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.