Hello everybody, this is Paul Democritou and we are going to talk about sales knowledge and we are going to focus on the meet-and-greet. Back in my Timeshare days, we had a sales deck where we meet couples to give them their free gift which is a free holiday and it was actually our job to sell them Timeshare within 90 minutes and applying the meet and greet technique is usually a great way to sell. The meet and greet can be applied in any industry or business and if you want to be a great business salesperson, you need to apply it when making a sales presentations.

What is Meet and Greet?

Meet and greet has to do with how you walk and introduce yourself when you meet a client. You need to be able to win them right from the beginning because you actually have just one chance to make the first impression. First of all, walk with confidence, introduce yourself and address your clients by their name. If you are a man and your clients happens to be a couple, make sure you greet the man first and if you are a woman, greet the woman first. There are several reasons why you should do this; the guy or woman might be jealous even though it may be subconsciously and this could reduce or even eliminate your chances of making a sale, shake hands with the same sex first.

Another important reason why you should greet the same sex first is cultural reason. The man may be superior to the woman in their culture and what matters at the end of the day is that you get the sale. If you are a man, shake the man’s hand first and maintain a firm grip, not a loose grip which does not establish a connection. However, ensure that you do not break his hand and also make sure that you establish an atmosphere of mutual respect and power.

Secondly, while shaking someone’s hand, ensure that it’s tilted a little bit so that your hand will be on top. When you are dealing with a CEO or a salesperson, you should not get into a wrestling match while trying to get your hand on top. In such situations, you can move your leg one step forward, this will make your hand naturally inclined towards the top and still look good. While greeting the woman, try to spend less time with the woman. During your sales presentation, you are actually supposed to look at both of them and give them the same attention but I would suggest that if you are a man, give a little bit more attention to the man, this will eliminate the chances of jealousy or feeling that you are talking to his wife too much. When you win the woman and lose the man, your chances of making a sale is a bit slim and the same applies to a situation where you win the man and the woman is angry. Always ensure that the guy does not feel that you are teaming up with his wife against him.

Walking into the Presentation Room

After the introduction, you need to take them to the place where the presentation will be made. When you walk them into the presentation room, take control of the situation, tell them where to sit. Never allow them to take control of the situation because they will simply walk away without making any commitment. You would get angry when someone walks into your living room and starts inspecting your properties such as your library and electronics. The same thing applies to your office, take control and tell them where to sit. With your palm facing up, show them the position where they will sit rather than having your finger pointing down.

You can actually get away with a lot of things by simply changing your voice and the use of body language. Remember that there is a great difference between having your fingers pointing down and your palm pointing down. Ensure that you walk with confidence and authority as you walk them into the sales room.

Sitting Position

The sitting arrangement is also very important when making a sales presentation to a couple. As a guy, when you are sitting down, sit next to the guy, there are two factors to consider when sitting in a square table. You should have the guy to your left hand side while the woman sits opposite you. However, if you are using a round table, sit next to the guy and ensure that they are on your left. There are two reasons why you should adhere to this sitting arrangement:

• You don’t want to block the person when you are writing or showing them something which is bound to happen. You will block their view if they sit to your right hand side while you are writing, except if you are a left handed
• Apart from the fact that they can’t see what you’re writing, it also leads to a negative block. They can easily see what you’re writing when they sit on your left. Also, if someone sits on your right hand, they’re more important to you so if you are attending any meeting, try to sit on the right-hand side of the boss.

Generally, the most important person usually sits on the right hand side in life. There are other reasons why you need to adhere to this sitting arrangement

• It makes the presentation less stressful, you will save yourself the pain of turning every time you want to explain or show your clients something.
• By maintaining this sitting arrangement, you will prevent your clients form talking behind you or using a sign language which could hinder from closing sales
• When the woman is seated opposite you, you will prevent the guy from being jealous because you might actually touch her in the course of the presentation. She might also be the type that leans forward when talking or a touchy person that may touch you while talking which could make the man jealous. The same applies to a situation where a woman is making the presentation, try to avoid situations that could arouse jealousy

Starting the Presentation

Now, the first thing you should do when starting the presentation is to apply warmth. You need to open them up and warm them up. You don’t actually want them to have their arms crossed while you’re making a presentation. If the guy’s arms are crisscrossed, you need to open them up. There are simple strategies you can apply to make him unfold his arms, for instance you can simply give him a magazine and ask him to take a look at places where he can visit while on vacation.

Definitely, he will release his hands in the process and you can then take back your magazine. You can also admire his phone, just request to see it, he will lose his arms before giving it to you and also when he is collecting it. While talking, you can also touch his arms to unfold them from his chest. While talking, you can talk about your industry but also try to talk about holidays because everyone loves holidays.

The second thing that you would talk about is their jobs, no matter the nature of the job they do, never act interested, rather, show genuine interest in their job. You can show genuine interest by asking questions and learn a few things about their field, it will not only broaden your knowledge, but also, you will be able to discuss about certain things with people. When you meet people in that field, you will be better informed to talk to them.

Making the Presentation

Laughter has a positive effect on people, it gives them the permission to laugh, when you say something funny and laugh, the least your client can do is smile out of politeness and possibly laugh. Laughing and smiling is a habit and the more you do it, the greater the chance that you will do it throughout your presentation. When you make people smile and laugh, they smile while giving you their money. You will appear as a cool guy who is outgoing and fun to be with.

Remember that you are dealing with a couple, so don’t forget the wife, ask the wife about her job, you have to sell them both or you will lose the sale. Ask her about her job but spend less time than you spent with the man. Always compliment them, not just the man or the woman but both of them in order to avoid jealousy. If the wife says for instance that she doesn’t work, but take care of kids, you can appreciate her by saying “wow, that’s a job in itself”.

As a salesperson, one of the best ways to improve yourself in sales process and in life generally is by reading books and acquiring knowledge. The only difference between you and a master closer is knowledge, the best book I ever read was “The Closers” by Ben Gay III. You will also find Grant Cardone’s book “10x rule” very useful as well in helping you become one of the best salespeople in the world. If you want to buy books, I will suggest that you buy the two of them. I also have a great book coming out on the 15th of January, 2017 and it’s about how to achieve success even with zero capital. You can learn from my YouTube channel and podcast, you will be getting so much useful information that will steer you in the right direction.

Conclusion

While making a presentation, you can say anything but say it the right way. As much as possible, be funny and make them laugh. You can talk about their dreams, vacation, jobs and kids if they have kids. You could sell the kids if they are there because kids are closers, parents can buy anything they want. I remember as kids, we use to do that a lot, when you were a kid and really wanted something like a toy for Christmas and you tell your mom, she would start by saying “oh, it’s too expensive” but children usually end up chanting; I want it, I want it, I want it and finally mom will say “okay, I’ll get it for you”. Usually, kids don’t stop asking until they have it. While making the presentation, always ask questions, people always love talking about themselves, it makes them feel a lot better. You can also watch my YouTube video where I talked about Meet and Greet here.

Until next time… Keep Succeeding!

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Paul Democritou is an entrepreneur, sales expert and keynote speaker in Greece as well as a cancer survivor.

Paul’s Book Success I.A.O. is now available on Amazon. Its all about how to succeed in life and business even under harsh conditions and is the ONLY book to include action plans to make money even with zero capital! 1/3 profits go to help people fight cancer.

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The Ultimate books on sales:

The Closers by Ben Gay III and the The Closers 2 by Ben Gay III
The Closers 3 Coming soon!