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Want to Make a Good First Impression? Avoid Doing These 4 Things

If you depend on sales for the success of your business, you want to ensure you’re giving the right first impression. We will show you what not to do or say when making a cold call to a new lead. Mastering these techniques could significantly increase your sales. Research has found that nearly 50% of sales professionals are terrified of cold calling. Still, it’s essential, and the pressure of making a good first impression is immense.

Did you know you can make or break the phone call within the first 30 seconds? You can guide them further down the sales funnel when you succeed, but this takes practice and resilience from rejection. There are automated tools, text bots, and more that you can use to help you with the sales funnel. An outreach person can be successful, but they can also epically fail, leaving a negative image of the brand.

Here are some things you should avoid.

Don’t Be Pushy 

On your initial call with someone, don’t push them right away for a meeting. It’s important to remember that executives and upper management usually have their whole week scheduled ahead of time. They are incredibly busy people so go in with the expectation that it could take 2 weeks to a month to actually see them.   There is seldom a good reason that they would be able to accept a meeting right away.

Here are some hard no-no’s:

  • Giving them two available times that work best for you without asking them what their availability is.
  • Proposing a meeting in the late hours or early morning hours.
  • Demanding an urgent meeting within 24 hours.

You’re cold calling them. You want to get the contact “warm” before asking for additional contact and for more of their precious time. Allow leads some space and breathing room. Ask them if it would be ok to send them a brochure or email them some additional information.

Don’t Be Secretive

The potential customers you’re looking to connect with don’t have time for secrets or smoking mirrors. You need to give them information they can sink their teeth into. Being secretive and not straightforward won’t help you land a meeting of any kind. There are a lot of automated LinkedIn messages that have very little information. What do you do with these messages? Most likely, you ignore these automated messages because they feel spammy or seem to have no value. Time is valuable, and business professionals are picky about where their time goes. Don’t waste theirs by being secretive. Be aware of that when you’re looking to connect and get them to meet with you.

Don’t Mess Up the Person’s Name

This is a simple one, but it’s crucial. Think about when someone has said your name totally incorrectly. My name is Loraine, and people are constantly mispronouncing it. I tend to lose interest when someone mispronounces my name, and I’m not the only one. Automated computer programs and apps may lose out on the personal touch when sending emails and newsletters, but you have no excuse. You want to add that human touch, a personal touch.  You can do this simply by asking someone how to pronounce their name. Doing this shows the potential client that you care.

Don’t Ignore Your Application Requirements

As a business, you have your own requirements for the people you want to reach out to. Wherever you are advertising, there is an opportunity to reach out to your customer base and audience. If you’ve spent the time getting to know your target audience, you’ll want to create material that they’re interested in. Blogs and articles posted should really speak to them. If it doesn’t make any sense and isn’t helpful, they have no reason to continue to engage with you.

Be mindful of your prospects to make sure they fit the buyer’s persona. Be careful about your grammar by creating a simple, clear message stating why you’re getting in touch with them. Avoid any relationships that don’t fit what you’re looking for. This will help you make the most of the list you have.

By following these practices, you will have more success with scheduling meetings and growing your pipeline. Don’t take shortcuts. Know your audience, and be courteous to their needs. You are looking to get something from the person you’re connecting with, so be available to meet their timing needs. You’re not really in a position to make demands of their time.

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Loraine Couturier
Staff writer: Loraine Couturier is a jet set writing chick from Canada that travels around the globe. Her writing and marketing skills are what keeps her eating exotic meals and jumping on planes. Loraine loves writing about pretty much anything and likes to pass on the knowledge she has to others. Visit her at https://www.facebook.com/jetsetwritingchick

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Staff writer: Loraine Couturier is a jet set writing chick from Canada that travels around the globe. Her writing and marketing skills are what keeps her eating exotic meals and jumping on planes. Loraine loves writing about pretty much anything and likes to pass on the knowledge she has to others. Visit her at https://www.facebook.com/jetsetwritingchick

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