232: We Buy From People We Like And Trust

<p>Buying from people we like and trust makes a lot of sense.  Sometimes we have no choice and will hold our nose and buy from people we don’t like.  Buying anything from people we don’t trust is truly desperate.  So when we flip the switch and we become the seller to the buyer, how can we pass the smell and desperation tests?  How do you establish trust and likeability when you are on a virtual call with a new potential client?  What do you do about those new buyers who won’t even turn on their camera during the call?</p> <p> </p> <p>The best defense against buyer scepticism is to be professional.  You will be well presented whether face to face or online.  In the latter case, you will have a background that advertises your firm and hides the background of your home, because this reduces the distraction factor.  You will use gestures which are in front of your body, so that your arms are not suddenly cut off by the fake background.  You will be sitting up straight in your chair and looking straight at the lens on the computer camera, which you have cleverly arranged to be at eye level.</p> <p> </p> <p>In a face to face meeting, we are communicating quite a lot through our body language, so we are going to be sending out messages of confidence, credibility and trustworthiness.  We are going to be well dressed for all meetings regardless of the medium.  That means put on your business battle dress, which means a jacket and tie for men in the online meeting as well, so that we are not looking too casual.</p> <p> </p> <p>We are going to be precise and clear in our language, with no filler words like ums and ahs diluting the message and annoying the buyer.  Online, the body language factor can be tricky, especially if we are showing any documents or slides on screen. In these cases, we are reduced to a tiny box on screen and so is the client.  The lesson here is to not show too much information on screen such that the size of the faces is maximized, so that we can each read as much body language information as possib