From the course: Sales: Practical Techniques

First impressions and body language

From the course: Sales: Practical Techniques

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First impressions and body language

- Now, whether it's right or wrong, we decide whether we like somebody in the first few seconds. There was an amazing study done about job interviews, where after the first minute, they asked the interviewer, what do you think of the candidate? And, they wrote it down on a piece of paper. Then, at the end of the 45 minute interview, they asked them again, what do you think of the person? And, they wrote it down on the piece of paper and guess what, they hadn't changed their mind in 44 minutes, and that's awful really, because you can't judge people straight away, but that's what we do. I don't know why, it's probably because in the jungle you have to decide whether the crocodile's going to attack you, and you have to decide straight away. You can't interview the crocodile for 45 minutes. So, I think it's built into us to decide really quickly, and that's what we do. So, as a sales person, you've got to be instantly likeable, or certainly not instantly dislikeable. So, how do we decide, in the first minute, what we think of somebody else? The answer is, body language really. So, the first thing is, what does the person look like? Are they smart, is there anything that we don't like? Do they have a weird hairstyle or something like that, which we're going to immediately take a dislike to. For years, IBM had a rule that you couldn't have a beard. I don't think that rule's there now, but they had a belief that some customers wouldn't trust men with beards, and therefore, because it's a percentage game, you don't want to lose 20 or 50% of your customers just because of that. So, they said no beards. So, I don't know about beards, but I'd recommend not having anything that might upset the customer or might worry them. Don't have a really unusual hairstyle, or a crazy shirt, or weird shoes, or anything. Why take a risk? So, that's the first thing, appearance. Just be clean, smart, don't have dirty fingernails, or something like that, because, you know, that could be a customer loss, just like that. Then we're on to body language. The first thing that probably happens, when you walk in to a room, is smile or not. If you don't smile, maybe because you've had a bad journey, or you couldn't find anywhere to park, or your doggie's ill, or maybe you're worrying about the sales meeting. If you don't smile though, the customer will think it's because you don't like them, you don't like the look of them. So, if you go in and say, good morning, pleased to meet you, you've almost lost the sale already. You have to smile. Some people just are more smiley than others, that gives then an advantage. If you're not a smiley person, then try to be in a good mood. Try to think of something good. A tip I heard, which I really like, is imagine the meeting going really well, just before you go into the room. Even if you've not met the person, imagine the person being a really nice person, and loving what you've got to offer, and saying, brilliant, I'll take 10. If you imagine it going really well, then when you go in there you're already in a positive, body language-exuding frame of mind. So, imagine it going well. So, smiling's really important. The next thing that probably will happen is you'll probably shake hands. We all know what the worst handshake is, the dead fish handshake. Don't do those. I don't know why people do. Do they know they're doing one? Do they think, ooh, I think I'll give them the dead fish handshake this time. I don't know, I just find it bizarre. So, a nice firm handshake, obviously, but not too firm, and not on top, but just a nice horizontal, normal handshake. Get that right, practice with your friends if you need to, just to check that it's okay. So, we've got smile, we've got handshake. The next thing is eye contact. When you're talking to them, not crazy, intense eye contact, but most of the time you should be looking at them. If you're sort of going, yeah pleased to meet you, it's good to see you, yeah well it's quite nice to be here, you know, then that's just disrespectful. They feel that they're not important. So, you absolutely should look at them nearly all the time, and give them decent eye contact. If you're a bit shy, you might keep looking down at your shoes the whole time, but you've got to make the effort to look them in the eye, or they'll think that you don't like them. The final thing is, to use their name. If you don't use somebody's name, it's as if you don't know what their name is, or they're not important enough to make the effort to remember their name. So, don't use it excessively, but just say, hi, it's really good to meet you Louise. When you first meet the person, and maybe at the end say, well great, I've really enjoyed talking Louise, I'll see you soon. Use their name just briefly, so that they know that you know what their name is. Of course, you've got to decide whether to call me Mr Croft, or Chris, but I think these days you can usually judge that. If in doubt, go for the more formal one just in case, until they go, no, no, no, call me Chris, but don't chicken out of using their name at all, because you're not sure whether to call them Mr Croft or Chris, or because you can't remember, oh was it Chris or was it Charles, I can't, ooh I can't remember. So, if you're worried you might forget their name, you know, write it on the inside of your hand, or get their business card and have it in front of you, on the desk when you're talking to them. Because then, if you suddenly have a wobble, and you're not sure what their name is, you'd have a quick look down at their card, and just check that you've got it right. So, work on these body language aspects, they're really, really important.

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