5 Tips for a successful first impression

The ability to close sales is the most critical job for every company. Revenue is what will take your firm away from reliance on investment, and you must be able to sell your product to get there. While lead generation is crucial, it is pointless if you are unable to close on them. A key factor to guarantee closed sales is achieving a good first impression. In any business, especially sales, first impressions could mean a huge factor that decides a closed sale or an empty-handed walking away.

People, however, are naturally skeptical of someone attempting to sell them something. That is why one of a salesperson's key tasks is to immediately develop a relationship with their potential customer and establish trust. In this sense, making a strong first impression with prospects is critical, especially in face-to-face encounters.

According to research, we develop an opinion about someone within the first 30 seconds of meeting them, which decide if we like that person or not—and once that opinion is formed, it's nearly hard to change. As a result, if your salespeople struggle to connect with their prospects from the outset, it will be tough to persuade them to buy anything, no matter how fantastic their pitch or product is.

To avoid this, here are five tips to assist your salesmen to establish a strong first impression.

1. Preparation is the key

Never go into a meeting unprepared as a salesperson. It is critical to ensure that they are very much in your items and their presentation of them. However, excellent planning also includes being knowledgeable of their potential clients.

Begin by concentrating on the person you will be meeting. Give them your undivided attention not just during the conversation, but also before meeting with your prospect. You must devote time to learning about them.

What exactly do they do? What is most essential to them? You can even look into the prospect's and the company's respective social media presences. If a salesman can find a way to connect with a prospect and discover common interests, the rest of the conversation will go much more easily. 

2. Decide your image

After researching the prospects, you should have a good idea of how to present yourself as someone he or she would like to meet. You should consider your posture, mood, clothing, and so on. It establishes the tone for the subsequent relationship.

Choose for yourself one word when meeting the customer: kind, intelligent, professional, engaging, fun, etc. Always keep this word to remind you of the person you are going to become, such as using the sentence: “I want to be…”

If you are introducing yourself in front of a large group of people, such as at a conference, networking event, or social gathering, consider the individuals you will meet and the type of interactions you want to have. One good example that you can follow is to study the confidence of the Sales Actor.

3. Prepare to give a good attitude and appearance

When meeting your customers, you must perfect the art of being polite and friendly. Try practicing how to greet appropriately by asking yourself the reason why you meet them, what you want to achieve from this conversation. Then you should be able to come up with a good hello.

Smiling is an important factor to close the gap. People tend to smile back when someone smiles at them. This could bring a somewhat emotional bond and a good impression. When putting in a good mood, sales is easier slipped into closing.

There is a saying that goes: do not judge a book by its cover, however, a good-looking book always catches the eye of a reader. Study shows that an attractive person tends to get a better first-impression advantage. This relies not only on the genetic factor but also on practice.

One thing you can practice is the launch stance, which is the proper way to stand: let your arms hang loosely at your sides, shoulders down and pushed back, and head up. This stance demonstrates that you are self-assured and in command of your surroundings. Remember to lean in slightly to demonstrate that you're engaged in the talk. While you're at it, keep a two-foot gap – respect the other person's space.

Another factor is making direct eye contact. It demonstrates that you are receptive and eager to hear what they have to say. And the true key is to do the brow flash - widen your eyes slightly wider than usual. This slightly lifts your brows, indicating that you are aware of your prospect and what they have to say.

4. Ask the right questions

Generating a genuine interest in every potential consumer is one of the secrets to making a good first impression. This entails employing a consultative selling approach and asking pertinent, insightful questions. The preceding step's research can be quite useful in developing questions that reach out to the prospect on a direct and personal level.

Salespeople frequently maintain a collection of basic questions on hand and utilize them with all of their prospects. If you're one of them, it's time to change your ways because this attitude might make you look careless and uninterested.

Keep in mind that selling is essentially about assisting a prospect in resolving an issue or filling a vacuum by utilizing a certain product or service. By asking questions, you may show that the salesman isn't merely interested in promoting their items or services. They are really interested in determining the causes of the issue or void and assisting the customer in determining the best method to remedy it.

5. Be yourself

Credibility, or just being real or genuine, is a crucial attribute for salespeople to have since clients can tell when someone is dishonest to them. Being yourself, on the other hand, maybe daunting, especially if you're apprehensive or working hard to create a good impression.

The good news is that being authentic does not need any particular abilities or expertise. It's just being yourself, with your own thoughts and personality. Recognize and remind yourself who you are if you notice yourself drifting into inauthenticity. Understand that having your own thoughts and approach might be unsettling at times, but it will give others a good image of your actual self.

Picture by: Business photo created by yanalya - www.freepik.com