Watch the video below. It’s only for 45 seconds but humour me. There is a reason for me to share this with you.
What you will see is a man doing a stupid thing for one but there is a reason why the lion reacted as he did.
Fear.
He could sense the way in which the man approached him and tried to engage.
And he pounced on it. He pounced on the fear the other person showed.
Whilst he tried to appear brave in the way in which he patted him, deep down he was scared. He knew he was doing something that was out of his league and he paid for it by nearly losing his hand.
I will let you into a key secret.
Sales and Selling are no different.
Every day we are going into similar situations. Not with real lions no, but with buyers and prospects who will bite us if we don’t show the right approach.
If we through our ‘Body Language’ show fear, they will pounce upon us and eat us alive.
Deals get lost through ineffective, careless, unprepared gestures and actions that depose you as a seller and which hand the control of a sales situation to a buyer.
- Uncertainty when showcasing solutions?
- Presenting which puts the audience to sleep?
- Overconfidence when engaging in demonstrations?
- Appearing disinterested when a buyer is sharing their key thoughts?
- Not reacting with open gestures and empathy when a buyer outlines a problem?
These and others are all ways in which our body language can fail us in our goal to win business.
And to repeat, these actions account for 55% of the success of our communication.
To get the buyer to believe and trust in us, we have to master the art of successful communication and delivery.
- We have to appear confident even if deep down we don’t feel that way
- We have to look interested even if deep down we aren’t
- We have to show enthusiasm even if deep down we are struggling.
We don’t want to be feeling this way though and want to act in a way that is true to ourselves.
In an ideal sales world, the following has developed within us.
We have built our confidence through regular practice and repetition.
We are interested in the buyer because we are selling a service we truly believe in.
We show passion and desire because we care about what we do and have a bigger purpose which drives us.
When we are confident, believe in the service, and have a desire to serve, we can not only deliver the final 55% needed for the communication but we also get the added 10% bonus which makes a difference.
The 10% extra effect. The small points which as a result of our way of operating, not only convince the buyer but get them to hang on our every word and see us as a person of value. More of that next week maybe.
Getting to master the delivery and body language takes work. It takes ESI.
- The ability to have self-awareness and know when your delivery is weak.
- The discipline to watch your own video calls and look at your gestures and how the buyer responded or not to what you delivered
- The dedication to practice your questions and the way in which you deliver them to ensure maximum impact.
- Being able to use your hands to express a point or to use your stance to share a view.
- To be able to engage others without saying anything or to be able to get others inspired through the way you move.
Body language in sales and the way we act is a series of skills, tools, and techniques that we have to master, and it’s an area that has fascinated me for years. It’s my ‘secret sauce’ and why I have had a successful sales career and I want you to be able to master it as well.
If you do have a burning desire to understand how your own communication is delivered and assess whether the way you are delivering your message is working then let me know. I am looking to run a ‘Mastering Sales Delivery’ face-to-face workshop in November this year and spaces will be limited to 4 people only. It will be a personalised event focused on stopping you from losing deals due to ineffective sales communication.
If you want to master the art of sales delivery, reply back with ‘Make me a Sales Delivery Expert’ and I will share more details with you.
Remember, the lion will bite you if it senses fear. Avoid that either by not engaging with the lion (i.e. getting out of sales and selling) or building skills and methods to pat the lion with total confidence!
Make your body language on point and effective and if you combine this with great tonality and the right words, Sales Superstar Status awaits you!
Stay positive and focus on becoming a fly on the wall in the brain of your buyer.
