You finally got the appointment to see the panel of decision makers who have interests in your products.

You sat in front of the decision makers. You introduced yourself, established rapport with small talk, and ready to move into sales presentation. All eyes of the panel were on you. As a salesperson, you were anxious to close the deal. The moment was just right for the sales pitch. You started talking about what you can offer, the product features, great value proposition and the benefits. You were enthusiastic and full of energy, but the decision makers hardy speak and only made a few words occasionally.

You panicked, the air was rather stifling, and you were doing most of the talking. You asked one or two questions, and what followed were a few words and passive body language. When you stop presenting, paused and waited for responses, the parties gazed at you blankly as if they waited for you to lead and to continue.

The prospects hardly asked questions. YOU thought, “Well, that is just a quiet group, doesn’t mean they don’t know what I am talking about”, and you assume you must have covered all grounds of their interests. Next, the outcome became real. You blew the first impression. You lost the deal. So what has gone wrong?

Does this sound very familiar to one of your sales interaction recently?

We do make mistakes sometime when selling. This could happen, whether you are a new salesperson or have been in sales for years. I saw similar cases, and experience it myself. But l would like you to think positively, learn from the mistakes and make sure we are not caught in the similar case again.

So, what do you do about it?

Here are the 8 BACK to BASIC selling tips for creating a better lasting first impression in your first meeting

1. Change your focus to the prospects. Do not focus on just what you want to sell. Make the prospects feel you are there to find out more about their needs, and that you wanted to help.
2. Look out for the prospects’ best interests. Bring along new relevant information and new perspectives for sharing. Ensure your communication is to their priorities and relevancy.
3. Stress about working together. Emphasize on productive relationship when resolving the challenges of prospects and not merely selling.
4. Do your sales pre-call homework. Get more insightful information about the prospects through all possible channels. Be prepared to speak and gain instant positive impression when prospects test on your awareness of their industries, product portfolios, target markets …etc. Be reasonably informed to be able to anticipate and respond with information to prove your capabilities, expertise and gain trust.
5. Prepare yourself with good sales questions. Engage prospects by asking insightful, thought-provoking open-ended questions that gain responses from your prospects. Use good questions to help you to discover the issues, concerns, problems that trigger prospects’ interests in your offering.
6. Break the normal boring formal sales presentation styles. Build engaging and personalizing messages that intrigue the prospects for further conversation. In between the messages, share examples and real cases that bring emotional and rational connection.
7. Listen more and take notes. Let the prospects do all the talking. Take notes to show that their concerns are yours to focus. Ask and clarify to ensure you have received their message accurately.
8. Don’t make assumption without validity. Don’t try to read your prospects’ mind and make assumptions about what they are thinking. Check and clarify the sales assumptions with the help from your prospects. Ask questions to ensure you and prospects are on the same page.

So here I am sharing sales mistakes that we could learn from it, and prevent the similar case repeats itself in the future.

Let us hear your tips for sharing with others.

Question: How do you engage your prospects and create first positive impression in your first meeting?