Sales have got to be one of the toughest industries. There is only very minimal room for error as every step and every moment counts – and the most important part of which is the first meeting. As they say, “first impressions last”. If this is a crucial part of earning sales, how do you make a good one?
What is NLP and how can it build the best impression?
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the study that shows us the way people represent their experiences, whether real or imagined would have an effect on the way the nervous system functions. This basic idea has been turned into strategies that are often used by therapists, businessmen, and athletes who need to constantly perform in a high-pressure environment. With NLP, they can produce the outcome they need in a quick manner because NLP is all about producing your desired results.
What is an Anchor?
The first meeting with your client can be unnerving. Most of the time, it is because of the pressure to make a great first impression that is making you feel giddy and anxious.
From this rather stressful state of mind, you can transform it into a confident and highly social state. Would it make a difference? Of course, it would! When you psyche yourself to exude the confidence you need to win these people over, you are more able to present your best side efficiently. This gives you a better chance at earning your client’s trust.
The first step towards this goal is creating a powerful anchor. Anchors are stimuli that are hinged on a certain state of mind, thoughts, or emotions that bring back memories. It can also evoke a certain state of mind that you need to go back to for a specific moment in the present. It can be voluntary or involuntary and you need to be able to make it available at will so that it can benefit your present situation.
Specify the Needed Emotional State
The first step is to identify the emotional state that you need, like confidence, enthusiasm, or patience, among others. You must be very specific to make it easy for your mind to recognize it.
Remember the Time
The next step is to recall that time in your life when you experienced the desired state that you have chosen. Choose the memory that gave you a positive experience because the idea is to make it almost instant for you to access that state.
Create the Time
Now that you have a specific emotional state that you need to channel, use your imagination to bring yourself back to the exact moment of the experience and relive everything, including what you saw, heard, or felt. Live that experience all over again.
Develop the Anchors
When you start reliving a positive experience, you would observe it reaching a peak and then declining afterward. If you notice this happening, repeat the third step, but this time you do something different. When you are about to peak, create a unique gesture using your fingers of any of your hands and say a word or phrase that would evoke the desired feeling. While you are doing all of this, imagine a specific image that would remind you of that state of mind.
An example would be pinching something and say Siberia as you visualize an igloo that is as cold as its surroundings. Hold that state and then break it by thinking of something different and change your body posture. After you are done, you need to establish the resilient anchor by repeating the fourth step five times. This needs to be done right because repetition is crucial to establish the anchor.
Test the Anchors
Now that you are confident with your anchor, you must test it by using them and find out if you can summon the desired emotion successfully. The best way to know if you are able to do it is to use any of the component anchors and you should be able to feel the anchored stated as fast as 10-15 seconds in any given situation. If you are not successful, choose a different experience that would create for you a more precise and appropriate state.
To make sure that your anchoring is effective, it helps to know the secrets on how to make it effective. There are six distinctions that will supercharge your anchoring skills.
How to Make Your First Impression with NLP
When you identify the state of mind that you need to nail a first impression, you are able to channel the positive response that you once used in the past. This works because your past gives you the confidence that you need to be able to do it again successfully. For instance, think of the best impression that you made with a client that afforded you a great deal. That would be a very powerful emotion to tap into, allowing you access this emotion a lot easier.
The goal is to have access to it when you need it. It is normal for first meetings to be awkward or intimidating. On top of that, that heavy dose of anxiety can keep you from focusing on your presentation.
With NLP, it would be as easy as turning a switch to turn that light bulb of ideas you so desperately need to see at the end of the tunnel. It can also help relax your mind better for you to get rid of the unnecessary anxiety that usually blocks your mind from performing at its finest.
It is also important to practice a lot before you try it with a new client. As easy as it sounds, this approach needs a lot of hard work and confidence before you are able to use it at whim. Remember, first impressions do last so make sure that leave a good one!
Make that first meeting count and get it right the first time! Learn the tricks of the trade and join us in one of Jacky Lim’s Sharing Session. Jacky will give you a preview how
NLP improves your efforts for your sales profession in this intimate two-hour session.
Call us now or simply fill out our inquiry form to book the seat reserved just for you!
