Making a good first impression is hard enough in real life.
Now that a majority of sales conversations happen over zoom, it’s even more difficult to set the right tone.
That’s why it’s one of my favorite tweaks that I made to my process.
If you’re going to be a great sales person, then you need to think of yourself as a host for your guest; your prospect.
How do you put them at ease?
Here’s my approach.
I enable the waiting room. That way they don’t drop into the tail end of another conversation.
When it’s time, I make sure my video is off & my mic is unmuted.
Then I let them in.
And I wait.
Why?
Because not everyone is on zoom all day every day like we salespeople are!
They don’t know their way around like we do.
And you know what’s frustrating?
Not being able to figure out the tech stuff while someone is sitting there staring at you!
(Hence turning off my video.)
Once I see that their mic is connected AND after they unmute, THEN I say something along the lines of “Great to see you made it!”
But, if you wait just a little bit too long you’ll have them say “Hello? Are you there?”
And that’s the kiss of death.
You’ve brought them into your world & left them alone to wonder what’s happening.
Bad form.
So if you wait too long that’s no good.
Too early is no good either! Don’t say something while their mic is still muted. They’re going to answer you, but you won’t hear it.
That’s why we find that sweet spot and THEN welcome them in.
At this point, it’s ok to turn on your video.
And they’ll say something like “Pardon me for not turning on my camera, I didn’t realize this was going to be video.”
(Amazing, considering what year it is, but still happens none-the-less.)
So you say “It’s ok to leave it off; mainly this is so you can see that I’m a real person.”
And now you can dig into the rest of the call.
I’ve used this process on 3 to 5 calls a day, 5 days a week for the past 4 years (that’s nearly 5,000 calls), and I’ve had so many people mention how comfortable it was to talk with ‘a sales guy.’
That’s what you want.
Help people feel comfortable connecting with you, and you’ll win big.
Best thoughts,
~Jonathan