Regardless of what type of prospecting methodology you or your company used, one way or another, you’ve found your prospect and now you’re having a face-to-face meeting to discuss your product or service and how it may meet your prospect’s needs. Now you face a selling challenge: How do you convert this interested party into a revenue-producing customer?

"Face-to-face selling" is everything that occurs when meeting in person with your prospect. The meeting in question could be a scheduled meeting (as in the meeting between an insurance agent and a couple exploring options for life insurance), or it could be a meeting at a showroom or retail store, or at a home that is for sale where an agent is hosting an open house.

What F2F Selling is NOT

Face-to-face selling is not prospecting (although this is a vital sales role in many sales positions). Face-to-face selling is not telemarketing or internet selling (although these, too, are important to many sales organizations). F2F selling is not promotions or marketing or customer service.

Principles of F2F Selling

Successful salespeople who sell F2F are always mindful of the following principles during their sales meetings with their customers.

1. Engage the prospect.

There is simply no substitute for a prospect that is fully engaged in the selling process. If the prospect isn’t engaged, the likelihood of a sale decreases dramatically. Top sales producers in all industries are masters of engagement.

2. Respect the prospect’s point-of-view.

Although some people (both salespeople and customers), view the selling process as confrontational, selling is a unique partnership that is held together only by the willingness of both parties to participate. To keep the prospect side of the equation fully engaged in the meeting, the salesperson must recognize and respect the prospect’s point-of-view. It doesn’t mean the salesperson won’t be assertive in the selling process or won’t address sensitive issues, but respect of the prospect’s position is a key to creating strong sales encounters.  

3. Willingness to sell.

Some salespeople are reluctant to sell because they view selling as a negative activity. For those of us in the sales profession, we simply must come to the understanding that selling is an honorable profession, and that selling is not unethical or second-rate. All the sales training in the world will not remedy this ailment. Selling requires special abilities that should be recognized as being admirable. If the salesperson himself is struggling to accept his career in selling, it isn’t difficult to see that his prospects will also struggle with this fact.

4. Use a sales process that works.

A sales interaction is not a nebulous, random act of friendly chit-chat, or merely a time to share information (although those activities are most certainly elements of most successful sales encounters). During sales meetings with prospects, salespeople must follow a process, and they must understand each step in the process intimately. If you were going to run for public office, you’d follow a process, wouldn’t you? If you were going to ask someone out on a date, you’d follow a process. If you were going to improve your golf game, you’d follow a process. And you must follow a process to be successful in selling, too. Following a well-conceived selling process helps build sales momentum, and sales momentum is a powerful force for those of us that create revenue for a living.

5. Focus on the endgame: a sale.

This doesn’t mean that you concentrate on closing exclusively, but it does mean you know where you and your prospect are headed, and you use that target as your guiding light for all things to come during the selling interaction. “Beginning with the end in mind” is the second habit in Stephen Covey’s acclaimed book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (Free Press, 1989). In virtually every sales position, salespeople don’t get paid to make presentations or to have meetings or to give out information. They get paid to generate revenue.

6. Be prepared for objections.

In the process of selling any product or service, there will always be a group of objections which are popular with prospects. To be successful at F2F selling, you must have identified the common objections for the product or service you sell ahead of time and you must have prepared one or more strategic responses to each objection. Your product or service isn’t going to be right for everybody, but it will be right for many of your prospects. But you must be able to successfully handle their objections for them to become your customers.

7. Remember, customers lie.

If you’ve been selling for a while, you already know this. If you’re newer to selling, get this reality into your head now: Customers will lie to you. Customers have developed this self-preservation behavior to protect themselves from unscrupulous or aggressive salespeople. Since you’re not either of those things, they don’t need to use this self-defense mechanism with you, but they will anyway. Be prepared, be skeptical, and always look for signs of deception from your prospect. This is your self-preservation strategy. Use it.

8. Observe everything

During a face-to-face selling interaction, have all your senses on high alert. Notice everything. There is valuable information to be had if only you perceive it. You can’t use this information unless you’re aware of it. So start an awareness campaign. See how much information you can gather from your prospect during your meeting with him. The more information you have, the more likely you’ll be able to convert your prospect into a customer.