How to Introduce yourself to a new sales client

Let me tell you a story. Many years ago, a large tobacco company's advertising account was up for grabs and every big advertising company was after this account. There was a small advertising company owned by a fellow called Ben Duffy and he was also trying to secure this account. He was up against big competition; some of the largest companies in the Industry and it would be a coup to land such a large client. Ben Duffy thought to himself 'how am I going to get this account, I'm just a small unknown player with a small company, there's no chance.' He thought, 'let me put myself in the position of this chap that I am going to see. Let me think about some of the questions, some of the things that might be on the prospective client's mind'. He wrote out a list of fifty questions, and then narrowed those down to about ten. When he met with the client, he said 'in preparing for today's meeting, I put myself in your position and thought there may be some things you'd want to know about me, my company, what's in it for you, what's in it for me and as such I've prepared a list of ten questions. Well the chap from the Tobacco Company replied, 'well, I've got ten questions myself'. They swapped lists, six of the questions were the same and he secured the account. For years and years now, I've been using exactly the same method, using the 'Ben Duffy'. I would go and meet with a client for the first time, we'd go through past, present, future to establish rapport and then use the 'Ben Duffy'. I'd say to the client, 'you know Joe, in preparing for today's meeting, I put myself in your position and thought there may be some questions on your mind, things like 'Who is Frank Furness, who is XYZ Financial Services, how long have they been around, what's in it for me, what's in it for you? Are these some of the questions on your mind?' You then nod your head and he'll nod back again (I love the doggy nod) because these are some of the questions that are on their mind. An important thing is to learn this script verbatim. It's got to form a natural part of your conversation. This is the script: 'In preparing for today's meeting, I put myself in your position and I thought you might want to know, who is (your name), who is XYZ Financial Services, what's in it for me, what's in it for you? Are those some of the questions on your mind?' Write that down and learn it verbatim. They normally reply 'yes sure, these are some of the things on my mind'. Now and now is the only time you will speak about yourself. And this is a brag session, this is where you're selling yourself, you're selling your credibility. So if you've got a degree, if you've been in the business for ten years, whatever you have done well, this is where you sell yourself. I would say, 'I'm Frank Furness, I've been in the business for twenty years now, I'm a Certified Financial Planner'... or you may say, 'hi I'm Henry Smith, I've been in the business for some time now, I'm working for one of the best companies, I've been through incredible training courses. Prior to this I was a banker and I have my B.Comm degree... ' This and this is the only time that you sell yourself and the best time to sell yourself well is now. Most companies give people a script that's pages and pages long. I don't know how they expect people to actually learn their scripts verbatim. So sell yourself first: then you would go into the company's script. This is where you sell your Company, how long they have been around, various offices etc. Now, depending on your company script, you would carry on with the Ben Duffy. Your prospect wants to know that he's dealing with a good company that has been well established, that has been around for a long time. I'd then say to him, 'if you're also wondering what's in it for you, what's in it for me; well what's in it for you is simply that I just want to take a snapshot of where you are now, and where you want to be in the future and really just help you get there. What's in it for me; if you like the way I conduct business, I'd like you to place the business with me and for that I get paid a fee. I also want to establish a long-term business relationship. Our income is derived from brokerage fees paid to us by the financial institutions. All that I would ask of you is, should you be satisfied with our recommendations, that you place the business with us. Secondly, whether or not we do business together, should you find us to be professional and ethical; we would like you to refer us to other professionals such as yourself.'

Sell More, Earn More, 'It's Back to Basics'

After 20 years in sales and management, I have found that the most successful people stick to the basics. They have an abundance of knowledge of their product, a positive and winning attitude, excellent selling skills and the habits that ensure a full diary with qualified prospects. Some time ago, I attended a Tom Hopkins 'Boot Camp' in the USA. This is one of the world's greatest sales courses and runs for 3 days. There were 800 people attending (I was the only South African/Brit) and the amazing thing was that these were not beginners attending, but some of the world?s top sales people from every walk of life. Some had returned for the 13th time and the sole purpose was to get back to basics. Working with top sales people in 48 countries, these are some of the basic skills that I have discovered helps them to be top in their fields.

Prospecting Top sales people are master prospectors. They are not afraid of cold calling and are socially mobile. They belong to sports clubs, social clubs (Round Table, etc) and have an inbuilt antenna in locating new prospects. They can differentiate very quickly between prospects and suspects and will spend their time with the best-qualified prospects. I work with a great salesman in Hong Kong who earns over a million dollars a year selling financial services. He only mixes with millionaires and his aim is to find the wealthiest person to sell to. He has the belief that everyone will buy from him (and most do). Another client has his own polo team and spends 500,000 every August arranging a worldwide polo tournament. Most polo players are extremely wealthy and as his company sponsors the tournament, he has a high profile. Sales that follow the tournament each year amount to 2 - 3 million.

Phoning I have very rarely met someone who loves making appointments on the phone. Top salespeople have developed the habit of phoning regularly. They work on ratios and follow a simple script (though it never sounds as if they use a script). They also prepare well for phoning, having only a diary, prospect names and their script in front of them. Any distractions such as papers are taken off the desk while they phone. They also set themselves a definite target of prospects that will say 'yes' in each phoning session. They don't allow any distractions and psyche themselves positively for every call and don't take rejection personally. For more scripts take a look at my audio series on telephoning and setting up appointments calls Telephone Sales Skills for Winners

Dress for Success It doesn't matter what you sell, you need to dress appropriately. I work with many professionals and the standard dress code is that of the City of London. Dark suits, white shirt, conservative tie and clean, black lace up shoes. Green suits are a no-no. Different occupations allow for short sleeve shirts and more casual dress, but remember, it's the small things that count. Neatly ironed shirt and trousers, good grooming, gold pen (or gold plated if you're new to sales - fake it till you make it) and decent looking briefcase. Be very aware of body odour and halitosis (bad breath). It is very inexpensive to buy 'Gold Spot' and spray your mouth before each call. I recently went to a well know high street electrical store to purchase and expensive piece of hi-fi equipment. I was knocked out (and nearly sick) by the salesman's bad breath and quickly left the store and purchased the equipment elsewhere. Here was someone with no idea on the basics, losing his company a lot of money. Remember, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

Developing Rapport This was easy when I sold in South Africa some years ago. I would take out my gun and so would my prospect and we would then compare guns and bullets. When I arrived in the UK and tried this on my first call, the prospect ran out never to be seen again. Joking aside, whenever I meet someone, I use the 'past, present and future'. People love to talk about themselves and whenever I meet someone for the first time, I firstly ask them how they got started. I then ask about their present situation and where they see themselves in the future. At this stage, I can learn more about them than at any other time. The important thing is to keep quiet and listen. I also realise that there are a number of things on the prospect's mind when I first meet such as, who am I, how credible I am, the background of my company and what's in it for him and me. My introduction is as follows (after past, present and future). 'In preparing for today's meeting, I thought there may be some questions on your mind such as 'who am I, who is my company and what's in it for you and me,' at which stage they always nod in agreement. I tell him about myself and my qualifications (this is the only time I talk about myself and most professionals like to deal with other professionals). I then go on to tell the prospect about my company. Following that comes 'what's in it for you', when I say quite simply that I would like to take a look of where they or their company are right now and where they would like to be in the future and to help them achieve these goals. What's in it for me - 'I get paid in two ways, firstly if you think my proposals are feasible, I would like you to place the business with me and secondly, whether we do business or not, I would like you to refer me to 2 or 3 other people/companies similar to you.'

Questioning and Listening Most top salespeople are master questioners and excellent listeners. These are the tools of their trade and enable them to find out what is really important to their client.

Lighting the fire All successful salespeople know how to 'light the fire and ignite the passion' that will enable the prospect to buy. They realise how important emotions are in the sales process and sell the benefits of their product or service.

Closing skills Statistics show that most top salespeople close on their fifth attempt. Mediocre salespeople don't even know 5 closes. On the Tom Hopkins sales course, we were all expected to learn 27 closes verbatim as well as the importance of overcoming objections and uncovering the real and underlying objection to proceeding with the sale immediately. If every step of the sales process is followed correctly, the close is the natural progression. Please go to www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm to download 39 sales closing scripts.

The power of words Most people have been conditioned to react either positively or negatively by the use of certain words. An example is 'I would like to make an appointment'. Who do you make an appointment with: doctors, dentists and other people out to hurt you. Rather use, I'd be happy to drop by/pop in (as friends do). 'Sign the contract' is something we've all been warned about. Rather use 'Please authorise the paperwork'. Always be aware of your 'sales language'.

Pride All successful people are proud of their professions and love selling. This becomes very evident to the prospects.

Enthusiasm Selling skills and enthusiasm count for 85% of the sale. If you are boring, tired or not in the mood to sell, you will never be amongst the elite of salespeople.

Superb service Top professionals deliver what they promise. Their levels of excellent service ensure that their client will never 'shop' elsewhere and they will in turn provide a constant source of referrals.

Fun Top salespeople have fun and look forward to each day. They have great senses of humour. When I first started selling 20 years ago, I had an appointment with a schoolteacher. On arriving at her house, her little sister told me to sit and wait in the lounge as her sister was taking a shower. Five minutes later, she came walking through the lounge drying her hair, stark naked! She looked up and saw me, ran out and locked herself in a bedroom and shouted 'go away, I don't want to see you'. Well I left without a sale, but that's when I realised 'money isn't everything!'

Detail Focused Buyers Think of engineers, accountants, computer analyists and any detail focused professions and you will normally be dealing with an analytical or detail focused buyer. You can't sell to these people in the usual way. They will analyze, research and buy only when they feel they have explored every possibility. Dealing with this type of buyer, realise that they like to buy from specialists, so ensure that you know what you're talking about and have as much relevant data with you as possible. This is the total opposite of my style, yet when we moved to London, my biggest client base was dentists and computer analysts. As I know their buying patterns, I was very successful and they referred me to many others in their profession who saw me as a specialist. I would always give them an abundance of data and a few different options as well as sufficient time for analysis. Then I simply asked which option they felt was the right one and the business would follow. Impress them by: Thoroughness Ask questions that: Are detailed Support their: Thoughts Demonstrate your: Detailed knowledge Make benefits: Provable Show commitment by: Being systematic Be impressed by Their status Best close: Detailed summary What this is really illustrating, is that you must be like a chameleon when selling. Very quickly recognise what type of buyer you are selling to and change your selling style to suit the way they buy, not the way you sell. For instance, let's say you are an over the top enthusiast, you will need to tone down and have a lot more facts and information than you would normally feel comfortable with if you are dealing with a detail focused buyer.

Remember, people like to do business with people similar to themselves who they like, trust and feel comfortable with.