While Jimmi is giving his sales pitch, hes concentrating more on how
his customer fidgets, twitches, and squirms than on what hes saying. Hes
scrutinizing his customers involuntary head movments. Hes studying her
hand gestures, her body rotation, her facial expressionseven her eye
fluctuations. Jimmi says when his cutomer is not saying a word, even if
shes trying to give you a poker face, she cannot not communicate. She may
not say in words how receptive she is to your pitch, but shes clearly telling
you nonethless. Jimmi says knowing what turns a prospect on, what turns
her off, and what leaves her neutral from moment to moment can make or
break the sale.
288
How to Make the Sale with Your Eyeballs 289
How Jimmi Finds Out Where the Buck Stops
The product Jimmi sells is expensive lighting equipment. Often he must
make sales presentations to groups of ten, twenty, or more people. He says,
The first challenge in Eyeball Selling is discoering who the real decision
maker is.
Jimmi meets his challenge in an unorthodox (not necessarily
recommended) way. Right after Good afternoon, gentlemen and ladies, he
says something slightly confusing. Why? Because the surprised group
doesnt know how to react. So their heads all twirl like weather vanes on a
windy day to look atguess who?the honcho, the heavyweight, the head man
or woman. Now Jimmis got his decision maker so he can continue Eyeball
Selling to that person.
What to Do When You Get Your Cue
Some signals are obvious, Jimmi says. People shrug their shouders for
indifference, tap their fingers for impatience, or loosen their collar when
they feel uncomfortable. But there are hundreds of other unconscious
gestures I keep my antennae tuned for.
For example, I watch the exact angle of my prospects head position. If
its fully facing me, especially if its cocked at a cute little angle, it means
theyre interested. In that case, I keep right on talking. But if their head is
slightly turning away, thats a bad sign. I take it as a cue to change the
subject and maybe talk about a different benefit of my product.
Jimmi not only tailors what hes saying to his customers reations, but he
actively takes steps to change his prospects body postion if he feels its not
receptive. He says, The body must be open before the mind can follow. For
ooja
(Ooja)
#1