As people in sales, our first meeting and verbal exchange with prospective people who could buy our product / service, we must have the ability to be captivating i.e. we need to captivate the buyer, the client, the customer’s attention and interest with a ‘Captivating Introduction’ so as to get them to sit up, listen to us and ask pertinent questions, leading to a sale closure!
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How can we do this?
There are three parts to a Captivating Introduction, or sometimes called ‘opening pitch’ (italics in brackets are mental questions that our potential buyer is asking as we speak to them):
My name (Who is this?)
- Who do I represent (What are you called / who do you work for)
- What I / we do narrated and structured in a way that is different, thought-provoking and encourages the listener to want to hear more (Instead of saying what you do, say why you do what you do and how you can help me, change my life, support my business).
Sincere interest and more questioning should then ensue / follow.
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Example:
Hi, my name is John Smith!
- I represent Smith Stationery and Printers as their sales Representative, world class and leading stationery manufacturers and printers for the past 70 years.
- We can help you reduce your stationery and printing costs by 25% in 12 months.
The third part is the key part, where instead of telling our potential buyer what we do, we tell them why we do it and how we can help them in their business challenges. A figure or value in the captivating introduction adds significant weight and makes the buyer see you as the expert. People do not buy what you do, they buy why you do it (Source: Simon Sinek).
Remember, captivating introductions need to be short, sharp and effective. They need to grab the buyers’ attention by including a statement of how we can specifically help them.
Brevity is Power!
