The First Three Minutes of a Successful Sales Approach

Successful salespeople know how to grab a prospect’s attention – and keep it. After all, if you can’t break through in the first three minutes, what hope do you have of getting to the close? The suggestions listed here cover a variety of situations. Try out the ones that fit your next five sales calls. By adding to your presentation repertoire, you expand your closing probabilities.

Identify the purpose of the call first.

The typical salesperson starts the approach with something like:

“Good morning, Mr. Riley. I’m Jack Foster of Acme Products Company.” Now if the first ten seconds in front of the customer are the most important, Jack Foster is wasting them by greeting the prospect with the least interesting of pertinent facts. If he truly appreciates the importance of getting attention quickly, he will say instead, “Mr. Riley, I want to show you an idea that can help you reduce your costs. I’m Jack Foster of Acme Products Company.” Ask a question that leads into the prospect’s interest. Questions are handy tools, but some of them used for openings are pretty worthless, like, “Isn’t this a beautiful day?” or “Well, how’s business?” The latter could ruin the whole show if business was bad – unless you could do something to improve it! The right questions will make the prospect think about the needs he wants to satisfy. In place of the pleasant irrelevancy or the routine question, ask: “Would it interest you to learn how you can shorten the time of handling outgoing shipments?”

Get the prospect to participate.

A person can pretend to listen, but he just can’t continue with one line of thought and actively participate in another. So the salesperson gets the prospect into the act by involving one or more of his senses. “Hold that.”… “Feel this.”… “How do you like this smell?”… “Just look under the flap.”… “Look at this.”…”Push this down.”

Promise a benefit.

“I think I have an idea that will save you money.” What can a prospect say except “How?” or “Prove it”? Offering the benefit in the form of a question is a tested technique for getting quick results: “Mr. Hall, if I could show you how to save 15% on your car rentals, would you be interested?” You can combine this technique with the first technique, asking a question about a benefit before you identify yourself or at least before mentioning your firm.

Offer a survey.

“Mr. Parker, I have a product that may be able to reduce your maintenance costs, but I’m not sure. With your permission, I’d like to check a few things about your operation first and report back to you.” The prospect will usually respond by asking more questions about the product.

Offer a trial.

The trial is more frequently used later in the sales interview when an immediate sale cannot be made, but it can also be suggested in the approach. “Mrs. Gardner, we have just received a new stapler with an anti-jamming device. We would like to have you try it out for a few days and see if it can speed up your bagging operation.”

Open with the product.

If your product can stimulate interest just by its appearance, it alone can be used for the opener. Salespeople use this approach by walking in with the product in their hands and depositing it on the desk of the prospect. They may step back without saying a word. If the prospect is reasonably familiar with similar products, the salesperson may give a simple comment, like: “Isn’t that a dandy?” or, “Turn this switch.” If there is some element of mystery about it, exploit it. “What do you think this is?” This approach can be combined with getting the prospect into the act by inviting him or her to taste it, smell it, feel it, listen to it, look through it, etc.

Use a visual.

Instead of the actual product, visuals can be used. They can also be used to supplement the actual product, or they can demonstrate the services you are selling. A wide variey of visuals and audio-visuals are used – photos, models, cut-aways, charts, posters, slides, movies, tapes, etc. The salesperson simply asks permission to show them. “Mr. Fellows, I would like to show you three photos taken of a welding operation using a new process. May I?” “I have a five-minute color film showing a new idea in displaying merchandise that I think would interest you. May I set the unit here? Where is the nearest outlet?”

The shock treatment.

Open with a startling fact or a strong statistic. “Do you realize that you could actually save money by carpeting your general office instead of using the present flooring?” Obviously you must be able to back up your statement.

Tell a story.

We all like to hear a story, provided it’s stimulating and told well. The story can be combined with any of the other approaches we have mentioned. For example, the salesperson can produce a shattered pair of safety glasses and, for a “shocker” approach, say, “These glasses cost a firm like yours $59,000.” Then he can say, “Let me tell you what happened.”

Use a referral.

Use the name of another person as an introduction. “I believe you know Mr. Johnson of the Allied Company. He suggested that you would be interested in hearing what they are doing about…”

Give the prospect something.

Giving the prospect something of value can be used as an opener. It has worked for many years for the door-to-door brush salesperson. But it should direct the prospect’s attention toward the product or service, and not itself alone. A free ballpoint pen or a thermometer are nice gifts, but to stimulate interest the salesperson must relate them to what he does next. Otherwise, the prospect begins thinking about using the pen or thermometer and doesn’t listen to what the salesperson is saying. He might say, “I’d like to give you this new pen with our compliments. On the side you notice the words ’24-hour service’…”

Use a gimmick.

Salespeople have used or will devise thousands of stunts or gimmicks to get a prospect’s attention. While they are planned to lead into the reason for the sales interview, they are strictly for attention. A salesperson lights a match to what looks like a dollar bill. Another rolls a pair of dice on the prospect’s desk. In using any stunt, remember the purpose must be to get favorable attention. And after getting attention, you must move quickly into stimulating the prospect’s interest in satisfying a want.

Your presentation skills will increase over time. The more techniques you use, the greater your chance of finding out which ones work best in your particular industry.