Problem: Jason was new to the company and was trying to develop his territory. He didn’t lack enthusiasm and was making his objective of 100 cold phone calls a day. He felt pretty good about that since he saw others make far less. But still, he was not making nearly enough appointments to keep his pipeline filled and wondered how he was ever going to achieve his income goals if things didn’t change.
Problem: Stan always felt uncomfortable in those first few minutes when meeting a prospect for the first time. He sensed that his prospects felt the same way when he met them. He wondered how his anxiousness affected his prospects and what impact it had on his sales calls and his income.
Analysis: You’ve heard this one a million times, but it’s true. You have only 7-10 seconds when first meeting someone to make a favorable impression. People will form an impression of you when you first meet and anything less than perfect starts you out with one foot in the hole making it difficult to regain rapport and credibility. Statistics published by W. Brooks show that making an unfavorable first impression will reduce your chances of getting the business by 93%. Making a favorable impression is one of those areas of selling where a slight edge can make a huge difference.