Marketers and sales personnel, please take note

Handshakes you should avoid

During my many sales trainings, there is one item under the module of Sales Presentation where I touched on hand shakes that sales people should avoid should they meet up with the client for the first time.  They are :

1. The Hand Glider
2. The Finger Tip; and
3. The Soft Touch

Anyone of the above handshakes could send off a wrong signal to the prospect of your desire to do business with him/her.

However, besides the three mentioned, there are more for sales people to take notice of.

6 Ways NOT To Shake Hands from Bernard Marr

Nine easy ways to build trust with your sales team

It is important that as a sales manager, it takes a little more effort to be accessible to the entire team. But doing so is vital – it builds trust, helps people do their best work and gives you latitude when you have to ask for hard things or make tough choices. These are a few things I do to stay connected to the team that deliver big impact for minimal time and effort.

1. Call everyone in the company by name

Learn names and use them. With a large team, this may take homework, like using LinkedIn to help match faces with names.

2. Say "hi" first

When walking by a team member, always say hi to them before they say hi to you. Make eye contact, and, of course, use their name!

3. Make time to connect one-on-one

When I was managing sales teams of my own, at least twice a week, I meet for coffee or tea with different members of the sales team to learn about what they’re working on, hear their (often genius!) ideas about their jobs and the company, to learn what I can be doing better, and to get to know them. I really enjoy these chats, both personally and professionally.

4. Respond to emails quickly

Even if you can't read through something right away, acknowledge that you got it and that you'll look at it later. Having been on the other side of it, I know it can be nerve-racking or frustrating when it takes your boss a long time to respond to an email. Our Customer Support team operates by this philosophy of respect, too, and answers customer emails in under 9 minutes!

5. Connect on social media

When someone new starts, try to make sure to add them on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.

6. Be in the moment during meetings and chats

No iPhone in meetings or one-on-ones! If you do have to check your phone, explain the context and draw the person/people you’re meeting with into the situation with details about what’s going on and why it is time sensitive – and ideally say this ahead of the meeting.

7. Create the company you would have wanted to work at

If your company’s not that fun, make it fun, whether that’s an in-office bar (my personal bias), spontaneous outings or something else you deem cool. I also always thought it was odd to make people pay for coffee (which helps them do their jobs better!) so we offer this for free.

8. Meet everyone on their first day on the job

As long as I’m in town, I meet every new sales team member right when they start. I’m just as excited to have new faces in the office as they are to be joining the team!

9. Be on time

Being late sends a message that you think your time is more valuable than that of the person you’re holding up. I try to show up to meetings a minute early, and make every effort to do calls exactly on time.

Would love to hear the small but impactful changes you’ve made to increase connection and accessibility as a boss – or as a colleague!

Credit must be given to the agency who came out with this advertisement