A quick note to explain why last week's blog wasn't posted:
Isn't it ironic that my most recent blog, #16, ended on "friendliness" as being one of the key skills of influencing others. If I had to pick someone in my circle of family, friends and business acquaintances who, not only possessed this skill and trait in abundance, but lead with it always, it would be my brother Dermot. 100%! He was "friendliness", personified.
He died very unexpectedly last week and has left a deep void in all of our lives. Friendliness, courtesy, respect and good manners were some of the many key success factors that he deployed to win over, not just family and friends, but also to retain his long-standing clients. This, coupled with his amazing creative and artistic talents, were an unstoppable combination that enabled him to become the success he was in his profession. I have learnt a great deal from him, will sadly miss him and will never forget his influence on all with whom he came in contact.
So what are the combination of "influeners" that you possess? So far we have spoken about positive attitude, dress, grooming and friendliness. What else? Body language is a critical success factor. You may be technically brilliant at what you do and know all there is to know; however, if you cannot communicate all of this knowledge and place hurdles in your way to communicate the message, you seriously limit your chances of success.
Bad posture/ slouching, poor eye-contact, wishy-washy handshake (a.k.a. wet fish handshake...yuck, I hate it)... all of these factors are so important to have right. So, my advice, please practice this stuff…it is so easy to neglect and get wrong.
As we have repeatedly said, people are making up their minds all of the time whether they want to do business with you, or not. Don't give them any excuse to criticise you or to spot something they may not like about you. After all, they may be meeting you for the first time, and as they say, you need to put your best foot forward and do it from the word go!
What next? You must know your product and/or service in-depth...intimately! What I mean by this is not just the features of the product/service and why it is better than the competition's offering, more importantly, the benefits that will accrue to the buyer when they take it on board.
If you were awakened suddenly out of a deep sleep at 3 AM and asked to relate the top five benefits of your product or service, would you will be able to do it? If you couldn't, you don't know your product/service well enough and don't deserve sales success.
Get to work on writing these down, right now, putting them into properly structured sentences, go over them and critique until you get these to a standard that your prospects will understand, in plain simple language. Do not shroud these descriptors in technical language. Have other sentences prepared for someone who wants to get straight to the technicalities.
In my experience, people who are buying want to feel the emotion and as we say, we need to tune immediately into their favourite radio station, WII FM (what's in it for me!). When you tune into their wavelength, I guarantee they will be thinking in pictures and thinking about the benefits that they are going to experience. Buying a new car, clothes, going to a restaurant... who really cares about what's under the bonnet, the designer and the manufacturing process of the garment, and how qualified the chef is.
I just want the experience. I just want the feeling. I just want the desire for gain.
So, do you need to change your pitch? Consider this the next time that you are approaching a prospect or an existing client with either a new product/service or simply catching up on how the client is getting on with your current offering.
Let's talk about pitching and presentations in the next blog, so until then, keep on keeping on with reading and implementing these tips and ideas.
I promise you will not be disappointed!
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