Use Charisma to Create Powerful First Impressions w/ Tom Payne [Episode 648]

Tom Payne, President, Essential Growth Solutions, LLC and author of Selling with Charisma: The Sales System Used — Unwittingly — By the World’s Best Salespeople, joins me on this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Tom says the single biggest challenge facing sales reps today is access to proven techniques; things that actually work and are beneficial. Some elements of verbal charisma are not easy. For example, good stories.
• Tom sets a mindset in prospects that he is an honest broker of objective information, contrasting a competitor against his product inoffensively. This wins sales.
• It comes down to nonverbal behaviors that back up what you say. Have an expression of authority, strength, and warmth. You are rarely challenged with those attributes.
• Tom discusses his book, Selling with Charisma: The Sales System Used — Unwittingly — By the World’s Best Salespeople. Charisma is enchanting and magnetic.
• Nonverbal behaviors drive charisma. Charisma enables a salesperson to project emotion to the customer. It’s a subconscious process for both the salesperson and the customer.
• People learn subconsciously from childhood how their smile affects others. It becomes part of who they are. That can’t be taught directly from one person to another. It is learned by practice and experience.
• Tom is an introvert. He has sold with charisma. Anyone can learn it and it doesn’t take long. It requires learning to control nonverbal behavior. Tom teaches through exercises that helped him develop charisma.
• Strength is a projection that “I can get the job done for you.” Warmth is assurance that “I am an ally to you.” Warmth is relaxed and gentle. Strength is a force. They can be blended into charisma.
• Tom gives a personal example of answering a hostile attack with strength and warmth. In an hour he won the sale. Charisma generates credibility, trust, likability. It attracts people to you. It brings emotions to the surface.
• Facial expression is a key nonverbal cue. People assess others in less than one second of seeing their face. Likability is determined by smile and cast of eyes. Tom’s system programs how nonverbal cues are expressed.
• A sales manager has to recognize nonverbal behavior at a deeper level than most people. Watch political debates for nonverbal cues. Tom describes Jeb Bush’s nonverbal cues. A first impression is hard to change.
• Practice visualization before a new sales situation. Back up visualization with positive self-talk: “I radiate confidence and warmth because I know I am up to this situation.” “I am outgoing.” Tom closes with a story.