Consultative selling skills are critically important to building a successful business online. In this first of a series of relationship selling skills I cover posture. Projecting a confident posture is an important skill to master; particularly when speaking on the phone.

We would like to run our businesses solely online but offline tools have their place. The phone is still a very important tool. Developing excellent phone skills is an important component to relationship selling. When calling your prospect you have about 10 seconds to establish your reason for calling.

Communicating with your voice alone is more difficult. All you have is your tone of voice to help you develop an atmosphere of trust. Tone is critically important. Is your tone pleasant? Are you speaking clearly? Do you sound sincere? Do you have a ’smile’ in your voice?  You need to project confidence and a positive attitude. Your listener will be able to hear if you are. A handy tip: Smile. Smiling; even if you have to smile into a mirror or post a smiley face on a sticky note; will help you to project a positive attitude.

Confidence goes hand in hand with being prepared. Know what you are going to say in advance and practice it. Have a mini dress rehearsal. This way you are comfortable with what you are going to say and will be able to carry on a natural conversation. Instead of worrying about what you are going to say next you will be listening carefully and taking notes. By jotting down a few keywords you can paraphrase back to them what is important to them.

Be professional and take control of the conversation. Guide your prospect/customer through the call. Stick to a time frame and keep on target with your main objective

Be friendly but you don’t want to hear their life story. You can still be compassionate and sympathetic to their problems but maintain a business atmosphere. It’s nice to share a bit about yourself if it shows you have something in common. They will be able to relate to you and this will go a long way towards developing trust.

As long as you are sincere and genuine people will pick up on that and will begin to trust you. People want to be heard and it is rare indeed that people really listen. Remain present by taking notes. These will also come in handy on your sales follow up, regardless of whether a sales takes place or not.

In conclusion, you want to project confidence in your tone of voice.  You are prepared. You are present. You are sincere and compassionate. You are a professional. Relationship selling is all about having a good posture and preparation. If you have a good posture and have prepared well your meeting will be successful. And the stage will be set for your sales follow up.