3 Goals to Hit During Your First Five Minutes With Customers

Ever heard the phrases ‘start strong, finish strong’ or ‘start where you want to end up’? Both speak to the idea that the power of your beginning determines your success rate at the end. Nowhere is this truer than in your sales presentation.

Far too often sales people become overwhelmed with perfecting every second of their sales presentation. My advice? Practice, prepare and perfect the first five minutes of your sales presentation before mastering anything else.

If you get the first five minutes right, everything else tends to fall into place. Get the first five minutes wrong and good luck recovering – you’re probably already done!

To keep your opening strong and strategic, zero in on these three main goals that you want to accomplish in your first five minutes with a buyer:

1. Be Coffee Worthy

How fast do people decide whether or not they like you? No, really, what do you think? How long?

Would you believe that research out of Princeton University shows that we decide whether or not we like someone in the blink of an eye or one-tenth of a second? Crazy, right?

But think about what we are able to process in just one-tenth of a second. We can take in a person’s nonverbals, energy level and appearance, and these are the primary tools we use to decide if we like someone.

At Shore Consulting, we use the term ‘coffee-worthy’ to describe an approachable, likeable sales person. Think about the traits and attributes of a person who you would want to sit down and have a cup of coffee with.

What would those traits and attributes be? Those are the qualities you want to portray when meeting a buyer for the first time. Your goal is to be coffee-worthy, quickly!

2. Ask Permission to Question

Only after becoming coffee worthy do you want to jump into your discovery questions. And even then, there is a mini-step between being coffee worthy and asking discovery questions that you want to implement to increase the quality of answers you get from your buyer during discovery.

Using a “permission to question” is a short, simple technique that lets the buyer know what you are doing and why you are doing it when you start asking them questions. It sounds something like this: “Do you mind if I ask you just a few quick questions to best help you today?”

“Permission to questions” gives the buyer a sense of control, it’s respectful and it lets them know this won’t take very long and that these questions are in their best interest. Once they’ve said yes, now they’re committed and the law of commitment kicks in. This means that they will be inclined to give you deeper and more honest answers – win, win!

 3. Gain Clarity About the Buyer’s Motivation

Now you’re set up to find out why they are interested in purchasing your goods or service. What has motivated them to pursue a buying decision? What has changed in their life or in their company that has prompted them to seek you out?

Once we have a deep, true understanding of their motivation, then and only then are we able to help them achieve their goals through our solutions. The sale should never be about the solution (or what you have to sell) until we understand the buyer’s motivation.

I guarantee that if you have strategic focus on these three main goals in the first five minutes, you will radically change your interactions with your buyers. And you will be miles ahead of any other sales person who is still stuck on the same, tired opening questions they’ve always used.

Remember, start strong, end strong.

 

If you are looking for more ways to develop your strategic focus and win more sales, then you need to be a part of The 4:2 Formula Academy.  This 12-week learning cycle will enable you to achieve true mastery of the principles and skills involved in sales.

During those 12 weeks you will participate in a live three-day coach led Academy to participate in group discussions and activities, personal coaching, and action planning to ensure optimum results.  Receive more information and register here.

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About the Author: Amy O'Connor

As one of the most in-demand sales training consultants in North America today, Amy O’Connor brings a decade’s worth of industry experience and knowledge, along with a fresh female perspective on leadership, to her impactful and enlightening seminars.