Don't make people guess who you are.

Over the past month or so I have been involved with our own FCPNY annual Super Conference and the Association of Free Community Papers (AFCP) conference, held this year at Disney in Orlando. At each event I had the opportunity to meet people face-to-face that previously I had known only through email or phone contact. With many folks today hiding behind their digital communications means, this is becoming a more common occurrence. What's more, none of these people looked like I imagined they would.

Two reasons:

1. I am quickly becoming one of the older people in the conference room. I am in that narrowing group of business people nearing retirement age while most of the other folks in the room are 59 and under. I tend to imagine people as being in my own demographic stratum but most turn out to be younger. Duh. Much younger in some cases. I met one salesperson that looked like she could have been the high school aged daughter of the woman I imagined her to be.

2. No one ever looks like you imagine them -- we are all non-psychic, lousy guessers.

Which leads to the selling point: prospects use the same electronic gatekeepers as our colleagues, only they have them running at DEFCON 1. On top of that, prospects are trying to do more with less (just like our companies) so they have less time to spend chatting with salespeople. Thus, we often don't know what they look like, sound like, what they need, want or fear. How do we overcome?

Honestly, if I knew the hard, fast answer I wouldn't be here writing a blog, I'd be cashing checks in Palm Springs. The wires are full of suggestions on how to break through and get conversations started. Boil down most of what you read and you're left with two basic realities:

1. You haven't shown or aroused potential value in your brief opening.

2. You don't stand out from the rest of the selling crowd.

If your product doesn't have value, fix it. If it does and you haven't conveyed it, practice. Be sincere and be supportive. Don't sell. And practice, practice, practice what you say or do.

If you don't stand apart, work on branding your product and yourself. Yes, you need a personal brand that you convey so people remember you and what you do. Unless you’re the product owner, your personal brand may be the only brand you have total control of. Make sure everyone knows what you look and sound like, and what you stand for. 

We at FCPNY can help you with all of these sales needs as well as other selling issues you may be facing. Give us a call at 877-275-2726 or email me at tcuskey@fcpny.com.

Thanks so much for your time!