Twelve years ago, I developed an obsession with wearing colorful socks.
Socks with alternating blue stripes.
Stocks with orange and purple dots.
You get the idea.
Not long after I started wearing colorful socks, they became kind of a trademark — something people noticed and remembered about me.
Prospects wanted to know where I got them and even looked forward to seeing what socks I’d wear to our next meeting.
Customers would send me loud socks to bring in the new year.
My socks made people “feel” something.
Here’s the interesting thing: while talking about my socks, the shields that people typically kept raised while talking to a salesperson came down.
Prospects became chatty — more “real” and relaxed.
Since prospects felt more comfortable, gaining access to deeper information wasn’t forced but a natural outcome.
Why am I talking about socks?
Unless your prospect feels a connection with you, they won’t open up and tell you what matters to them.
Connecting with people on an emotional level opens the door to trust.
I’ll prove it to you.
I recently saw a LinkedIn notification that a customer who bought from me ten years ago had a work anniversary.
So I shot him a congrats message.
Here’s what he wrote back:
“Josh, nice to hear from you. Are you still wearing loud socks”
I can’t remember what I sold Michael.
He might not remember either.
However, Michael never forgot how I made him feel.
Feelings have a long shelf life.
