Make the Meeting Count

Having been a sales leader for quite a long time, I’ve accompanied sales reps on lots of meetings and have joined them on as many conference calls. A question that I ask before every call or meeting is, “What is the goal for the meeting?” It’s always an interesting question to ask new reps because it’s something that they haven’t heard before. And it makes them think.

Sometimes I hear things like “This is a relationship call”, or “We’re just checking in with the customer." So I rephrase the question and ask, “What will make us high-five in the car when this meeting is over?” That will usually elicit the kind of response I’m looking for. Now the rep comes clean with why we’re really there.

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By the way, I’m not at all knocking the “relationship” meetings. Those can be very important. But is that really why the customer is meeting with you? Do they really just want to say “Hi.” I doubt it. Customers are busy and if they have agreed to meet with you, they have something on their mind. In other words, they have a goal for the meeting. Shouldn’t you?

The best thing you can do to prepare for a customer or prospect meeting is to ask them what they hope to accomplish by meeting with you. “But”, you say, “I’m the one that asked for the meeting. They are coming to the meeting to hear about our solution.” You think? Try asking a few days ahead of the meeting and you’ll find that the prospect has some pretty specific reasons for meeting with you. Find out what those are. People aren’t meeting with you so that you can sell them something. Sure, that’s what we’d all like to think. Nope, they’re meeting with you to learn something - something to help them or their company. And yes, maybe at the end of a sales process they’ll end up buying something from you. Even if they are coming to the meeting to hear all about your solution, ask them anyway. The input you get will be priceless and will help you prepare and present the information that is relevant to them.

Here’s an example of an email you can send ahead of a meeting that you’ve scheduled:

“Dear Prospect,

I look forward to our meeting next Thursday at 1:00cst at your office. Thank you in advance for your time.

I’ve attached a proposed agenda for your review. Let me know if it works for you.

Also, what are the specific items that you’d like to take away from our meeting? Please let me know so that we can make the most of our time together.”

Try it ahead of your next customer or prospect meeting and see what you get back. It may surprise you how quickly you get a response and what specific information they are looking for.

To learn more about preparing for meetings, check out my book, Click and Sell! Three Unconventional Emails with Extraordinary Sales Results. The email above is one of several examples that I provide in helping you prepare for great meetings. Other email strategies address “waking up” prospects when they “go dark”, and another for getting a 20% response rate (or greater) when following up on leads. To learn more about the book and where to find it, click HERE.

How to Start Every Prospect/Customer Meeting

Whether you meet your prospects in person or on the phone, there are a couple of things you should say when you kick-off every meeting.

The first is, “Thank you for taking time to meet with me.” Every meeting, no matter what, should start with a quick thank you. It’s just common courtesy.

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Next, say something like, “Before we get started, I want to make sure that we make the best use of your time. I realize that I asked for this meeting, but is there anything that you specifically wanted to take-away from our time together?" This question can yield some incredibly valuable results. The prospect probably has a specific need that your product or service can address, and their response to your question will help you target your message accordingly. Or you’ll find that a new person has shown up for the meeting and you have no idea who they are or why they are attending. So be sure to ask each person what they hope to accomplish. I mean literally go around the table and make sure that every person tells you what they hope to gain from the meeting. If you fail to ask this question and move forward with your show-up-and-throw-up pitch, you will run the risk of missing the mark entirely and losing the sale. When you do ask the question and get their feedback, you can emphasize things in your presentation that you may have otherwise glossed-over. And you’ll find that you can skip through several of your usual talking points.

Try not to be thrown off by a large audience. I’ve seen situations where a dozen people showed up for a meeting. After thanking everyone for attending we asked the “what do you want to get out of the session?” question, and went around the table and heard from every attendee. It can take a while, but the feedback is totally worth it. You’ll be sure to get “I work for Mike and need to hear the same thing.” But you’ll also get some brand-new perspectives on why the team is meeting with you.

Another potentially challenging situation is pitching to a group over the phone. Here you don’t have the benefit of the warm handshake, smiles, and the all-important body language. As always, begin the call with an authentic “Thank you.”, and then start gathering feedback on what they hope to accomplish on the call – just like you would in person. It can be a little more challenging since you can’t go around the table, so you’ll probably need to call on people. If you haven’t done this before it can be a little intimidating, but grind through it and get the feedback so that you can craft your message accordingly. It’s also a great way to make sure that you’ve gotten everyone’s name and title in case you missed it when they initially joined the call.

It is important to take good notes when they’re telling you what they hope to accomplish, because you will end the meeting in much the same way, going around the table and making sure everyone got what they wanted. But there is a bit of a twist when doing this over the phone. And this is a good tip to consider any time you are selling over the phone: you should avoid asking yes/no questions. Don’t, for example, ask “Does everyone understand that benefit?" In almost every case you’ll hear a pregnant pause until someone finally chimes in with a weak “Yeah, I think we all get that.” That’s if you’re lucky. Often times you’ll hear nothing but silence. Instead, ask a specific person an open-ended question like, “Karen, you mentioned the need for an all-in-one marketing plan. As we explained it, how would our solution meet that need?" Now you’ve got a better chance for some really good feedback.

Once you’ve validated whether or not you’ve met their expectations it becomes much easier to transition in to the “next steps” conversation. And, it’s not always a bad thing if you don’t cover a topic that an attendee is interested in – it gives you a built-in reason to follow up.

These conversations are very simple to pull off, but I’m continually surprised to see sellers fail to execute on them. If you haven’t tried the “What do you expect to get out of today?” question before, it may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but trust me, it is worth it. Start off your next call with a heartfelt thank you, and then ask the attendees what they hope to gain from the meeting. You’ll be pleased with the results.

(Note: I dedicate a chapter of my book, Click and Sell. Three Unconventional Emails with Extraordinary Sales Results, to an email that you should send before every important meeting that can also help with understanding your prospect’s goals for meeting with you.)