Meetings take place between buyers and salespeople up and down the land, where both perform their roles as established by convention. Most meetings are perfectly civil, some data may be exchanged and next steps agreed (or worse, sometimes not). Then the meeting ends. On to the next one. If both attending parties were honest with themselves, the entire conversation and the non-committal but perfectly polite outcome could have been guessed before the meeting started. Any proposal generated as a result of that meeting would languish on prospect lists or forecasts for weeks before a likely negative outcome for the seller. Tragically, if they were prepared to confess it, this outcome should have been obvious before the whole engagement began.
How much more refreshing would it be, if the salesperson defied these pre-determined expectations and took the meeting on a new course? If they displayed real vulnerability through being themselves, focussed purely on the customer’s real goals rather than talking about their business or products perhaps? Imagine if they selflessly gave advice or presented new thinking, that helped them genuinely overcome any pain the customer’s organisation was feeling…
The chances of winning are increased if a potential customer can walk away from a meeting thinking, “well, that was unexpected” or “I’ve learnt something today”. More so if they are left feeling their needs were the centre of attention.
Remember, the aim here is standing out.
If the customer has meetings with your competition where the competition are product obsessed, try and close before they’ve earned the right, don’t show genuine interest and consideration for the customer or act in a predictable sales manner; any sales professional should already be steps ahead. However, there will be situations when you will be competing with equally professional people for the same business. How do you differentiate then? This is where vulnerability comes into play. This is where courage is needed to behave in an unpredictable, but still professional manner. The aim becomes to provide contrast and gain pole position through your refreshing approach. In other words it is time to display some humility and put your heart on your sleeve. Focus on teaching and helping, not selling.
With all this in mind, here are some of my top tips for standing out in a prospect meeting:
Break the ritual at the start of the prospect meeting.
This has always been a favoured approach, making the customer more alert and attentive from the get go. Consider:
- Presenting an agenda that points the flow of conversation in an unanticipated direction
- Avoiding the small talk and often awkward ice-breaking banter by getting straight down to it. Maybe start with a simple “nice to meet you, in order to help you as much as possible it would be great if…” and then outline the meeting direction to shock them into alertness. Remember, you don’t need to be their friend, relationships can be formed purely on a footing of mutual respect.
- Shifting the actual physical set-up. What happens if you don’t sit down but walk straight to the whiteboard and scribble as you talk to become the teacher or own the room? What happens if you walk around the table and sit next to them to remove the barrier and create a more collaborative feel?
- As an extreme example, an unexpected change of the room itself can shift the mood and result in a more open conversation. “It’s such a nice day outside shall we go and grab a coffee somewhere?” You need to use this sparingly. It works better with existing customers; as you could inadvertently reduce the importance of the meeting if positioned clumsily.
Plan your tone, language and questions in advance:
Experiment with:
- Giving an opening statement in which you actually state your desire to have a different type of conversation with the customer, in order to get to the heart of their objectives and desired future state, which will probably make them open up more and subconsciously want to help you.
- Openly committing to not positioning or talking about your company at all unless relevant.
- Using well thought out questions to get beyond the first layer of information they provide. If you are unsure how to do this, simply asking “why?” after the customer has stated a goal or pain can help the customer open up a little more. We should never accept the first answer at face value, instead we should think of it as the answer they want everyone bidding for their business to hear and then drill down to get to the real truth. This will then enable you to provide differentiated answers within your proposal.
Ensure that the wrap-around meeting tasks are well planned:
Always:
- Confirm all of the meeting details in advance (location, dress code – this shows you care, parking arrangements, building access, attendees).
- Frame the meeting with its actual objective. If the aim is to decide something then put “Meeting to Decide…” in the invite or agenda title. It should be clear to both parties what the purpose of the meeting is.
- Ask the prospect to think about some key things in advance – setting them homework if you like – so that they come into the meeting already mentally invested
- Write notes, write them up and share with the contact post-meeting
- Agree next steps, including the next meeting date and time, while still in the meeting. The aim is to form a relationship so finishing with “I’ll send you some information and follow up by email” is a real cop out.
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