Making Someone Like You Is Easier Than You Think

Written by Mike Southern – www.beermat.biz

A simple technique which would determine whether someone likes you in the first few minutes of a conversation, was specifically developed for networking, which can be a very challenging prospect for some people. Being catapulted into a room full of strangers is their worst nightmare.

Networking is a vital sales activity, especially for those working in professional service companies, such as lawyers, accountants and bank managers. Competing service organisations often have outwardly similar skill-sets. What differentiates one firm from another are the people they employ, particularly those who enjoy meeting new people, be it at a conference, on a golf course or at a cocktail party.

Some people say the key to successful networking is preparation, but few of us have the time or the motivation to research the detailed backgrounds of delegates at a conference. Successful networkers typically arrive at an event armed only with a good mental archive of customer case studies, and ask simple questions.

How To Win At Sales

Article written by Mike Southern – www.beermat.biz

This article is about tackling the myths surrounding the one skill that all business owners must have – selling.

Around the world, “sales” is a four-letter word. Salespeople are routinely derided as dodgy. Our image of salesmen is there to see in television, cinema and the theatre. Del Boy, Glengarry Glen Ross, Willy Loman – the sad, the inadequate and the untrustworthy. Not for the first time, art has got it wrong. And too many British businesses believe what they see or read.

Who Are You

There’s much more to do in the sales process than work out how to be an ambassador for your company, and in any social situation (such a trade show or networking event) to work out who likes you, and I’m sure many people are worried about being involved in sales and somehow coming across as insincere or even sleazy and unpleasant.

We all need to sell and it’s all about style, or more specifically, understanding which of the three sales roles you personally find the most comfortable.

Everyone assumes sales is only about the generation of new business, the kicking down of doors and persuading people you haven’t met before to buy products or services they didn’t realise they needed, from people they don’t know.