This is a Guest Post from Paul Archer, of Archer Training.

Move Backwards

When you first meet a customer in person, move backwards about a foot as soon as you make eye contact. This is a great little technique to show that you are nonthreatening and do not want to put them under any undue pressure.

It gets the meeting off to a relaxed and level beginning. Try it next time you meet a customer particularly in a retail environment where customers expect pushy salespeople…it works.

Ask for their Autograph

When you want to get your customer’s signature on the order form, this can be quite a stressful situation for them. Asking for a signature can push them into objection mode as they see this as the final step. Instead try to make fun of it by asking for their autograph. “Can I have you autograph please Mrs Brown”, said with a cheeky smile sounds far better than “can you sign here”

Look for a Distraction

When you reach a potentially sensitive point in your sales meeting, always look for a distraction to take the heat out of the moment. On first meeting, look for something around you to complement them on, or mention something important in the news or something light-hearted, will always relieve the pressure.

When signing the contract or written terms or when you’re about to ask for referrals. These are all moments when the mention of something to distract can reduce the tension of the moment and take the minds off the transaction momentarily.

Do the Bill Clinton

I’m sure you remember Bill Clinton, the President of the United States during the

1990’s. He was probably the smoothest president of all time and had a knack of building rapport with almost anyone he met. Use his hand shake technique to good effect.

Bill would reach out with his right hand to shake and then subtly use his left hand to touch or hold the elbow of his new friend. This would say to them “I’m a nice guy, you can trust me, I like you”.

You see touch is a very personal thing and not to be encouraged in sales. But the one place which is public is the spot between your elbow and your shoulder. And that’s where Bill would touch. Very clever and very subtle. And it worked every time.

Can I Come in Please?

I’ve left the best one to last. You’ll like this. I picked this tip up many years ago as a salesman for a life assurance company. When approaching a customer with the intention of being invited in to their home, I would always gesture by wiping my feet on their doormat. Now I didn’t have dirty shoes but it was the physical movement and gesture that just asked for me to come in. It worked every time.

I used it the other day when visiting a client in their offices. It’s a gesture that just hypnotises people to say “of course please come in”. Try it…it does work. Next time you want to be invited in somewhere, just do the movement with your feet and watch as your customer is slowly hypnotised to say “oh…do please come in”

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.paularcher.com, where you’ll also find his own sales blog, too!