Posturing for Success in this Current Selling Environment
/By Michael Lang
“My customers do not want to do video conferencing, besides I don’t – I am a face to face person.”
I have heard this time and time again – sales people who themselves don’t want to use video conferencing because they do not feel comfortable.
After reviewing 1,870,100 salespeople data sets, we have a finding called Sales Posturing.
Posturing measures first impressions. How memorable you are and how effectively you differentiate yourself from the competition.
In the table below, you'll see scores for Posturing, as well as Relationship Building which is one of the 21 Sales Core Competencies.
There is a correlation between both sets of scores and the overall effectiveness level of salespeople. This proves that most salespeople, even the great ones; don’t pay enough attention to the quality of their first impressions.
How much focus have you given to how your salespeople make their first impression?
In a non COVID environment, salespeople would have the luxury of the face-to-face/body-to-body interaction to hopefully create a full first impression.
Although, many salespeople lack the awareness to focus and manage their body language.
Now more than ever with video conferencing being the means of engagement after an initial phone call, it’s super critical to be aware and improve our first impression.
Remember we only have at best half a torso or shoulder up perspective of the client and ourselves.
Here are 11 things you can control to assure that you make a great first impression:
How you look – shirt, face and hair
Your back ground – there are some epic failures here
Your audio – poor sounds kills the whole experience
Your smile – you have one so use it
Your facial posture – some people frown without knowing it
Your mannerisms – unconsciously touch the face
Your energy – poor posture, poor energy
Your first words
Your tonality
Your speech pattern – smooth, stuttering, ums and ahs
Your speech speed – 140 is perfect
Selling, especially consultative selling, is difficult enough without having to dig out of the hole created by first impressions gone wrong.
You rarely get a second chance to make a first impression so remember, every encounter provides you with your last chance to make a good first impression.
Want to know how to improve your sales people utilising video conferencing? Ask us as we have designed specific selling improvement programs around the effectiveness of using the phone, video conferencing and leveraging LinkedIn. Click here for schedule a conversation.
