Are you present enough with your clients?
A couple of years ago, I had just boarded a flight and noticed an attendant in the aisle helping another passenger find their seat. Behind her, a woman entered the plane, yelled “Excuse me!” and barged pass the flight attendant and then mumbled “well you do want to board, don’t you?”
Clearly, this impatient woman was oblivious to the fact that the flight attendant was not a passenger and was assisting someone. This obliviousness led to borderline insane behavior demonstrated by the woman.
Now, while I’m sure everyone reading this has enough proper judgement to know to never replicate such behavior, this circumstance can teach us all a few lessons in being present with clients.
[bctt tweet=”In this profession, you simply cannot afford to be oblivious.” username=”EngageColleen”]
If you’re not completely present with clients, you’ll miss out on important information, buying cues, and other opportunities.
The truth is, in this day and age, our attention spans are worse than they’ve ever been. It’s easy for a sound to go off on a phone, an impulse realization that you forgot to send an email, or a plethora of other distractions that can take you away from the present moment with a client.
Salespeople ask me all the time for remedies to this common issue.
Here’s an idea – bring someone else to a few sales calls with you.
An extra set of eyes and ears help pick up missed cues, provide greater context to a detail you may have missed, and generally share perspectives that you may not necessarily think of on your own.
Once you’ve brought a colleague along with you to a few calls and they’re able to coach you on details that you’re consistently missing, you’ll be able to narrow down on the what/how/why behind your lack of presence. With this awareness, you can begin taking steps to change these behaviors. If you’re losing focus when your phone goes off, silence it (including vibrations and alarms!) until your meeting is over. If your mind wanders off to the mountain of emails waiting for you, do some inbox management prior to your sales call.
But, if you don’t get clear on what is causing your lack of presence, you’ll continue the same behavior and your sales will feel the hit!
What steps do you take to ensure your remain focused with your clients?
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