From the time you send an application, to your first day on the job after being hired, you're being interviewed. An email, a phone screen, an in person interview, an instant message, everything that happens in this time period will be part of the interview process. So it's important to be presenting yourself as a strong candidate at all times in any interaction. But it's also true that the first and last moments of an interview will create a lasting impression. How can you open and close an interview will determine how the interviewer will remember you. Well, this is true in any interview for a sales role. It also demonstrates how you can open and close a sales process, the two most important and difficult parts. And in this video, we'll cover effective openings and closings to a sales interview. By the end of this video, you'll gain strategies for leaving a lasting impression at the start and end of a sales interview. Openings, people tend to form split second impressions upon first meeting someone new. This idea is cliche, but this tendency is so ingrained in our judgment that we often aren't even aware we're doing it. It goes without saying that this is doubly true in an interview. An interviewer is not only predisposed to judging the first impression, but it's also their job to judge you. How we knock on a door, introduce ourselves, shake hands, and sit down, all this determines what informs their judgment. In the sales context, the trick is how will you come across immediately like a salesperson? Well, by selling. At SD Academy we understand sales and selling as a human centered discipline. Your job is to engage with complete strangers, having conversations, building relationships, establishing trust and credibility, and asking questions in order to arrive at a solution to their problem. In a sales interview then, it's important to show up engaged and ready to have a conversation with a stranger. Here are some tips for opening. Lead with warmth. Harvard Business School professor, Amy Cuddy, has discovered that first impressions are formed through answering two questions. Can I trust this person, and can I respect this person? These dimensions are often referred to as warmth and competence. Well, it's important to appear competent, especially to an interviewer, to show that you're capable of doing the job, it's also important to gain their trust. As Cuddy says, a warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits admiration, but only after you've established trust does your strengths become a gift rather than a threat. Build rapport, ahead of any interview, you should always research both the company and the interviewer. Research will not only arm you with the specifics for explaining why you want to work at this company, but also help you build rapport with your interviewer. Find commonality between your experiences. Do you share any interests? Do you have any mutual connections? Do you follow the same people on social media? Spend some time at the beginning of your interview discussing these commonalities to establish common ground. Ask open-ended questions to encourage conversation. Be sure to actively listen to their response. Echoing and rephrasing their response will show that you're attentive. Closings, in sales, there's a phrase always be closing. Another way to think about this imperative is to always ask for next steps. When you come to the end of your interview, be sure to summarize why you think you'll be a fantastic fit for the sales role at this company, leave them with no doubts. This is also an opportunity for you to leave the impression that you're excited and anticipating next steps. Close the interview by thanking them for time out of their busy schedule and asking what are the next steps. The last thing to keep in mind is to send a thank you email. Always send a thank you email within two hours of an interview. We'll cover this topic in-depth in another video. After your interview, the interviewer will likely talk with a colleague about you. What they have to say about you will no doubt be informed by their first and last impressions of you. With these strategies for opening and closing to sales interviews, you'll leave them with a lasting impression as somebody who's both trustworthy and competent, ready to be a solution for their problem. In SDR, will hit the ground running. [SOUND]