Whenever I am about to experience a sales meeting, I mentally tell myself, 'keep it slow', savour it, take your time'. That way I don't tend to speak too quickly and either irritate or annoy the other person.
Matt Church, founder of Thought Leader's Business School refers to it as savouring a glass of expensive red wine. I love this metaphor.
One of my strengths is being enthusiastic. People generally like to be around enthusiastic people, and it can be quite infectious. However, have you heard the saying 'your greatest strength is your greatest weakness'? That can be the case with my enthusiasm. Sometimes when I get too carried away with excitement, I rush through a sales conversation, blurt things out, and generally annoy the other person. It's a bit like sculling that beautiful red!
I think the key is to be enthusiastic AND present
Refer to the following model;
If you are neither enthusiastic nor present, you will be almost invisible in a sales conversation. If you are enthusiastic but not present, you will be annoying or irritating.
Recently I was on a plane, and sat beside a guy who was clearly passionate about the whiteware products he represented as a sales person. In fact he ended up getting out his tablet and talking at me for a while, without taking a breath. It was a good experience for me to realise how I come across at times.
If you are present but not enthusiastic, you will come across as enlightening, which of course is a good thing.
But I think the gold is when you are present AND enthusiastic, because then you have illuminating sales conversations, and that is where the results will show up.
So how do you become more present?
We hear this word quite a bit, but what does it actually mean? Well for one, I think creating the space is important, and that's why having a little chat to yourself before you go into a sales meeting is key. It's often about awareness. But I think it is so much more than that too. Next week I will share my thoughts on what it takes to be present, and the following week, I will share what I think you need to do to be enthusiastic (if it's not your default setting!).
