Brave New Sales

Sell With Your Head High: Differentiation

Stop Pitching Away Your Assets For Free

I just saw this post, To Hell With The Sell by Blair Enns via my great friend Ken Jacobs who helps PR agencies grow business and develop staff.

This post resonated with me because, I have to admit, it aligns with some of the material in my book, Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop, particularly the second, third and fourth points:

• We will replace presentations with conversations;
• We will diagnose before we prescribe; and
  
• We will re-think what it means to sell.

That last point resonates because it reinforces a timeless adage that great salespeople do not push their product, but instead facilitate the buying process; they help the buyer buy.

 

We Shall Hold Our Heads High

Following that, Blair moves into high gear with respect to communications and ad agencies.

The overriding theme is that if you don't differentiate, and if you don't proactively lead conversations, you will find yourself playing "against" your prospects as foes... and on a slanted playing field, at that.

While Blair and I define pitches a little differently, our approach is aligned.  In my book I actually say that the paradox of a pitch is that it should not feel pitchy. In early-stage opportunities, whenever you can move away from your presentation toward a customer-focused conversation, you should "ditch the pitch!"

So definitions aside (and Blair does use "pitch" in many other blog posts), I highly endorse Blair's book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto.

As salespeople in the B2B world, we really should hold our heads high. We should consider ourselves experts in a field where we can best help clients if we take control of the selling process, and don't chase low-probability and low-profitability RFP's.

Awesome stuff, Blair. You're probably not winning all your pitches, but I bet you're winning a healthy portion of those that are more profitable to operate and more exciting to work on!

 

Photo/Illustration of Blair Enns from his website, link above.

 

Selling By Influencing: Where Today's Politicians Get It Wrong

I'm just back from the States, where the politics have gotten stupidly ugly.

No, this is not a political post, and I'm not taking a position here, but I do like to relate everyday events to the art and science of selling.  Today's politicians offer a smorgasbord of how not to do it.

 

Uncivil Town Halls

Last night, first-term Congressman Allen West was holding a "Town Hall" in his district, in Fort Lauderdale Florida.  A handful of voters interrupted him early on and started shouting questions.

West went right on the defensive.

"You're not going to intimidate me!" West declared from the stage.  To no surprise, his supporters burst into loud applause.

But a funny thing happened after the applause died down.  The opposition only got louder.

The town meeting turned into a shouting match, and the guards were lightning quick to arrest the protestors.  An immediate victory?  Or a longer-term loss? 

The incident has gained a lot of media attention.  Now, West and his party are on the defensive for something that, a week ago, had strong momentum in their favor.

And West is not alone.  Politicians on both sides of the American aisle are losing support by trying to win every battle, even with members of the vocal public.

 

A Classic Sales Mistake

West did what a lot of junior salespeople do when handling objections.  He got defensive.

As animals with tens of thousands of years of conditioning, we're emotionally programmed to get defensive when anything threatens us.  A lion jumps out of the brush, it's "fight or flight."  Even if we flee in the modern-day sense, we insult the lion as we run.

But we have to overcome this when attempting to persuade the mental side of the human psyche, because your buyer -- or your voter -- is an emotional creature, too.  The "I'm right, you're wrong" approach never works... not in personal relationships, public speaking, persuading or selling.

It's the antithesis of consensus-building.  It's counter-productive to influencing, and influencing is essentially where you want to be in sales and... I once thought... politics.

Getting defensive only makes your counter-part more defensive.  Unseasoned sales people make this mistake unwittingly, if not in the spoken word, then in body language and tone:  "I know this product is great.  Why aren't you getting it?"

 

A Better Way

Imagine if, instead of saying, "You're not going to intimidate me," Congressman West would have said, "I know some of you here have concerns.  In fact, I did too when I first looked at this, so I think I understand where you're coming from.  I have a perspective that should interest you, if you can give me a few minutes to point it out.  Can you give me that?"

As salespeople, we need to use consensus-building approaches like this all the time.  When a buyer shows some concern for some portion of your pitch, you must make it safe for the buyer.  You must demonstrate that you know where the buyer's coming from, and that the concern is legitimate.

"If I were in your seat, Joe, I'd probably be asking the same question."

Then will you have an open mind facing you, ready to listen to your perspective.

I'm pretty sure that last night's Town Hall would have stayed civil if Congressman West would have used Tactical Selling 101: Handling Objections.

And I'd bet that West wouldn't be the subject of headlines suggesting that he and his party are "up against the ropes" from angry constituents, at least not to the degree that they are this morning.

So when you're face-to-face with customers, don't try to win the battles.  You'll only lose influence.

Handling objections and persuasion is not about hammering your point home.  It's about building consensus and influencing.

 

Photo by AllenWestFL  http://www.flickr.com/photos/allenwestfl/ 

 

Charlie Sheen & Two Lessons For Entrepreneurs

"What happened to Charlie Sheen?" 

 

 

That's the buzz in the U.S. media this week, after the star of TV series "Two and a Half Men" publicly and repeatedly lambasted his producers.  What happened?

Among many rants, Charlie has been saying that the producers "are not thankful."

Until Charlie made those statements, Charlie was making $1.8 million per episode.

At 24 episodes per year and according to my quick math, that puts Charlie in the $45 to 50 million a year range.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time understanding what's not thankful about $50 million a year.

The U.S. press and headlines are saying that Charlie may be bi-polar, that the drugs and high life of LA-LA Land have finally taken their toll on to him.

As a sales and marketing guy who often sees things with a business slant, I have a different view.  For me, Charlie let success get to his head.  This has detached him from the realities of the marketplace, and he has lost sight of his business model.

 

This so often happens in business.  "Success breeds success," but only if you play your cards right and keep your wits about you.

Success often breeds failure.  As entrepreneurs, start-ups and consultants out there in the very tough Brave New Marketplace, we can't let this happen to us.

All too often, those involved in a successful initiative, perhaps even those leading a successful initiative, start thinking that the success is all about them -- that they owe nothing to the hard work of other people, nothing to timing, not even to a little luck.  I've witnessed this, and I bet you have, too.

This hubris then leads to a detachment from the real business model.  Partnerships and customer relationships are not nourished.

Call him wacko, drugo or just plain arrogant, this is exactly what has happened to Charlie Sheen.  It was all about him.

 

As entrepreneurs in a very competitive marketplace, failure is a heart beat away.  Continued success, however, requires continued work.  We must remember what brought us our success, and keep doing it.

If you're a successful entrepreneur, I bet what got you there is listening to customers, building relationships with partners and your business channels, and always adding value.

Success breeds continued success only when we nurture our relationships -- from partners right through to end users.  Understand your business model and always remember where your revenue stream comes from.

Don't be like Charlie.  It takes a long time to build trust.  All it takes is a second to kill it.

You gotta' do it every day.  Listen.  Add value.  Build relationships.  Build upon your initial successes.

Keep it win-win for everyone involved.  Success is not just about you.  It's about you and usually a lot of other people.

 

- Have you read Jim Collins' "How The Mighty Fall"?
- Do you see any similarities in others who have had success but then blindly walked right in to failure?
- What were the symptoms, hindsight indicators?

Jimi Hendrix On Listening

"Knowledge speaks,
but wisdom listens."

- Jimi Hendrix, 1942-1970.

 

There was always something mystical about Jimi Hendrix, at least to me.

For one thing, he headlined the iconic Woodstock Festival in 1969, then died a year later... just as I was beginning to identify with him.

For another, his music was cutting-edge, and his lyrics touched on the human condition.

"The Wind Cried Mary" really cemented in my mind that Hendrix was deeper than your average musician, that there was the wisdom of a poet deep within.

That's why this quote resonated with me, and it's one of my obsessions in the area of sales and entrepreneurialism in the Brave New World.

As salespeople, and as people, we too often try to impart our knowledge too early in a person-to-person engagement.  In the sales process, we should be diagnosing before prescribing.  We should seek first to understand, then to be understood.

By listening, we  acquire knowledge, sure.  But we also engage the other person in a powerful way.  Clients may think they want you to tell them about you and your sexy products, but what they really want is for you to listen to them.

In fact, listening is the most highly desired trait that buyers want in salespeople, and it is among the most under-rated sales skill by inexperienced salespeople.

Listen.  To the wind.  To the tea leaves.  To the marketplace.  To the buyer.

Be wise.  Listen.

Photo via Wikipedia.

 

Motivating Your Sales Team: Values vs. Beliefs

Motivating For Performance is one of the fundamental issues facing supervisors and leaders in the Brave New World, and nowhere is this more critical as in commercial environments.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners often ask me, "How do you get salespeople to perform when their motivation drops?"

Money is indeed a factor, and structuring your compensation is critical.  But let's assume you're a small business owner, you've got a small sales team in place with a fair financial arrangement, and you're looking at other ways to motivate.

First, think about what motivates you in life, and at work.  Now think what might motivate one of your colleagues.  Do the same things inspire the two of you?

Maybe "yes" to some things, and "no" to others.  But the truth is, we're all motivated by different things.  We all have a different set of values and beliefs.

Yet values and beliefs are not the same things.  It is important to understand this difference when attempting to motivate team members.

 
Values

Values define what each of us wants out of life.  These are people's priorities on what they deem to be important.  Examples of personal values are:

• Material wealth
• Career success
• Prominence and fame
• Family and friends
• Loyalty
• Security
• Independence and self-reliance
• Community involvement
• Freedom

Personal values are usually established early in life, by adolescence, sometimes as late as early adulthood.

Major life-changing events may change a person's values at a later stage.  But a supervisor who tries to persuade a worker to change his/her values will almost always fail.

As leaders, we should therefore not try to change people's values.  It's counter-productive.  We will lose more than we gain.


Beliefs

Beliefs are behind what people perceive to be "cause and effect."  For example, we believe that something must happen in order to get what we want.  Or that we must do something for something else to happen a certain way.

Beliefs are more external than values.  They form our perception of how the world works.

Examples of personal beliefs are:

• "Nice guys finish last in this business."
• "It's not what you know, it's who you know."
• "Nobody wants our product."
• "Preparation brings results."
• "Success is one part inspiration and 99 parts perspiration."
• "If you don't take risks, you'll never do anything great."

Leaders will have better success at motivating their salespeople if they focus on influencing their beliefs, as opposed to trying to change their values.  Even in beliefs, leaders should focus only on their people's beliefs about the business.  Choose your challenges wisely.


Communication Is Not A City In Kazakhstan

If you're sensing your sales team has lost motivation, is beginning to burn out, or simply needs a good dose of motivation, the first thing you must do is open a dialogue in a private environment.

The second thing you must do is... listen first.  Ask good questions, and really listen.

Get the salesperson's view of their business world.  Understand their perspective of the marketplace.  Explore their beliefs... toward their buyers, your products, your mutual challenges.

As a leader, you should be in touch with the hearts and minds of your people.

If their beliefs are misguided, slowly but openly move the discussion towards your point-of-view.  If they resist, try to understand why.  Maybe your own beliefs will change in the process, or maybe they'll come around.  But a significant first step will have been made.

Motivation Is Close To Home

Now, what decisions you need to make - as a result of what you've both learned about how the world works - cannot be identified here, but you will be one significant step closer to a more motivated salesperson.

- Outside of changing compensation, how do you motivate your salespeople when the going gets rough?

 

Photo by MonoCounty http://www.flickr.com/photos/34647188@N02/3349507395/

 

Twitter: When "Thank You" Really Means "I'm Great"

My mother taught me to always say "thank you."

So it's hard for me to say, "Don't say 'thank you'."  (Sorry Mom!)

And sorry to all you tweeters who thank everybody for retweeting your stuff.  Much of the time, you're being polite; and if you're being sincere and genuine, I'm not targeting your good graces.

But the cynic in me thinks that "Thank you" has really become a way of saying, "Look how great I am," especially on Twitter.

Why I Follow

I follow some people because they're prominent, maybe even famous.  After a while, I determine for myself if their tweets are relevant and insightful, and then I'll put them in a list.  What's my "list criterion"?  These better tweeters frequently post insightful stuff or provide links to good material, sometimes their own, often that of others.

Other people I list because they've somehow caught my eye.  Maybe they've been retweeted by somebody I'm following, or maybe they've retweeted somebody I'm following, or... you get my point.

Consistent with the more prominent people I follow above, I put these these mere mortals in a list once I see that they consistently tweet good phrases, good links, good stuff.

Remember Best Practices?

One of the best practices you hear repeatedly about social media in general and Twitter specifically is, don't be overly self-promotional.

So I have to admit, the cynical side of me comes to the surface when I see tweets along the lines of

• "Thanks for RT @Dasher @Dancer @Prancer @Vixen. Go @Comet @Cupid @Donner @Blitzen."

Look, if you're Chris Brogan and you tweet "Thanks @JackVincent," I admit, I'm over-the-moon happy.  In fact, he did @JackVincent once, and my blog traffic went through the roof.  He didn't thank me and five other people in the same tweet, either.  It was in reference to something specific.  It was genuine.  And he's a prominent guy.  Thanks, Chris.  (You reading, Mom?)

But let's say you're Bennie the Basic Blogger, and I RT something of yours.  Thanking me is nice.  Thanking me and five other people in the same tweet?  Spare me the gratitude.

My humble opinion is you're being self-grandizing.  I feel... used.

Admit it.  Come on, admit it... we all like more traffic.  But thanking me somewhere between @Dancer @Prancer isn't going to get me a single RT... not a single click-through to my blog.  Meanwhile, you look... self-promotional.  You look... like you're accepting an Oscar.

"I'd like to thank my agent, my publicist, my friends in high places..."

Now a good way for you to defend yourself from my assault is to write me off as being an ungrateful bastard.  This gets you off the hook.  But are you building relationships?

What You Could Do

You could search for a thread of truth in what I'm writing.  You could think that maybe I'm not the Solo Cynic out here.  And you could do what I've been doing more and more lately.  Most tweeters like it.  None dislike it.

If you RT something of mine, I'll usually scroll through your timeline and RT something of yours -- of course, something that's relevant to Brand Me, to my messaging.  If I can't find anything, then I'll thank you... individually.

"Whoa, this Vincent guy is crazy.  He's going to invest all that time.  Ha!"

That's right.  I'm not using social media as a disruptive advertising page.  I'm using social media for initiating relationships and engaging.  Relationships take time.

Isn't the purpose of social media... to engage?

- What do you think?
- Am I an ingrate?
- Am I just trying to accomplish the same thing but through different tools?
- What are you doing on Twitter to initiate relationships?

Photo by www.fhoke.com

 

 

Hangin' Out With Chris Brogan and The Social Media Crowd

I just returned from the best conference I've been to in a long time, Next Generation Marketing in Berlin.

I learned a lot and hung out with some of the thought leaders in social networking, including keynote speaker, Chris Brogan.  Chris is a prolific blogger, co-author of the best-seller "Trust Agents", and advisor-not-expert on social media.

"Oh, no," he shudders.  "I don't like that word, 'expert'."

He liked the quote I often cite, "The true master is an eternal student."

It's apparent that Chris is brilliant.  It's refreshing that he doesn't need to prove it.  Instead, he makes you feel comfortable and listened to, which is one of the driving themes in his blog, books and keynotes.  So he practices what he preaches.

He'll be the first to tell you we were surrounded by a lot of brilliant people, conference speakers and attendees alike.  (I wish I could mention them all and keep this post in context.)  Chris is happy to share his knowledge, online and in person, but he's also a sponge.  In a kind of youthful curiosity, he keeps his eyes and ears open.

And that's where I want to go now (after burying my lead with "I'm in with the in crowd").

A common thread running throughout "Next Generation Marketing" was that the first objective for marketers using social media platforms is to listen.

Even the once-traditional Kodak, which has seemingly resucitated itself from the Ashes of Analog, puts listening first in its own five-pronged approach to social media, as Madlen Nicolaus, Head of Social Media EMEA outlined.  Kodak social media strategy is designed to:

• Listen
• Engage
• Be Real
• Measure
• Iterate

This is what I find exciting about next generation marketing generally and social media specifically:

The emerging tools for social media excellence parallel the time-tested tools for sales excellence.

The tools are different, revolutionary, but the spirit is timeless.

In the past, mediocre salespeople could survive by pitching first and trying to get to close as soon as possible, but the best salespeople never did.

In the Brave New World, there is no room for it.  "Pitchers and closers need not apply."  Today, it's about listening, diagnosing, building a solution, and agreeing ways to move forward.

Likewise, the days of broadcasting your product's attributes -- and even micro-casting them -- are waning.  Consumers don't want it, and corporate buyers don't have time for it.

So, can the marketing departments and the sales departments of today function in silos?

I don't think so.  Not if they're going to gain a strategic advantage through their commercial processes per se.

Rick Segal, Worldwide Head of Gyro HSR, said something I hadn't quite heard before, but being a Seamless Advocate, it resonated with me the moment he said it.  "Salespeople are out managing focus groups with customers every day.  If the marketing department isn't paying attention, well, they're squandering a built-in research tool."

This is where we need to be as scrappy consultants, independents and start-ups, in both our marketing and our selling.

It takes a a lot of energy for major corporations to improve their macro-listening while making each customer feel special.

But if major corporations can do it, Brave New Entrepreneurs can do it, too.

 

Photo: Chris Brogan on left.  Irina Kremin, founder of conference organizer KGS, center.  BraveNewSales Advocate on right, hanging out with the #B2BEU Crowd.  Man, did I learn a lot.  (Man, do I have a lot of work to do!)

One Simple Question - The One That Prospects Love

Last year, I was helping a client's sales team in the early stage with a new prospect.

The account exec in charge had held two meetings with a junior manager at the prospect's company, and now he was going to meet a decision-maker who had a potential need and who had access to budgets.

As we prepared for the meeting two days away, my client kept referring to his firm's killer presentation materials, and I kept pushing him toward a more customer-focused approach.  He seemed dismissive: it all seemed so-o-o-o elementary.

"Everyone knows about customer focus.  I've been in business for a long time.  Don't you worry."

Alarm bells rang in my head.

Why?  Because so often in sales, those who say, "I know that," don't do it.

It's not about what you know, it's about what you do.  And no where is this gap more glaring than in the doing of customer-focused stuff in the early stages of a sale.

Two mornings later, the meeting started in my client's home turf, their head office.  The sales exec had a PowerPoint presentation cued up.  I don't know the number of slides, we never finished it, but a half-hour into it, we were up to at least 20... and counting.  "Our philosophy.  Our approach.  Our list of clients.  Our customer's challenges.  Our solutions."

The prospect looked out the window, then at his watch.  This was not going well and my client, Mr. Self-Proclaimed-Customer-Focused-Seasoned-Sales-Pro, didn't even know it.  I tried in vain to catch his eye.

He introduced a second customer's challenge, and stopped to inhale some much-needed oxygen.

Opportunity doesn't knock twice.  I leaned forward, looked at the prospect... and asked one simple question.

"Is this at all similar to what you guys are up against?"

The prospect pulled his chair closer to the table, cleared his throat and said, "Well, kind of.  Our bigger issue is..."

This dialogue went on in a robust fashion for 90 minutes.  It concluded with clear action points and a date in the diary for a follow-up meeting that included another key player from the prospect's side.

The game-changer for this particular meeting was one simple question.

This question can take various forms.  In fact, it has to.  It has to be adapted to the context of the conversation.  It has to seem natural... be natural.

But the crux of this simple question is this:  "What are your biggest challenges?"

Sure, the prospect needs to know what you do, but he doesn't need to know every detail.  Prospects want to talk about their business, their initiatives, their projects, their problems, their opportunities... all of which bring challenges.

"What are the biggest challenges you folks are facing in this area?"

This is the question that prospects love.

This is the question that, early in the sales cycle, puts me in the game more times than not.

How about you?  Do you have similar early-stage questions that prospect love?

 

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/ 

But You're Not Steve Jobs

Chelsea Kate Isaacs, a Long Island journalism student, was writing a research paper last month on the use of the Apple iPad in classrooms.

As part of her research, she reportedly made numerous approaches to Apple's PR department to get a quote and repeatedly came up empty handed, Isaacs did what many consumers might do.

She sent an email to Apple's iconic co-founder, Steve Jobs.

Their email exchange went like this:

Isaacs:  "Mr Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so attentive to the needs of students, whether it be the latest, greatest invention or the company's helpful customer service line, and yet, ironically, the Media Relations Department fails to answer any of my questions which are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my academic performance."

Jobs:  "Our goals do not help you getting a good grade.  Sorry."

There was one more similar round in this exchange between the perhaps naive student and the (perhaps) irrascible CEO, before Jobs replied with another short note:  "Please leave us alone."

Isaacs sent her email around.  And her recipients sent it around.  And... it went viral.

Entrepreneurs in the Brave New World should all wish for success on the level of Jobs'.  It would be nice to be able to do things his way.

But you're not Steve Jobs.

The power of Brand Apple allows Jobs to push his people with the bristly management style he's known for.  Employees put up with him because being part of his magic is exciting; it can always lead to recuriters and headhunters hawking great positions elsewhere throughout the Valley and the world.  And Jobs has access to the most powerful investment circles in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Chances are, you and I don't.

Mere mortals like you and I can not afford to be bristly with our customers.

An email reply like the one above could cripple us.  Maybe it won't go viral in the macro sense, but it could get forwarded to a hot propsect, the industry press or a potential investor.

For scrappy consultants and entrepreneurs in the Brave New World, even a micro fall-out from a nasty email reply could bring us to our knees.

Everybody's a messenger today.  Everybody's a journalist in the world of Web 2.0.  Word-of-mouth has always been the most powerful form of advertising.  Word-of-click is faster and wider.

Be nice to people.

You're not Steve Jobs.

Job Interviews Are Sales, Too: 10 Tips to Success

I was helping a client recruit a sales support person this week.

The desired profile would be a recent college graduate with some, but not necessary a lot, of experience in a commercial environment.

My client had placed an ad in a university community bulletin board and had received the expected number of CV's, which we pared down to about ten candidates.  We then held first interviews of no more than 30 minutes with each candidate... all in one day.

At day's end, one guy stood out from the rest.

Head and shoulders above the rest.  So much so, that my client is thinking of increasing the job description and making an offer to this candidate ASAP.

While I've told my client not to go too fast, I totally agreed that they should not let this guy get away.

What made him such a strong candidate?

The way he sold himself to us.  He sold himself by being genuinely curious about my client's business.  He was a consultative salesperson.

He let us feel as though we were in control.  When we asked him a question, he would answer with a generous amount of information, but too much either, and he would check that it was clear.

And then he would also ask us questions.  Good  questions.  Not wasteful questions in which we had to educate him to the product line, the industry.  No, he had done his homework on that (and tactfully left his notes open revealing print-outs of not just my client's website, but other key things in the industry).

No, his questions showed curiosity about the big business issues, and focused on my client's challenges.  He listened intently, with good eye contact, taking occasional notes, and not afraid to ask for clarification occasionally.

He had three or four short stories, case studies of sorts, of similar things he had worked on based on what he had heard from my client.  Most of his case studies were successful, but when prompted, he was not coy about one failure he had had and what he had learned from it.

I could see my client trusting this young guy more and more as the meeting, er, interview progressed.  In fact, we had to cut it off at 45 minutes, because the next candidate was waiting... and might as well still be waiting.

This guy was a tough act to follow.

Interview Tips:

1. Research.  No, you can't find out everything by a website or even other people in the industry, but find out as much as you can.
2. Find Critical Issues.  Don't just print out the website home page, but see if you can find potential burning issues - a competitor who's come in to the territory, a new technology that's a game changer... or even opportunities that are challenges for the company to exploit.
3. Prepare.  Sure, your interviewer is going to want to learn about you.  Prepare some good stories and be ready to handle hard questions like, "What was your biggest failure?" (Hint: Also prepare, "... and this is what I learned from it.")  But also prepare good questions that address the company's potential challenges.  Put them on a one-page meeting plan sheet.
4. Open Confidently.  You must make the interviewer(s) comfortable.  It's ok to be a little nervous; they'll actually see that you care.  But if they have to wonder how they can approach you with burning business issues once you're hired, you probably won't be hired.  So all the tools of good eye contact, a smile and eye contact really do matter.  Be seen as friendly and professional right from the start.  (And dress professionally, too.  You're not going to class, you're going to somebody's business!)
5. Be Ready to Break The Ice.  What will you say if the first five seconds are awkwardly quiet?  That might be your interviewers fault, but it impacts you.  Remember the "open professionally" thing?  This is an extension.  Know what you're going to say early in the meeting if your interviewer doesn't handle it well... or wants to test you.  "Thanks for asking me in.  I appreciate the time you're taking to learn about me, and at some point, I'd like to ask a few questions about your business, too."
6. Don't Ask About Money.  Or benefits.  Or holiday benefits.  This is a first interview.
7. Answer Questions Generously.  Be ready to go in to each area of your work history.  Not too much detail, but enough so that it doesn't seem like you're trying to hide something.  When you've talked about the work, be ready to add, yes, "... and what I took away from that was..."
8. Ask Questions.  This is probably the biggest area to impress clients, and show you really care about this potential job/employer.  Do some research on consultative selling, and ask "business issue" types of questions, and then try to link appropriate aspects of your work history or character to how you have approached something in the past.
9. Next Steps.  Don't be afraid to ask about next steps at the conclusion of your interview.  If the answers are not clear, suggest something.
10. Follow-Up.  Yes, no later than the next morning.  The question is still open about whether you should do this by post or by email.  Post is special, but it's slow.  Certainly follow-up with an email the next day, and link key areas of the interview to how you look forward to addressing them should you get the position.

The big picture here is, the best way to impress them is to show you really care about them.  You can mention that the job excites you, but link that to why you'll do a good job of taking care of them.  That's consultative selling, and that's successful job interviewing.

Happy selling!