Sales Blog with Sales Tips

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Face-to-face networking is one of the primary ways we connect with potential customers. Social networking websites are great, but remember that the ultimate goal of these websites, in a sales context, is to allow us to meet people  face-to-face.

Here are six simple sales tips for better face-to-face networking.

1. Know What You Want
Stephen Covey implores us to start with the end in mind. What do you want to achieve at the networking event you plan to attend? Select events that will support your networking
goals. Not every networking opportunity will have a good ROI (Return On Investment). Be selective.

2. Have Your Message Ready
Never “wing it.” Prepare in advance the message you want to convey to the people you meet. Customize your message to the particular event and your goals.

3. You’ve Got Two Ears And One Mouth
Be interested in others. This is probably the most important rule of face-to-face networking. Don’t bore people with your unabridged autobiography; show interest in them first.

4. It’s More Than Just What You Say
While our words carry the bulk of our message, be aware that people are watching your behavior too. Do you dress appropriately? Do you visit the bar a little too frequently? Do you have a confident posture?

5. Double Team
If you know someone who is familiar with the group you are visiting, ask him or her to introduce you. This can be powerful. “Melinda, I’d like to introduce you to Bill. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I know in the area of…”

6. Never Forget To Follow-Up
You will normally meet many people at any given networking event. Discretely make notes on the back of business cards so you can later recall the most relevant potential connections.

And there is a place for social networking websites in this process. You can research and follow-up with your best contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter after the event.

If you remember nothing else from this article, keep in mind that your focus is to be interested in others when networking. People like people who are interested in them. When people like you, they help you.

Further reading:

• Networking Faux Pas

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©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

I’m going to write about something today that is profoundly obvious, no one will disagree with, and many of us are probably guilty of not doing.

Let Me Provide Some Groundwork
I think most of the sales professionals who read this sales blog know what pacing is. This is when we mirror a customer’s speech rate, volume, voice tone, energy and even body language when talking face to face with him or her. There are numerous advantages when doing this. It provides a way for us to “sync up” with the customer. When we are good at pacing, we are able to speak the language of the customer in all of its dimensions. It enhances communication, and this is always a good thing.

A Little More Groundwork
Whether we are an inside or outside sales professional, the phone is one of our primary communication devices. Many people don’t realize that outside sales professionals spend a significant amout of time making appointments, providing customers with information, fixing problems, etc. via the phone. All of us have to be good on the phone to be successful in sales.

Now Let’s Put It All Together
What are most sales professionals guilty of? We forget to use pacing when we’re on the phone with a prospect or customer. That’s right. We almost instinctively know to pace when we’re face to face, but we completely forget this important concept when we’re on the phone. And we all spend a lot of time on the phone.

It Gets Even Better
When we talk with customers on the phone, all they receive is our voice. Our body language cues are lost. As a result, we may get an even bigger payoff when pacing ourselves on the phone than when we’re face to face with a customer.

We already know how to pace. All we need to do is apply these same skills on the phone to greatly improve our communication skills. Simple…and powerful.

Further reading:

• Why a Bullet in the Head Frequently Kills [or, Your Brain Is Your Greatest Asset In Communicating With Customers]

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©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

We can’t effectively negotiate the details of a sale if we’re not prepared to lose the sale. The sales professional who needs a deal to close in 24 hours, in order to hit his monthly quota, is in a very weak negotiating position with the customer.

We’ve All Been There
Customers can smell when we’re in this situation. They can and will take advantage of a poor negotiating position. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are things we can do that are both preventive and reactive when we find ourselves in a less than optimal bargaining scenario.

Preventive Steps To Avoid Negotiating From A Weak Position
We can help to ensure that we don’t end up in a poor negotiating position by taking the following preventive steps:

• Strive never to be in a position to need a sale in the first place. Be able to walk away from any deal. This is the axis of negotiating strength.
• Keep a full funnel or pipeline of prospects. Knowing that our funnel is full makes a lost sale less damaging to our emotions and gives us confidence that the next sale is just around the corner.

Reactive Steps When Negotiating From A Weak Position
If we find ourselves in an anemic negotiating position, we can take the following steps:

• The first person who talks, loses. This is one of the most important negotiating skills we can learn. For example, if a customer asks us what additional services we are willing to provide at no charge, our answer should always be, “What services are you looking for?” Frequently the customer will ask for less than we would have been willing to give.
• Be psychologically prepared to lose the sale. This can remove our “smell” of weakness to the customer and it can minimize the damage to our confidence if we actually do lose the deal.
• In psychology there is a phrase that states, “Act yourself into health.” This statement encourages the patient to behave in a desired way before it becomes second nature to them. We can use this principle to act as if we don’t need a savagely negotiated deal with a customer. This can help to convince the customer and us that our negotiation is emanating from a position of power. Why? Because we are behaving as if we have a strong negotiating foundation.

These Are Advanced Sales Tips
This is not Sales Tips 101 stuff. Doing a good job of managing and avoiding a weak negotiating position with our customers is a sales skill that moves us from average sales professionals to rainmakers.

Further reading:

• Customer Negotiation 101

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©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

Summary: Sales is a mental game to be sure, but there is a physical component to it that we frequently overlook.

Remember how your parents used to tell you to “stand up straight” when you were a kid? They were giving you sales advice and didn’t even know it. Good posture not only helps us physically, but it also lessens anxiety and improves others’ perception of us. How you carry yourself as a sales professional is extremely important. Most sales professionals spend significant amounts of time and money on how they dress. All too frequently we forget the importance of how we present ourselves in those clothes. It’s simple, but it’s important.

Paying attention to your posture can have numerous benefits:

Anxiety. Anxiety is a very real part of all of our lives, especially in a fast paced sales career. High levels of anxiety in front of customers make it harder for us to think clearly, which can make verbalizing ideas more difficult (think of the last PowerPoint presentation you did in a customer’s boardroom). A clear head and the ability to speak well are essential skills in selling. By consciously standing upright with your shoulders back you can quite literally take your mind off of your anxiety. The human mind can process only one thing at a time; if you are thinking about your good posture, you aren’t going to have the mental bandwidth to obsess about your anxiety.

Confidence. When we are feeling confident we naturally stand more erect. Psychological studies have consistently shown that this can also work in reverse. Good posture can cause our thoughts to come in line with how we are physically presenting ourselves in front of the customer. Making ourselves stand erect can cause the confident feelings to naturally follow. Who doesn’t want to feel confident in front of customers?

Perception. If you carry yourself in a physically confident way your customers will notice. When a slumped over person walks in a room we immediately assume that person is weak. When someone walks in a room standing tall we assume that they are confident, knowledgeable and in control. Customers like to give their business to individuals that have those attributes. People like buying from people that appear successful and confident.

You may be tempted to dismiss the importance of posture because it is so simple. Amidst all the sales concepts and techniques that you employ everyday, don’t forget the importance of your posture as a backdrop to how your customers literally see you. Good posture will lower anxiety, make you feel more confident and make you look like a winner to your customers.

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