Case Study :- General Scenario

Ravi Shah was a successful salesman with ShoeShine company, which made all
sorts of polishes, brushes and other related accessories for footwear. Just
recently ShoeShine had come up with a new product, ShoeGel, which was a
shoe shine with anti fading qualities, which would make leather shoes last
longer. ShoeShine was looking for innovative ideas to sell ShoeGel. Ravi was
passing by the main office of INV, which manufactured shoes for office wear.
He suddenly thought of trying to pitch the idea of cross selling ShoeGel along
with INV shoes. This would require Ravi to “sell” the idea of ShoeShine tying up
with INV so that ShoeGel could appear on the shelves of INV flagship stores.
Ravi called up his boss to confirm that his idea made sense and on receiving an
excited green signal from the other end of the phone, he decided to take a
chance and meet the head of Sales division of INV, Vikram Ahuja. Since the
meeting was not pre arranged, Ravi knew Vikram might not be very enthused
with the meeting. Ravi had time on his hands to take that chance and he was
prepared with all the details of ShoeGel.
Read the next few articles to see how Ravi manages to not only get an on-the-
spot meeting with Vikram, but also detects how well Vikram has opened up to
his idea of cross selling. Of course the financials of the tie up could not be
discussed or finalized by Ravi and would have to be taken up in detail by other
departments in ShoeShine. But once Ravi could sell the idea to Vikram and
detect how well Vikram was taking it, he could pass on the pulse of the
customer to his colleagues and a detailed response could be prepared. In this
case study we will see how Ravi uses the non verbal signals given by Vikram to
better understand his receptivity to the idea and his areas of concern.
** It is to be noted that no single gesture or position of the customer can signal
anything definitively. The key is to make a sharp observation at all times during
the discussion. Also make sure you practice reading signals at home or with
friends before you try doing the same in a more serious setting. If the
customer notices you observing him rather consciously, it will make him
annoyed.
 Part -1 How to greet your customer…..

The first challenge for Ravi was going to be to get to meet the Sales Head. The
receptionist, who is normally the “gatekeeper”, might make it difficult to meet
the boss. So you need to pay attention to showing your seriousness and
confidence. Ravi managed to give a genuine smile to the receptionist, greet her
after reading her nameplate and then ask if a meeting would be possible with
her boss. He stood in a corner, waiting patiently and smiling back at her
whenever she glanced up from her work to see the people waiting in the
reception area. If Ravi got busy with some other work or talked on the phone
too much, he might shift out of the attention zone of the receptionist. She was
finally able to adjust time out from her boss’ schedule for Ravi. There are
different ways of Greeting.
Vikram had squeezed in the meeting with Ravi into his day since ShoeShine
seemed to be an upcoming brand and Vikram wanted to hear them out. He
would be talking to a salesman rather than a sales head (i.e. someone of a
lower status) during his first interaction with the company. Under these
circumstances, Ravi was expecting Vikram to be a little hostile, atleast initially
when they met.
 Part 2 - Creating the FIRST IMPRESSION!!!

On entering Vikram’s room, Ravi gave him a warm genuine smile, looking him
in the eye and greeting with his name. A slight bow forward helped confirm
him submissiveness to Vikram. Vikram offered his hand for shaking and Ravi
was just waiting for this. He knew a firm handshake would help build rapport
with the Sales head faster. Ravi observed was that Vikram did not offer a
dominant handshake. This meant Vikram had an approachable personality.
Ravi made sure his handshake was also not dominant and matched the
pressure of Vikram’s handshake. Of course Ravi had remembered to wipe his
hands before entering the meeting room to avoid a wet and clammy
handshake.

An open posture- The greeting type was going to help Ravi avoid any negative
feelings from Vikram just by looking at Ravi. This meant no arms or legs in a
crossed position, even and especially when Vikram was being hostile or
unreceptive towards the sales pitch. Whenever he conversed, he kept open
palms and straight shoulders. An open posture displays honesty, sincerity and
an open attitude. Once the greetings are in place and the customer is sensing
genuine friendliness from your side, he will become more accepting to your
hearing out your ideas.
 Part-3 -How to Impress the Customer

The meeting to discuss ShoeGel and its cross selling with office shoes of INV
seemed to be proceeding on a positive note. Ravi, the promising salesman
from ShoeShine, was impressing Vikram with his homework on the product.
INV had never before dealt with ShoeShine so Vikram was not aware of the
company or its products. This made him take on a closed defensive position
when the two got seated after the greeting. He had his arms crossed, and was
leaning away from the table. Ravi understood the importance of having the
sales head open up before beginning his sales pitch else Vikram would lose the
first few points he presented. Research shows that when people cross their
arms while talking, their receptiveness towards what the other person is
speaking goes down by upto 40%. Ravi thus presented his visiting card first to
Vikram and talked a little about ShoeShine company while Vikram was
studying his card. The very action of taking Ravi’s visiting card made Vikram
uncross his arms and get out of the unreceptive position.
 Part 4 - Taking care of Territory
Ravi understood that territorial space intrusion should be avoided by him,
especially since he was meeting the Sales Head of INV for the first time. He
took due care to use minimal space on the table. He was careful to put his
hands only at a slight angle on the table and not rest them completely on
Vikram’s desk. All these things put together would ensure that Vikram would
not be threatened by the stranger that Ravi was to him.
To build good rapport, Ravi was careful to maintain eye contact with Vikram
60-70% of the time when they were discussing. He also nodded in agreement
whenever Vikram raised a point. In fact he even repeated a few points to
clarify what Vikram was trying to convey. This showed he was listening
actively. To show interest in the discussion, Ravi would lean in slightly forward
when he observed that Vikram showed signs of interest, like leaning in or
touching his chin. Ravi used open arm gestures to highlight the benefits of
ShoeGel and the advantages that INV could get if they both could work out a
deal. Open arm gestures are non threatening poses as long as they remain in
the upper half of the torso in a formal discussion.
Ravi would have to be very attentive, not only to what Vikram was saying
verbally, but also what his non verbals were suggesting.
 Part- 5- Sales Pitch
Read on to know how the good greeting of Ravi made Vikram stay receptive to
his sales pitch and how Ravi could detect that Vikram was liking his sales pitch.

The meeting set up between INV’s Sales head Vikram and one of the better
salesman of ShoeShine, Ravi was unplanned one. Ravi was trying to strike a tie-
up deal with INV, so that ShoeShine could get better recognition in the market.
Vikram was maintaining a good level of eye contact with Ravi and nodding in
agreement when he understood the points that Ravi was raising. Ravi was
explaining the benefits of the new ShoeGel and how it was different from all
the products already available in the market. The research behind the product
seemed to be impressing Vikram. He was using a lot of evaluation gestures,
(like rubbing his chin) while reading the advantages that ShoeGel would be
having over its competitors in terms of the longetivity of every shine.
He showed an increased level of interest when the focus shifted from research
to pricing, leaning forward on the table and decreasing postures of shifting
around in the seat. Ravi realized that Vikram had unconsciously started
mirroring him, placing his weight on the arm of the chair when Ravi did so,
using two open arms to communicate, just after Ravi did so and so on. They
discussed how the entry level pricing of ShoeShine would be attractive enough
to entice customers to buy their product.
Ravi was now sure Vikram had gotten into a more comfortable zone with him
so the issue of how ShoeShine could be placed on the shelves of INV shoe
stores could be brought up. That is when Vikram shifted from the accepting
zone to the decreased interest zone.