Your Customers Are Watching Closely: Are You Making the Right Impression?
When you're in sales, you are in the business of changing people’s minds. An example would be when prospects think they should buy from your competitor, and you change their minds to buy from you.
So now, how do you change people’s minds? It starts by avoiding doing anything that could prevent customers from having a positive opinion of you.
They notice how you work
I had my refrigerator repaired recently. The repairman arrived in uniform; however, he didn’t have protective coverings on his shoes that would have prevented soiling my floor. I noticed that. He was organized in the way he worked, placing parts on the counter in a certain order. I noticed that. Then he had to silicone the icemaker, and after he completed the task, he moved the refrigerator back into place.
That’s when I noticed he had left silicone spots on the front of my notoriously difficult to clean stainless steel refrigerator. I would have forgotten about the lack of shoe coverings; the silicone was enough to trigger my dissatisfaction. Even though the repairman was a nice guy, I would not choose this company to work with again.
Do you make your prospects work harder to buy from you?
They notice if you waste their time
When do you arrive for appointments? Some people believe that arriving for an appointment 15 minutes before the scheduled time is appropriate. I agree. If you arrive much earlier than that, you’ve just interrupted your customer who may very well have another task scheduled. That would bother some people because you’ve interrupted them.
Think about conference calls. How early do you call your customers for a conference call? You should not call 15 minutes before the call is scheduled—I aim for one to two minutes before. You don’t want to annoy someone and cause them to think less of you.
They notice your attitude
I once worked with a guy who always had an opinion—it was always a negative one. He concluded that his teammates couldn't do their jobs well. He thought that his customers didn’t know what they wanted. He believed that management didn’t have a good strategy. I can’t remember one positive statement he made.
How easy do you think it was for this complainer to change people’s minds? I would say not very. It’s hard for people to trust you and be persuaded when they dislike you; it’s really hard to change their mind.
Avoid doing the little things that detract from you making a positive impression. Those little things might not seem so little to the people whose minds you want to change.
