Here are five ways to be more fascinating when you’re doing one-on-one sales: In person, over the phone – any time you need to harness those first nine seconds

Ask the right questions.
Seems obvious, but alas, listening is all too rare. Job applicants, for instance, almost always spend more time thinking through their talking points rather than asking smart questions. Yet it’s the questions that impress an interviewer more than a recitation of your resume.

Understand your customer’s true motivations.
Decide ahead of time what you want to communicate, so that you can artfully steer the discussion to their true concerns and aspirations. For instance, if you’re a brand manager, you need to intimately understand what keeps your consumers awake at night in order to show how your product fits into their lives.

Smile
Make it as easy as possible for others to talk to you! With a friendly approach, you can overcome self-consciousness or indifference. Whether your smile is literal or metaphoric, it’ll make people want to interact with you.

Let go of (some) control.
Sometimes, the hardest part of engaging in a conversation is letting down your guard, asking questions, sharing about yourself. Be prepared to reveal parts of yourself.

Google the crap out of anyone you need to connect with.
Chemistry comes from finding personal points of connection, and the more points you know about someone, the more likely you’ll be able to connect. I’m not suggesting you get all creepy surveillance, but rather, you find out where someone went to school, what their interests are, and how they convey themselves online can take you far. List one example of a client’s website. What did you find that you didn’t know before? How can this help you when you communicate with the client?