Water in the mouth
You must first be silent. Meetings with the customer – whether short or long – are focused on him, on his situation. If at the end of an introductory phone call or a preliminary meeting you have spoken more than your customer, something has gone wrong. It is certainly not easy to refrain from interrupting the customer by immediately proposing our solution , but doing so will nullify the entire conversation, which, again, is focused on the customer, on his problems, and not on us or our solution. The only time you should speak up, on these occasions, is when you want to ask for clarification.
3. Earn their trust
Do you want customers to be completely open with you, so that they can really explain all their needs (at least the known ones)? Then you have to be able to build a human relationship with them. You have to be professional, of course, but you how you can use this database effectively have to do everything you can to not give the impression that you are there, in front of them, just for the money. You have to show that you are truly interested in their needs, so as to encourage them to see those preliminary contacts as the first of a long series of meetings in a lasting and close-knit partnership. It is therefore necessary to find something in common with the customer , something to talk about before promoting your products and services: the more comfortable and safe the customer is, the more they will open up.
4. Ask the right questions
Almost no customer, if not blunted with specific questions, will be able to explain all their needs to you. But that information is useful to you , and for this reason you should not be afraid to ask if the customer has already used similar products and services in the past, and if there have been problems. That's not all: when you address a company, it will certainly be useful to ask what their vision is, so as to understand in which universe you have to move, and what their objectives are; when addressing a single person, you should instead simplify the concept, asking them what result they want to achieve thanks to your products or services. These questions may seem too direct, but the relative answers can really make a difference in terms of your performance!