I’m
sure you heard the cliché “first impressions are
everything”.
As a salesman it is critical to give off the right first impression
every time. Your first impression will
determine how a customer will respond to you during your sales pitch. This is why it is imperative you rehearse
your sales pitch opener everyday. Your
opener determines how hard your closing will be. A weak opener may increase the level of
difficulty when it’s time to start closing the deal.
Your first initial contact with a customer should
always begin with a firm
handshake. I have to stress the term
firm for a reason. A weak handshake can
send off the signal of a weak person. During the handshake you look the customer in
the eye, and with a big smile introduce yourself. This procedure is important because you don’t
want to give off the persona of uncertainty.
Always call your customer by their first name. Never call your customer Mr., Mrs., ma’am, or
sir. You want to become friends with the
customer immediately. Do your friends
refer to you as sir or ma’am? When introducing your self the process should
go as follows.
1.
Hello Bob
2.
Firm handshake and eye contact
3.
My name is Daniel
4. End
eye contact after you say your name
Once you practice this a few times it will become
automatic. The purpose of a powerful
opening is to set the tone of the pitch from the beginning. Customers admire a great salesman. Many times after a sale the customer would
tell me “you
sold me”. Even though that was exactly right I would
tell them, “no
the product sold you”.
After you pass the initial
introduction it’s
time to cut the crap. When you are introducing your product or
service to the customer, do not beat around the bush. Be specific and upfront as possible. When I walked into a house the first thing I
would tell them is that I was there to sell them a product. There is a right way to do this and a wrong
way. Read the following dialogue, See if
you can guess correctly which one is the right way to open a sales pitch.
Scenario
#1
Customer:
Hello, salesman
Salesman:
Hello customer, I’m here to show you the features of
the product, and if you’re interested in the product, feel
free to interrupt me at any time if you are ready to purchase.
Scenario
#2
Customer:
Hello, salesman
Salesman:
Hello customer, I’m here to show you the features of
the product, remember there are no obligations, but if you do happen to fall in
love with the product you can invest in one for only $2000.
If
you chose the second scenario you are correct.
The salesman in the first scenario had many fatal flaws in it. One word
you never want to use is purchase.
Replace that term with invest.
Invest gives the person the feeling of getting something in return
ROI. The term purchase subconsciously
makes the person feel as if they are going to spend money that they don’t
need to. Starting today eradicate the
terms “buy” and “purchase”
and replace them with invest.
Notice in the second scenario the salesman did
something very critical to the success of the sale. He told the customer the price before he
started his sales pitch. This is a crucial
part of the “Cut the Crap”
technique. I know some salesmen may
disagree, but I can guarantee they aren’t as successful as they
could be.
This tactic will prevent you from having to price slash
at the end of your pitch. When you slash
the price, you slash your commission.
When you scare the customer with the price in the beginning, you have
the whole sales pitch to build the value on your product. Initially the customer will tell you there
is no way they will pay that much for your product. Don’t let that discourage you. Simply smile and start your sales
pitch/demonstration.
Scaring the customer with the price in the opener gives
them plenty of time to let the initial shock wear off. If you hit them with the price at the end, it’s going to be
hard to over come that shock. At that
moment, bills, children’s
lunch money, rent, car note, etc, will be racing through their mind. The immediate reaction will be to say
no. If you have finished your sales
pitch, how can you convince them to say yes, without price slashing?
It’s
hard to believe something as small as a handshake can send psychological
triggers that can affect a sale. Welcome
to the world of a good salesman. A
salesman must understand these psychological triggers and know how to
effectively manipulate them into a sale.
