Читать книгу Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing - Jay Levinson Conrad - Страница 35

The tone of your meeting is established early. Here are some ways you can create a positive first impression.

• Greet your prospect warmly and sincerely, using eye contact.

• Allow your prospect some time to get acclimated to being with you, some time to talk. Don’t come on too strong. But don’t waste your prospect’s time, either.

• Engage in casual conversation at first—especially about anything pertinent to your prospect. Make it friendly and not one-sided. Be a good listener. But, let the prospect know that your time is precious. You are there to sell, not to talk.

• Ask relevant questions. Listen carefully to the answers.

• Qualify the prospect. Determine whether or not this is the specific person to whom you should be talking, the person with the authority to give you the go-ahead, to buy.

• Learn something about the person to whom your contact is directed so that he or she will feel like a person rather than a prospect. Make your prospect like you, for people enjoy doing business with people they like. The best possible thing you can do is to make your prospect feel unique—proving that you recognize his or her individuality and needs.

• Be brief, friendly, outgoing, and truly inquisitive. But, be yourself.

• If you’re in a retail environment, one of the best questions to initiate healthy contact is “Mind if I ask what brings you into our store today?”

• Don’t think of yourself as a salesperson but as a partner to your prospect. This healthy mindset improves both your perspective and your chances of closing. Realize that you have an opportunity to educate your prospects to succeed at whatever they wish to succeed at. As soon as possible, learn what it is that your prospect wishes to succeed at, and then show how what you are selling can make that success achievable.

• Important elements of your contact are your smile, your attire, your posture, and your willingness to listen and look directly into the prospect’s eyes. Your nonverbal communication is as important as your verbal communication. The impression you make will come as much from what you don’t say as from what you do say.