The First Handshake!

Your first meeting with a potential client/customer is the memory-maker! The one that leaves the imprint. In those first seconds of impact upon meeting and reaching out to shake your client/customer's hand, 50% of the sales process will have taken place! In the mindset of your client/customer, he/she is already thinking "do I invest in this person, the team, or not?"

Wipe off those sweaty hands and look your contact in the eye. How do you handshake this person? Dress appropriately. Smile. Be sincere. Be prepared. If you want him or her to turn the key to their "Vault", you’ve got to make that client/customer think you have all the answers!

I once had a sales rep of mine in another city. He did not have the greatest ability to put things down on paper but that weakness was definitely overcome by his ability to schmooze! At that time in my career, I had never paid attention to that "first glimpse" you get from the client/customer and what impact/role it plays in forging the relationship? It caught my attention quickly after attending some sales meetings with this person. Seriously, he could handshake a person better than anyone I've ever seen and the look his client gave him upon impact was equally priceless!

As a parent, they say your child's brain development for their entire life will come together in the first five years after birth. Well, your relationship to the client/customer comes together with the impact of that first handshake!!!! Do not discount that moment!

I jokingly used to tell my sales rep before that if the business world was like the sports industry and they held a draft for sales prospects, he'd go in the first round without question! Yes, he had some weaknesses - we all do - but when the draft experts broke down skills, they'd say "this person is such a master of the handshake, a great conversationalist, relates to everyone well, dresses for the occasion, a true sales professional". I said that to my staffer because, at that time, I was envious at the way he could "handshake" people! Seriously, he woke me up to a skill I never thought mattered?

E-Mail: loria@sfstampede.com