Sales Ice breakers

Sales Approach Forum

 #1
Mikey
Sales Ice breakers

Does anyone have any good Icebreakers?

 #2
Stephen
Re: Ice breakers

I made a post in Sales - General - Call Reluctance about ice breakers.

Is this the sort of thing that you mean?

 #3
Mikey
Re: Ice breakers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen
I made a post in Sales - General - Call Reluctance about ice breakers.

Is this the sort of thing that you mean?
Hello Stephen. Thank you for responding.

I'm talking about when you first meet with someone face to face. I was thinking that if I had a few ways of starting a conversation that I would be more willing to introduce myself to someone say for instance at a networking or social function.

 #4
Stephen
Re: Ice breakers

No worries, I get your drift.

The icebreaker you are talking about for a face to face networking situation is known as your 'elevator speech'. This is where you get the opportunity to introduce your services. One of the most important things is to use an opening line that talks about the benefits of what you have to offer to your prospective clients. So for example, in my own situation as a small business consultant, I don't actually say "I am a small business consultant".....I say "I work with small business owners helping them to get more customers". By saying that, the person that I am talking to then feels compelled to ask, "How do you do that?" And with that, the conversation begins.

So the main thing to think about as a way to structure your opening line, is to think of a problem that your prospective client's face, and then say that you help those people overcome that problem.

Hope this gives you somewhere to start.

Stephen

 #5
Irene Morales Ward
Re: Ice breakers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikey
Hello Stephen. Thank you for responding.

I'm talking about when you first meet with someone face to face. I was thinking that if I had a few ways of starting a conversation that I would be more willing to introduce myself to someone say for instance at a networking or social function.
As someone who is "terminally" shy in those moments, I'd be eager to hear what everyone else out there does, as well. I heard in Brian Buffini's CD's an interview he had with Joe Niego of the Houston Rockets called the Mayor Campaign. He discusses how he has casual conversations with people and after a brief period of back and forth (the icebreaker period), he immediately asks the person with whom he is speaking, "What do you do for a living?" His intention, of course, is to have the natural progression come back to, "Well, what do you do?" Giving you license to engage in a more significant conversation about what services you provide that can be beneficial to the listener. That part seems natural but the "icebreaker" part is what has me stumped. I'm just not good at it and I welcome anyone's input. As a referral agent, I don't want to get complacent about my skills communicating with people and I'm always looking for techniques that will help me be more at ease in these situations.

 #6
Mikey
Re: Ice breakers

Do you think this kind of thing would be taught in a public speaking class?

 #7
SalesGuy
Re: Ice breakers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikey
Do you think this kind of thing would be taught in a public speaking class?
I haven't taken a public speaking class in ages but I would imagine the answer would be "yes".

User Name: Password:
SalesPractice.com Sales Training Community
Sales Training • SalesPractice.com
© 2008 Blackwell & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.0.0 RC6 © 2006, Crawlability, Inc.