Enough with the weather talk.

Why being authentic during small talk matters in sales.

Meeting a prospect of existing customer for the first time can be a somewhat awkward experience. Whether it’s in person or even on the phone, the need to break the ice and quickly strike up conversation is simply a part of doing business. What’s not necessarily a part of doing business is having a conversation about the weather, as so many of these conversations often go. I’m not suggesting that all weather talk is bad, but if you’re in sales and that’s all you can think of, then well, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

People make judgements when they hear your voice or when they see you in person. Whether it happens to be a particular accent they hear on the phone, or the type of clothes they see you wear to a meeting, people are making judgments about you as a person. In sales, when your prospect is judging you in that first meeting, it’s especially important for that initial communication to feel authentic and not forced.

I bolded the word authentic because I believe that having this trait fundamentally differentiates the best sales reps from the rest. I believe that those first few minutes of conversation help to establish rapport, and provide an opportunity to build a foundation for a real business relationship. In the B2B space, building that relationship with your customer is especially important. In our world where there is often a negative connotation associated with sales reps, if you waste your first conversation discussing the snow or the fall leaves, then well, you’re no different from the competition and you’ve missed out.

What do you have to gain by being more authentic during small talk?

• An opportunity to learn — It is an opportunity to learn about your customers. Play the long game and try and understand what might be exciting in their lives and get them talking about it. You can bring this up later at the end of your meeting or even at the next meeting as well. This shows you care.
• An opportunity to determine personality types — Different people respond to sales people differently. For example, some people hate the idea of being sold and see salespeople as a necessary evil. As a result, these individuals are often very guarded in the first meeting. Use authentic small talk to prove your honesty, make the person feel comfortable, and loosen up to you.
• An opportunity to create a good first impression — As I mentioned earlier, it is the first step towards building rapport as your customers judge the type of individual you are. Prove your sincerity.
• An opportunity to differentiate — Do what your competitors aren’t doing. Or more importantly, do what your competitors are probably also doing, but do it even better. Give your customer another reason to buy from you.
• An opportunity to show leadership — There is nothing more awkward than being on a conference call with someone and hearing radio silence as you wait for the remaining attendees to join. Show leadership, start up an authentic conversation that engages everyone else on the call. Set the right tone for the rest of the call.

What can you do to spark authentic small talk?

• Be prepared — Do your research, there’s no excuse not to. We live in a world of social media, where people are posting their lives online. Try and learn a few interesting things about your prospect through public social channels like LinkedIn or Twitter. Then see if you can weave it into your conversation. For example, if you know that your prospect grew up or went to college in Chicago, mentioning a recent trip you took there or a Cubs game you watched the previous night might help.
• Be present in the conversation — By being attentive, good sales people understand how to uncover customer needs. They ask open ended questions with meaningful follow up questions based on their prospect’s responses. Apply the same methodology here and really listen as your prospect is talking. Then, ask insightful questions while taking notes. For example, if he mentions his daughters swimming lessons, ask what level she’s in and the name of the school.
• Be curious — Everyone has a story. Try to approach the conversation with the goal of learning something about your customer’s own story. For example, ask how long has she been with the company, or how she decided to pursue a career in engineering.
• Be mindful of your own voice — Remember, this isn’t about you, it’s about your customers. So be aware of them, and don’t get carried away with the sound of your own voice. I’ve heard lots of salespeople fall into the trap of small talking their way into excessive blabber, which makes you look nervous and lacking confidence. I’ve also seen a lot of sales folks talk over their customers as well, which makes you look arrogant and inconsiderate.
• Be inclusive — As important as it is to build a relationship with the decision maker or the budget holder, be sure to engage other customer contacts that are participating in the meeting as well. There is a reason these individuals are present, and it’s your responsibility to figure out why. It’s also the polite thing to do, and a way of proving that you are not completely a self serving individual.

I recognize that this post can sound fairly manipulative as a way of taking advantage of your prospects and customers; that’s not the intent. Honestly, if you end up using these suggestions as ‘tactics’ to try and manipulate your customers, chances are they may even work initially. You might just fool them into falling for your fake authenticity. However, at some point they will begin to see through the facade and it will catch up to you. Hopefully you’re not that type of person, and seeing as how you’re still reading this post, I’d like to believe you want to be better than that. My goal here is to try and motivate salespeople to truly be more authentic and genuinely care about their customers. To do that, I propose starting with something really small — small talk. I mean really, who cares about the weather anyways?

If you liked this post, please hit the green ‘Recommend’ button below. Others may stumble upon my post and it will also motivate me to continue writing as well.

Thanks.

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter @RajenSanghvi