Selling isn’t Telling
Sunday, February 24th, 2008 Posted in Sales | No Comments »
A month ago one of my clients asked me to accompany an underperforming sales executive on a couple of calls. My mission was to make suggestions about how this guy could improve his results.
After weeks of persistent calls and follow-up, he had finally been successful in arranging a meeting with a good prospect. If everything had gone according to plan it could have resulted in a top quality new client.
Very early in the call it became apparent that it wouldn’t happen.
He was totally under-prepared. When we sat down to debrief the call it became obvious that he was happy in his comfort zone and unable to grasp the realities of today’s market.
There are many keys to succeeding in a first meeting with a new prospect. Here are three that work for me.
- Learn as much as possible about the prospective customer’s organisation, business objectives and environment
- Understand what issue(s) they need (or might need) to address
- Anticipate the questions they might ask
All of which means you must prepare … prepare … prepare.
