How to Be Welcomed by Your Customers

BY Jim Cathcart
Featured image for “How to Be Welcomed by Your Customers”

One way to be welcomed by your customers is to be in the right frame of mind. Prepare yourself mentally for selling. What does that mean to you? What do you have to do to get into the right frame of mind to be making a sales contact? Think about a time when you were in the perfect frame of mind for a sales call. Can you recall one? If not, just think about a time when you were in a terrific mood and really had an optimistic attitude going into any kind of an interpersonal dealing.

Take a sheet of paper and write a little narrative to yourself that describes the mood, the attitude, the situation, and the point of view that you had when that happened. Then, study that and see how you can duplicate pieces of that intention.

When you can cultivate the ability to keep yourself in the right frame of mind for selling, you go into every sales contact with confidence. You bring energy instead of drawing energy from the other person. You make a positive contribution and people look forward to seeing you. Instead of going into someone’s office and saying, “May I take a minute of your time? (note the emphasis on “TAKE a minute of YOUR time”), we ought to say, “Do you have a minute? I’ve got an idea you’re going to love!” The difference in those two approaches is enormous. One approach is taking from the prospect, the other one is bringing to the prospect.

Another aspect of being perceived as good news is developing a history of positive experiences with each client. Plan to make each contact intentionally upbeat and valuable to the prospect or client. If you always add something to their day, they will look forward to your next visit. Build the habit of finding good things wherever you go. Look for people, specific behaviors and things to compliment, bring along useful ideas, regardless of whether they relate directly to your product or not. Just be sure that they relate to your client’s interests.

We should always cultivate the kind of thinking, the kind of feeling, the kind of mood, and the kind of behavior that will convey to the other person, “Here comes good news!”

Remember: Business should be practiced as an act of friendship rather than a process of negotiation.


Share: