Reaching corporate decision makers is difficult. They rarely answer the phone; roll all calls to voice mail and seldom telephone back. They have never been busier and are being contacted by a dozen sellers every day – all asking for meetings in an already crowded diary.
When you do get that meeting with a decision maker, it is vital to make the best of this hard earned “opportunity”, they must feel the time with you was well spent.
During and after the meeting they should believe you truly understood their business needs, genuinly want to help and are a credible resource. When prospects think that way about you, they want to:
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Learn more about how what you offer could help their business |
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Involve others in their company in learning more about you |
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Evaluate the potential benefit in making a change |
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It is critical to make that first meeting so engaging that your prospect finds the idea of working with you/your company virtually irresistible.
In this briefing you will learn five essential strategies to significantly increase the success of these initial meetings which leads to winning more new clients. |
| Strategy 1: Ditch the pitch |
| The less time sellers have with prospective clients, the more information they feel they need to present. Many meetings start with the obligatory overview:
Company History - Office Locations/Numbers of Employees - Client List etc. etc.
Most sellers think it is essential to give all this information about their company up-front and it will position them as a real competitor in their market place.
They are wrong. This sales prevention mistake causes decision makers to think: Another self serving sales person. How soon can I end this meeting? They start disengaging from the seller, who is so busy talking the prospects disinterest goes unnoticed. |
The pitch continues
Next can come an overview of the solution their company provides, complete with all the differentiators marketing can come up with: |
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Leading edge products /services |
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30 year history |
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One-stop shop |
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Robust systems |
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Client focused service |
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Cost effective solutions |
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Etc. etc. |
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| By this time the prospect has had enough and it is “objection” time. |
| How Prospects React |
They have a number of ways of bringing the meeting - and the potential business relationship – to an end. They ask:
“How much does this all cost”
This can be a show stopper for sellers that have blathered on and on without an understanding of the needs, goals and challenges. They are unable to articulate the business value - any price they quote seems too high.
“Can it do (fill in the blank) No? That is really important to us”
Because senior people are so busy they often look for reasons to rule you out.
“Could you leave a brochure as I will need to talk this over with my colleagues?”
And then they do not return your calls.
These are some of the logical outcomes of a one way presentation focused on your company. To have an effective first meeting “ditch the pitch”. |
| Strategy 2: Change Your Focus |
| The first meeting is all about what is important to your prospective client.
Think RELEVANCE! That is what your prospect is really interested in.
From the moment you start talking they are assessing the relevance of what you are saying. Company history? Irrelevant. Detailed product specification? Irrelevant. Your awards? Irrelevant.
For prospects who have not decided to change from their current provider, all your competitive differentiators are totally irrelevant. Prospects do not care how you compare to Company B or Company C, because they are not seriously considering changing.
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| 90% of your initial meeting are with people who are reasonably satisfied with what they have. It may not be perfect but it is OK. So what could be relevant to these potential clients who are not thinking of making a change?
Decision makers are always interested in ideas, insights and information that help them solve problems and achieve objectives.
How to Increase Your Relevance
You cannot be relevant to clients until you truly understand their business. Yet most sellers have minimal knowledge of their prospects current situation, the limitations of the staying with the status quo and what the impact of not changing has on their business. Nor do they know what their prospects are responsible for or how their performance is measured. |
| To increase your relevance, this is what you can do: |
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Interview 5 of your existing clients to learn more about their roles, responsibilities, objectives, strategic initiatives and business challenges ( in doing so you will also uncover areas where you can help them) |
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Interview 3 new clients to identify the value they have realised as a result of changing to your products/service |
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| You will learn what is important to them in the long and short term. Declining profitability, sluggish growth, high supply-chain cost etc. etc.
What is relevant is their business not your products/services. What you offer is merely a tool that helps companies achieve their business objectives.
Impact on the client meeting
Now you know what is relevant, here is what to focus on in your next initial client meeting.
Meeting Purpose: rather than focusing on your company, the reason for the meeting is to discuss a specific business issue or objective they are concerned about. I might say:
As I mentioned when we arranged this meeting, we help sales teams win new targeted accounts and retain and grow existing key accounts. It is a challenge for most companies today. I would like to spend 2 minutes giving you a little background on this and then discuss what you are doing about these issues and how they impact you.
By doing this, you assure your prospect that you will; not waste their time blabbering on about your company or products. It is a signal that the meeting is all about the prospects needs and the challenges they face.
Meeting Objective: Instead of giving information about your company it is all about the business issue, the cost of staying with the status quo and the value your prospect could realise in changing.
I often say the meeting objective is to “Help XYZ Company improve their sales in challenging times” senior people usually take notice.
You will get the same reaction by starting the meeting by stating a business objective they are expected to achieve in the upcoming year. Next address the key challenges that make it difficult to achieve that objective. Finally share a success story that shows the results you helped a similar client achieve.
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| Strategy 3: Create Conversations |
| Instead of explaining, talking and presenting, focus on leading a business focused discussion in your first meeting. This enables you to: |
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Establish a relationship with the decision maker |
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Learn more about their business |
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Show your commitment to providing value, not just making a sale |
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| Very few people plan their questions ahead of time and that is their downfall. We are incapable of being a good listener when also trying to work out what to say or ask next. We can only deal with one thing at a time.
It is essential to write down 10 good questions prior to your first meeting. What makes a good question depends on where the descion maker is in their decision cycle.
Questions Are the Answer
If the prospect you are talking to has not yet decided to spend money on what you are offering, then your questions need to focus on:
How they are currently addressing their needs. |
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Their key objectives for the year |
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Current planned initiatives |
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Issues and challenges potentially impacting goal achievement |
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Trends, business direction and priorities |
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Impact of accepting the status quo |
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| You cannot start selling something until you understand their problems. |
| If there is already money in the budget or they are actively looking to change, then focus on: |
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Results they are looking to achieve from changing |
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Key criteria they are using to evaluate alternatives and their relative importance |
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Their perspective regarding your offerings’ relative strengths and weaknesses |
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Engagement Is Key
Research shows that sellers who ask insightful questions are perceived as more credible, more intelligent and more interested in the prospect. It is the questions you ask not what you say that counts. When you prepare questions ahead of the meeting and lead the conversation, you will significantly improve your sales success. |
| Strategy 4: Build Credibility |
| Busy decision maker want to work with smart, savvy professionals who have a good depth of understanding about their business. They will not waste a minute with someone who does not specialise in what they need and must be educated in order to provide value.
You can do many things to increase your personal credibility in the meeting:
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| Highlight Your Pre Meeting Research: when prospects know that you have invested time in understanding their business prior to the meeting, your credibility rises.
John, in preparing for this meeting, I spent some time on your website reviewing what you offer, market focus and marketing collateral. And I read your annual report.
Add Your Expertise to Your Questions: Just asking good questions increases your credibility. When you add your knowledge and expertise it sky rockets.
As I mentioned, we focus on growing B to B service providers. We typically work with clients to win new target accounts and grow existing key accounts. One of the big issues we hear is that it can be difficult to gain meetings with new senior executives. How big of an issue is this for your people?
Speak the Language of Business When your prospect hears you talking about business instead of your services/company you strengthen your position as a credible resource.
Most executives we are talking to are really concerned about the success of their new product launches. Specifically one metric they are focused on is what they can do to shorten time to market as well as maximise sales team productivity.
Talk About Similar Situations: the more experience prospects know that you have had with comparable companies the better it is for your credibility.
We recently worked with a company that, similar to you, had targeted large pharmaceuticals as their major prospect. As you might expect they had already made a significant investment in their IT infrastructure.
After analysing their capabilities, we helped them come up with a strategy that enabled them to get an initial project, prove their value and expand from there.
Before your next initial meeting think about how you can - gently – ask questions or talk about things that will improve your credibility. Without planning, you could miss the chance to stand out from the crowd.
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| Strategy 5: Progress the Opportunity |
| The final way to build credibility and increase the initial meetings effectiveness is suggesting a logical next step rather than ask the prospect how they would like to proceed. This is especially powerful if the next step is at no cost and value-adding to the prospect in some way. |
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The offer to carry out a research project |
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Some kind of demonstration |
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Meetings with others in their company – most corporate decisions involve multiple buyers. You might suggest meeting with their boss, colleagues, direct reports etc. |
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Meetings with your clients - A next step could be the prospect talking to one your clients that faced a similar problem that you helped them with |
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What matters most is that you know what the logical next step is and then propose it. When you do that it demonstrates that you have done this before, you know it takes multiple meetings and you respect the process.
Conclusion
The initial client meeting has the potential to make or break your future relationship with a prospect. If you come to the meeting focused on their goals and challenges you will capture their attention. If you engage them in business-focused conversations, share ideas and insights you will definitely stand out from the competition.
Decision makers may be extremly busy, but they always make time for sellers who bring value.
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