We have all heard the saying "it's the little things that mean a lot" and it's true isn't it. It's as true in the sales profession as it anywhere else. For us the basics include wearing the appropriate attire for important meetings. This is especially true when making an executive presentation to senior management. Many of us may ask the question from time to time, "What is the right way to dress for this meeting?" Many customer environments have become increasingly informal and many of us have responded by wearing business casual attire. In those same accounts or situations we may find it important to dress differently for that senior management meeting. It could be that their senior level executives, for a number of reasons, dress to a higher level than most of the people in the company. If indeed the senior executives dress differently, we may want to imitate this when presenting to them.  Other bare necessities include shined shoes, firm handshakes and appropriate eye contact. These very basic things go a long way when setting the tone for successful sales situations.

One item not to overlook is the use of eye contact. This is especially important because, as we know, people take away more from our non-verbal presence than they do from words that we use in our meetings and presentations. Making strong eye contact early and often throughout a meeting shows conviction and confidence. It helps us to engage our audience, whether that audience is senior executives in a boardroom or plant floor engineers down on the floor.

As in most walks of life sometimes it's these basic things that make all the difference.