In a recent post, I mentioned an article from the British magazine New Scientist on non-verbals in the job interview situation (very analogous to the initial face-to-face sales call).
But if you really want to know more, check out the website Simply Body Language. Lot of good stuff for the sales person. But also an array of funny videos and photos on when body language goes bad!
I came on a recent article on the website of Britain's New Scientist magazine that's very relevant to our main topic here, which of course is Selling face to face. The article: "Come-to-work eyes: Secrets of interview success," by Michael Bond. After all, walking in to meet with a sales prospect isn't so very different from walking in to a job interview.
The link is below so you can read the whole article, but here are a couple of things that particularly struck me.
First impressions count. The article cites one study that "found that untrained observers who watched a video of the first 20 to 30 seconds of a job interview were astonishingly accurate at predicting whether the applicant would be offered the job. That doesn't mean the observers were especially good at picking good candidates. It means the interviewers, despite being fully trained, still go with their initial gut instinct."
Start with the handshake. But here I disagree, at least now, during flu season. Be sensitive to signals. (Of course, if you're a member of a secret society— Freemasons, Yalie Skull-and-bones— then play by those rules!
If you do shake hands, be sure your hands are warm. Strange advice, but makes sense. Read the article for why and how.
Though there is a science (of sorts) of responding to objections, usually the best is simply getting the person talking. Listen, explore what is behind the objection (or their hesitation, even if it is not a clear objection). Then, when you have a sense of what is bothering them, respond accordingly.
Suppose you've arrived for your sales appointment, and now the prospect is saying something to the effect, "Sorry, I don't want to keep this meeting with you, after all."
You could respond, "Why not?" That might be okay, but it might also be perceived as confrontational.
A better probe to get them talking: "When you say that you don't have time to talk, do you mean just as the moment?" Pause to listen to their response. Then: "Perhaps we could reschedule for some time next week, perhaps on Monday afternoon? Or would Thursday morning be better for you?"
Second probe, if necessary: "You say that you don't feel our meeting would be a good use of time. Why do you feel that way?"
Third probe: "When we talked on the phone last week, you seemed quite interested in discussing the possibilities, particularly given (my firm's) record of success with other firms in the area." (If you had made that call on the basis of a referral from another client, remind of that name at this point.) "Has there been a change since then?"
One sub-theme of this present blog is "reinventing yourself" — maybe reinventing yourself from an employee to a self-employed person (who remains self-employed by learning to those services face to face).
In that regard, US News has again published another very apropos item on one of its blogs, this one referencing Boomerater.com, which, if I understand it, is a new collaboration between Boomerater and US News.
Anyway, check it out; it may be very much of interest to you.
The link is below, so I won't go into much detail here. Only to point out that three of the ways echo what we've been saying here and in the sales books:
"Don't wait for lost jobs to return."
"Don't count on big companies." They are doing very well, thank you, with fewer employees. But, as an entrepreneur you can find those big companies a ready market if you can show how you fill the needs that they still have, even after layoffs. Outsourcing, in short, can be sourcing to you, if you can find the need and make the case for yourself. (That is, if you can sell— which is what we're all about here and in the sales books.)
For whatever reason (mischievous elves, gremlins, perhaps even human error!) Amazon is showing the wrong cover for Sales Presentations & Demonstrations. What is showing is the cover for How to Sell Face-to-Face: Survival Guide both for itself and for Sales Presentations.
"It'll be fixed soon," so they say.
Till then (or whenever!), here's the correct cover for Sales Presentations & Demonstrations.
USA Today has been running a weekly series (Mondays) "Small Business Start-up," exploring issues new entrepreneurs face.
Here's the opening for this week's piece, and I trust it resonates with the purposes of this blog:
"For millions of Americans, the recession has been a
curse. For a relative few, it's something more complicated: A catalyst for
change. An opportunity to grow. A kick in the butt.
"In some cases, economic necessity has been the mother of
re-invention. It has forced people to pursue careers they might never have
considered if they hadn't gotten — or quit before getting — the ax."
And, a little later in that same article: [career-changers] "agree that if they hadn't been pushed, they never would have made the
leap.
Andrea Kay, author of Life's a Bitch and Then You Change
Careers, says many people hang onto jobs they don't like, oblivious to the
fact that their unhappiness — which they mistakenly think they can hide — hurts
their performance and attitude.
"'Typically, not until someone is forced out of what they've
been accustomed to doing do they feel the need to change,' Kay says."
And, "In a surprising number of cases, we're happier — /if, after
the shock, anger and fear, someone is willing to see there's an opportunity to
do something different,/ Kay says. 'Then they ask, 'Why did I wait so long?'"
Why did I wait so long to try it on my own?
'Nuff said. The link below takes you to that article, and from there to the others in the series. You'll also link with Rhonda Abrams' on-line series of videos and tutorials on small business start-ups. Beyond that, you'll tap into case studies and readers sharing their own start-up stories.
Well, it'd be true even if the Washington Post had not so declared!
Actually, the context is a bit different than you'd expect. Columnist Tom Heath uses that headline as a lead in to get his own mental neurons warmed up, then tells of rather unlikely successful start-up. (Actually, come to think of it, a lot of successful start-ups seemed "rather unlikely" before the ball started rolling: "Ahh, Mort, that'll never work, don't waste your time!")
The article also gets into how Infoition News Services got that crucial first client, and how that first led to others, and then others.