We all know the importance of making a great first impression. How much easier a sales call becomes when this is achieved, whether face to face or telephone based.

There are a number of elements required in order for a First Impression to be weighted in your favour. You will require many skills that you will already possess, that is why, you have your position in sales. The hard part is being aware of them and putting them into practice on a regular basis.

Ask any top performer how to make a great first impression and there will be 1 common denominator. Consistency, they will be aware of the elements required and will put these into practice for every customer.

As you will be all too aware with Practice comes Improvement and Experience and this will ensure that the majority of your customers will have a good First Impression of you. Let’s be honest there will be some of your calls that you get wrong and some that you simply cannot influence.

The Elements

Plan your sales call

Say What? Say How?

Appeal, Intrigue, Require

Understanding & Expectation

Relationship Building

Interestingly the first and last parts of the element should be used in conjunction with all the other elements during the whole call. When planning your sales all you are looking for opportunities to build the best rapport possible with your client.

A top performer’s success will be underpinned by their ability to relate every part of the call back to the client ensuring that the First Impression they are looking for is achieved.

They will also have planned What & How to question their client. They will deal only in:

Open Questions

Penetrating Questions

Funnelling Questions

You will be aware of the need for Open Questions I am sure, now take the next 15 minutes listening to your colleagues on their sales calls or appointment calls and wonder in amazement at how many closed questions you hear… Surprising yes………. and no because there will be 1 simple factor that is causing this; your colleagues have not planned the call.

Whether you have 30 seconds or 30 minutes planning time, you will find that within this a top performer will know their opening question. It will be Relevant & it will be Open. Relevant to their business and Open to avoid that dead end Yes/No answer.

Open Questions start with:

When

Where

Who

What

Why

How

Examples of a Good opening question would be:

If the phone was to ring right now, WHAT sort of enquiry would you really like it to be?
How would you like to decrease the monthly expenditure to your business/ home?

The third element will be achieved a lot easier if the above has been followed. With the additional penetrating and funnelling questions the customer will be creating their own appeal and intrigue they will also start to appreciate the need that you have created.

You and your customer now have an understanding, interest and expectation of what will be achieved from your sales call.

All sounds so simple on paper but the classroom is different to a real customer. Of course they are and so are you different to the classroom - that is the ability that you have - and that is why you are in sales.Apply this consistently and your performance will improve, after all it is an improved performance that sets the Performers apart from the rest. For Training on Making A Great First Impression, Sales Negotiating, Sales Leadership and much more please contact us today.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Articles & Training Resources.