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Enthusiasm - “It’s Showtime!”

Written by: Sam Allman

Article Overview: “It’s Showtime, and you’re only as good as your last performance.” Stanley Marcus

Enthusiasm - “It’s Showtime!”

Have you ever entered a retail store looking for a salesperson, and then as you spotted her and your eyes met, you knew deep down that that salesperson was not glad to see you? You interrupted what she was doing. Some people call that a “moment of truth” or a “defining moment”. Face to face, that first impression, that initial contact, whatever you want to call it, that first thirty seconds may determine whether or not the sale is made.

Research shows that that “moment” is the standard by which a customer judges a business: Do the employees look like they want to be at work serving customers?

“The emotional state that you are in while with a customer will influence their feelings about your product as much as anything you say.”

In my training sessions I love to ask the question, “Do you brighten up the office or those around you come in the morning or when you walk out at night?”

When I talk about your emotional state, I’m talking about enthusiasm: enthusiasm for your product, your company, and your service. Enthusiasm is a feeling of excitement about your product and service. “Enthusiasm” comes from a Greek word meaning “to be inspired” by something. The product or service incites devotion, which is expressed with fervent feelings and with action to promote it; the greater the worth, the greater the devotion.

Enthusiasm’s framework is belief: belief in yourself, belief in your product or service, belief in your company and belief in the benefit of the product for the customer. True enthusiasm is built on personal integrity. Why? Because a conflicted salesperson, a salesperson who is selling a product in which he does not believe, by definition, cannot feel true and lasting enthusiasm. Have you ever tried to sell something in which you did not believe?

The spark for enthusiasm is conviction. The conviction that this is the right product for the customer and the right product for you to sell. Enthusiasm conveys conviction. To others, the enthusiasm appears genuine, because its framework is built on a strong foundation, personal integrity. The customer not only hears the words, but also feels the conviction of the salesperson. "You can't sell products, ideas or yourself without the courage of your convictions."

In the same way, the enthusiasm framework remains flimsy so long as one remains conflicted when one violates one’s conscience (lacks integrity) by trying to sell a product in which there is no conviction or belief. The sales person may fake excitement. However, soon with time his fakery becomes apparent and trust is lost. Without a stable foundation, the rickety framework falls in upon itself.

Why is your conviction and emotional state so critical? It’s the same reason that “heart is more important than technique”. It’s because customers believe what they see and feel more than what they hear. Only 7% of communication is done with words. Yet, the words, you do say, are very important. “Words used must illicit every form of sensory perceptions – words create feelings, pictures and sounds.” The rest (93%) is communicated by how it is said (voice: inflection, tone and pitch) and the associated body language. “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

Since customers buy emotions and sensations first and then justify with logic, they sense and feel the emotion and conviction you communicate about yourself, your product and service, and your company. “People are more persuaded by the depth of your conviction than by the height of your logic.”

Peak performers are artful at sending emotional signals, which makes them powerful communicators, and able to sway an audience or a customer. “You must create a presentation that arouses your customer’s emotions. Create an emotional attachment to your product.” Influence and persuasion hinge on arousing specific emotions in the other person. “The key to eloquence is the emotional component that the speaker brings to the subject.”

That is what Showtime is about, putting yourself in an emotional state that will affect the emotions of your customer. It’s why we spend big money going to movies, athletic contests, concerts, and plays. The world is in search of feelings. We will pay for feelings that make us feel good. Ultimately, it’s the feeling the customer has about you, your product and service, and your company whether she will buy. Mother Theresa said it well. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.”

We must have the ability to turn ourselves on and show the customers our conviction. We must protect and nurture our emotional state. When we walk onto the sales floor, we must leave our personal problems at home. We must be groomed and dressed at our best. We must be prepared, knowing our products and our services because of the confidence they engender. "It's not the will to win that counts, it is the will to prepare to win that counts." Remember, "Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch."

When you walk into see a customer, you’re walking on stage. Are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you remember your lines? Are you in a “peak emotional state”? "The important thing to remember is that if you don't have that inspired enthusiasm that is contagious - what ever you do have is also contagious." “It’s Showtime. Break a leg!”

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Article Tags: belief, benefit, conviction, defining moment, devotion, emotional state, excitement, feelings, first impression, greek word, moment of truth, personal integrity, retail store, salesperson, sessions, thirty seconds, true enthusiasm, word meaning



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