Breaking the Ice and Winning Over the Client!
By Robert Moment
Wherever you turn these days you’ll find articles covering every business strategy and tactic available to man, from how to make a great presentation to strategies for success all the way to negotiations and prospecting and getting a client to commit. But hardly anyone touches on the subject of breaking the ice with a new client and winning them over.
Experts say it takes only three seconds to make a first impression. That doesn’t give you much time to dazzle someone with your professionalism and polish, especially since it’s so difficult to change a first impression. Naturally that leaves most of us a bit concerned when meeting someone for the very first time, especially if a lot is riding on your presentation.
Since your success is based heavily on your approach along
with your understanding of the potential client’s goals and
purpose, it is up to you to plan for that first moment of
breaking the ice. If you investigate the approach and attitude of top producers you’ll discover that they all use some similar strategies for meeting and greeting a new client. Because they know just how important it is to prepare for the first meeting and how crucial it is to break the ice correctly, they come well prepared.
Consequently, whether your communication begins with a simple e-mail message, telephone call or person to person visit, the first contact is the most important. How you present yourself along with the questions you ask determines your success. And while there are no guarantees that any one strategy will work every time, applying the following few techniques will help make an impression that will certainly impact your very next presentation.
Make Your First Meeting Count!
1) The first and most important strategy for breaking ice is being fully prepared. And the best way to prepare is by knowing all you can about the company or individual you are planning to address. Prior to making an appointment, conduct some preliminary research about the company and individual so that you feel confident when making the first contact. Bios or articles about the person are often posted on the Internet so it’s usually easy to find information. By
knowing the company’s history or something about the individual, you’ll be in a better position to know what the prospect needs. Familiarizing yourself with the prospect opens the way to conversation.
2) To gain the respect of a potential client, there’s a lot more to communicating than just words. Your body language and your tone speak as loudly as the words you say, therefore each presentation must be offered with cheerfulness and confidence. Needless to say, your overall appearance is critically important to the way you present yourself. Feeling good about your appearance is critically important to the way you present yourself. In fact the confidence you feel both about yourself and your product might well be the primary ingredient for winning over a prospective client. When it comes to speaking about your product and your service, it is your confidence and belief in your product that does most of the selling. So during the first moment of meeting, greet the person with a firm handshake along with good eye contact. Stand and walk tall, keeping your shoulders back and your head erect. And don’t forget to smile.
3) We hear a lot today about the value of connecting with a person, yet what does That really mean? A connection comes when two people meet on common ground. One way you can connect with a potential prospect is by being your authentic self. Allow your personality, integrity and sense of humor to shine through. If the person you’re meeting is aloof or hard to connect with, they might just need a bit more convincing. So rather than leaping right into the sales presentation the minute you start talking,
speak first about some mutually interesting topics of conversation. If you did your homework you already know something about the company or the person, therefore you might try opening on a light note. After a few minutes, when you’ve had some time to relax and establish rapport, you can launch into your presentation.
4) There may be times when you meet with a client and you don’t feel an immediate connection. Although your first instinct is to run and find someone who’s a bit more compatible, perhaps you might consider viewing the situation from a new perspective. Consider it a challenge. Trying to find ways to connect with the person and then achieving it can be very rewarding. After all, your mission is to be the most important resource to your client therefore your goal is to impress the potential client with your ability to solve their problems. Pay careful attention to what the client really needs by actively listening. Don’t oversell or try to convince the client that what you have is absolutely perfect for them. State clearly and plainly how you’ll be able to help the client. Basically, before quitting on a potential client do your best to gain insight into the client’s needs. If it doesn’t work, you’ll know you gave it your best shot.
5) Listening to what your client has to say is extremely important. It may be basic Knowledge that one should listen and not talk too much, but in our exuberance to sell we often forget to listen. When paying attention to conversation, you learn a lot about the potential client. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to listen more, talk less and glean the knowledge that will help you understand the prospect’s goals, concerns and overall needs. Ask questions, but be sure to pay attention to the answers. Additionally, use common courtesy by letting the prospect know that you understand how precious time is to him. If you requested 30 minutes and the potential client agreed, respect that time frame.
Becoming A Solution To Your Customers Problems
By Sue And Chuck DeFiore
hose of us in home based and small businesses are in effect selling our product. So becoming an effective salesperson is very important. Remember, however, that selling is not the only thing you do. Don’t forget to use your time wisely.
What you want to do to help you move forward is to:
Plan and prioritize. If the majority of your day is spent with your customers, you will need some down time. You need to have time to look at the trends in your business. By this I mean go over your customer records, see where patterns are, what changes you need to make and then set up a plan to implement those changes. If you spend a little time at the end of each day going over what transpired during the day and set up your plan and schedule for the next day, you will be much better prepared for the next day and the subsequent days.
At the beginning of each week, take a look at where you want your business to be and make plans on how to get there. If something you are doing isn’t working, make changes. However, then you need to give those changes time to work. If they don’t work, change them again. Most important is that you spend the time each week to figure out what your business needs are and what your needs are, till you come up with what works best for you, your business and your customers.
As many of our long time readers know, I am a big proponent of To Do lists. Make up a daily to do list, a weekly and a monthly. Remember to consider your goals when making up your To Do list. Where do you want your business to be in five years, ten years? When you ask yourself these questions, you focus on the direction you want your business to take and the income you want to make.
Remember, after you have determined what your goals are, then take your goals and figure out the steps you need to take to get to that particular goal. Do this with each of your goals. Since we are concentrating on sales in this article, ask yourself: Do I need a new product? Do I need to look for other ways to sell my products? If I make these changes will I need additional funds? If I need funds should I get a parnter or find an investor? If I increase my business will I need to hire someone? Once you have answered these questions, then take the steps you have come up with and put them on your To Do list.
It is very important that you have a calendar and that you set deadlines. Your calendar can be paper or electronic. The most important thing is that you use it. Put all your goals, the steps needed to get to your goals, and deadlines to meet those steps in your calendar. Remember, if you use your calendar wisely it will help you accomplish what you need to and help you to get things done efficiently and on time.
To show you how your calendar can work for you, let’s set up a marketing campaign. First, you want to schedule deadlines for everything that needs to be done before you can even start the campaign.
First set a deadline of September 4 to re-price all your current products. By the 12th of September contact the media you will be using for rate information along with their readership information, and what their ad copy requirements are. In our example the media would be newspapers and magazines. However, you can also do the same for television, billboard, etc. By the end of September (the 30th) make up your ad budget for the year. You will want to determine how much it will cost you on a monthly basis, so you can have an accurate determination of your monthly expenses. By the middle of October (let’s say the 15th) set a deadline for your ad copy and any art so that you can meet their deadline. Let’s say in our example it is the 1st of the month. So that would be November 1st.
The above example illustrates how to take a large project and break it down into smaller projects and to set deadlines for them so that you can get the whole project done.
As any successful business owner will tell you, of paramount importance is to keep in touch with customers. You can call your regular customers often, perhaps every six weeks or every month. Or if calling is not feasible in your business, keep in contact by sending post cards, flyers, or a special announcement. Be sure to keep track of when you last talked with each individual, or were in contact with them. Also, if possible, make some comment that personalizes the call, or written contact. For example, ask about new developments in their business or mention the spouse or children by name. Know your customer. Make your customer feel important.
A great way to keep in touch with your customer is after you’ve made a sale, send a thank you note. If your business warrants it, if your customer will probably run out of supplies in three months, send a reminder note.
As we all know catalogs are great, however, they are very costly to mail. Rather than send a catalog why not just send a postcard to your customers announcing the new items you have added to your catalog. If they use a particular product, mention that on the post card. The holiday is a great time of year to contact customers. If your business warrants it, a birthday card is a nice touch. For example, my insurance company sends me a birthday card every year, along with a calendar.
Some other ways to stay in touch is to send them an article about your business or a catalog sheet (these usually focus on one or a couple of items) or start a newsletter and send it to your customers on a quarterly basis or more often if warranted.
Another excellent way to keep in touch with your customer is to become a resource for your customers. Remember, many times when you make a sale, you provide a solution to a problem. Lease purchasing is a solution for those who need to move their home quickly. A repair service is a solution for wear and tear that comes with time. Tax preparers provide a solution to those that dread tax time and all the paperwork involved. Newsletters are a great way to become a resource. You could have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article on a particular product you sell. Make your customer aware that you can provide them with solutions for a certain type of problem. If your customer has a problem that you can’t solve refer them to another expert. If you are not sure of something when your customer asks, don’t bluff your way through it. Tell your customer that you will get back to them with an answer.
One of the most important things is to deliver what you promise. If you say something will go out on a specific day, be sure it does. If you say you will get back to them with certain information, be sure you do so. Never let your customer down.