. When you don't listen to the customers' reactions, or if they are not able to speak, you create a bad experience in customers' eyes.
There are two conclusions to keep in mind in the first sentence and second sentence. First, you ought to know that you speak with the right person. You do that by simply asking the customers that you have reached the right person. Second, you want to comprehend that customers can and are willing to speak with you. You do that by greeting them. Let's examine the next example to understand this topic better.
You: Have I reached MR Smith? MR Smith: Yes You: My name is George. Good morning Mr Smith smiles a bit: Good morning
This is a good situation where the customer gives you a slightly signal that he wants and can speak with you. Whenever the customers answer to you shortly or sounded annoyed, ask them at the end of the second sentence, if it is a good time to speak. There are high chances they wouldn't want to speak. However, at least, you could speak with the customers in better times.
In the second scenario, you want the customers to have undivided attention. You want them to be in quiet surroundings. If they aren't, schedule future interactions with them to another time.
Next, we'll charm you with how to continue your sales introduction with a real person, a client.
What you should say to make customers curious and to move forward to sales questions
Let's examine the next example and see how you should enter the sales call. In this case, you own a digital marketing agency.
You: Am I speaking with MRS White? MRS White: Yes, whom do I speak with? You: My name is Ben. Nice to meet you. MRS White: Nice to meet you too. You: MRS White, I'm calling you from A to Z digital marketing agency. We specialize in the beauty industry and give our clients up to 10% more leads a month. I saw on Facebook that you own a beauty saloon, right? MRS White: Yes I do. You: Excellent! I work with dozens of beauty saloons and I hear all the time that the competition is harsh nowadays. Do you feel it also? MRS White: A bit. You: OK, so we can help you win the competition in your area by reaching up to 90% of your target audience. Before we explain further let me ask you a couple of questions.
As you can see, in the first sentence, we checked that we had been speaking with the right person. This, as presented before.
In the second sentence, we greet the customer. Hence, we can begin with good customer relationships.
In the third, forth and fifth sentences, we wanted to make this customer curios. We mentioned our competitive advantage of being an expert in the beauty industry and spoke about our great results. In the fourth sentence we presented the issues we are trying to solve in the industry. In the fifth sentence, we gave a sense of taste of what solutions we can offer. Then, we tried to move forward by asking closed questions. This is the corrective action to open a sales call.
In the next part, we'll charm you with leaving a great first impression in a sales client meeting.
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How to leave a great first impression when meeting customers in person
Let's look at the next example and see what you shouldn't do in a business meeting. This time we take an example of water solutions for businesses.
Water purification agent approaches a garage owner. She takes a deep breath which seems that she is not confident. The garage owner smiles at her, but her facial expressions are frozen. He reaches out to shake her hand, but she shakes his hand weakly.
In this surreal situation, you can be sure that the garage owner won't think that the water agent is a trustworthy person. Hence, the chances he would raise many harsh sales objections later on are extremely high.
In this part, we'll charm you how to avoid the mistakes the water agent made in person meetings.
Wear the right outfit to build a great mutual connection
Think over the last example. If you are going to have a B2B sales meeting with a garage owner, would you come with a suit? This is a great question! When you meet with a local garage owner, perhaps you should come with a jeans and a polo shirt. However, if you want to have a successful sale for garage owners of luxury cars, you will want to come with a suit.
As you can see, the best advice here is to wear clothes that match customers' expectations. That will appeal to people as more professional.
Use body language as expressions of confidence
Let's look at these possible B2B sales situations.
A car agent meets with a startup owner. He wants to rent five cars to his executives. She looks relaxed, stands tall, and her shoulders are straight.
On the other hand, a lawyer meets with 2 business owners. They want to prepare a commercial contract for their clients. However, his hands are tied, they are crossed, and he looks at the ground.
It is obvious that in the first example the car agent will leave a positive mindset towards her. In the second example, it would be negative.
In this case, try to look confident and comfortable by standing tall, straight, speaking a bit with your hands but not too much and relaxing your fingers.
Compare a firm handshake with your customers
Let's go back to the first example of the water agent. She had a weak handshake. This can be appealed as low self-confidence. On the other side, if you shake too hard, an actual customer can see you as too dominant. Attractive People will have a strong handshake that is equal to the customers or a bit stronger.
Mimic the facial expressions of customers
You meet with a graphic designer. You look serious and even a bit angry. Still she smiled at you. What do you think would happen?
Sales professionals know that when customers smile, you should smile back. However, when they are more serious, you should look the same. This helpful attitude will build a rapport with your customers and a sales-positive mindset.
Stare at customers eyes
Think over the lawyer example. He looks at the ground. This will be interpreted as low self-confidence. Hence, customers would tend to be more suspicious. On the other hand, when you look straight to customers' eyes, they feel you know what you are speaking about. You look a more professional, trustworthy person and customers will be more attentive when you present the product solution.
Summary of the first impression in sales article
In this article we charmed you with: how to have a great sales pitch on the phone, in the introduction phase. In addition, what the principles are to leave the best impression in face to face meetings.
On the phone, do, always, active listening. Hear whether the customers can and want to speak with you. This, especially, when doing a cold calling. Furthermore, build curiosity by mentioning your added value, the problem you want to solve and how you would do that.
In frontal meetings, you should keep in mind the visual part. Match the clothing to the target audience, stare at customers' eyes, look relaxed and confident. Also, be emphatic to customers' feelings and have a strong handshake but not too much.
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