Sales Rep 101 – Chapter 13

First Impressions

Remember the last time you were going on a date and you were really excited about it? You tried on 3 different outfits before you chose the right one. And you made sure that you got a haircut. You wanted to look and make a good first impression. When you are in sales every time you are meeting with a new prospect or client for the first time you should treat it like a first date. First impressions are HUGE. You are trying to either earn an appointment with them or trying to earn their business again. And when you walk in that door they need to take one look at you and say to themselves “I could see myself doing business with them”. In sales sometimes we get busy and forget how we look before we walk into a business for the first time. I had a friend once that was a great sales person. They could sell snow to an Eskimo. But for the life of me I couldn’t understand why he looked so disheveled every day. Seriously, it looked he had been out in the woods all day and just came in for work. But his numbers were still decent. If he would have taken his job more seriously he could of made a fortune. But some people you just can’t help. And no matter how many times we talked about it nothing changed. Also, being on time is big deal. I know that my clients are hardly ever on time but that doesn’t mean that it is not important for me to be on time. Today there really should be no excuse for not being on time. With GPS it can give you an exact time of arrival. Now, for some reason if your schedule is packed and you get help up with a client and will be late to your next appointment you need to call and let them know. Don’t think that being just 10 or 15 minutes late won’t be a big deal. They may never agree to meet with you again. I know that seems crazy but people value their time and if they feel like you don’t value their time it could hard to overcome in the future. So get cleaned up and make sure you are on time. Because the first impression could be your last if it is not a good one!