B2B sales appointments discovery calls sales & Phone Scripts

First Meetings

12 Core Discovery Call Keys To Get The Close

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Here are some core concepts to execute a discovery call so as to maximize closing ratios.

For many years all I did was help companies SELL THE MEETING and schedule qualified discovery calls and first sales appointments. Eventually companies asked for help in choreographing (my words) the first meeting/discovery call to get more leads deeper into the pipeline and ultimately to a close.

The two most common complaints were 1) that “perfect prospects” were going nowhere after “great meetings” and 2) that prospects were vaporizing in the middle of the pipeline.

When you are crafting an appointment setting script you have a 3-5 minute interaction to plan for.
With a discovery call,  you need to prepare for a 15-60 minute interaction with many variables flying and the clock ticking.

Here are 12, of what I believe to be the keys, to conducting a discovery call so that you solidify the next step on the road to a close.

  1. The 2% difference gets us the close.

You must extract from the buyer motivations sufficient to overcome the tendency to do nothing. When a perfect prospect decides, will you be 2% better than the competition or doing nothing.

  1. The specifics that will earn us the close are extracted upfront.

You must extract the details from potential buyers that will provide that 2% difference.
You must have a sense of what to extract and whether it will be enough at decision time.

  1. 3. Proposals should be confirmations, not explorations.

Proposals are not fishing expeditions. They should confirm key points already discussed, not explore whether something is acceptable.

  1. Perfect prospects are ranking you against competitors and the status quo.

Are you contrasting your solution results so that perfect prospects can clearly weigh them against other options? If they can’t clearly see the difference, bye bye close.

  1. Are you prepared to showcase your strengths.

What specifics, stories, and examples are you going to communicate and when? You have limited time to get it done.

  1. How will you minimize weaknesses.

“Head off at the pass” the most common causes of doubt about moving forward. Remember, any lingering doubt on issues equates to a no close. Deal with them.

  1. Top closers prepare questions; the rest prepare presentations.

If you believe that obtaining a new account is determined by slight differences brought to the surface, those differences are uncovered with a purposeful plan. We are not talking about the lay-ups here, those that are a perfect fit for us, immediately see our value and cannot wait to sign. Nor are we talking about the tire-kickers and price shoppers. Nothing we say will make a difference and we do not want them. We need to sway those in the middle, that are dissatisfied on some level with their current situation and are trying to decide whether to go with someone else or stick with the devil they know. Focus on the middle group.

  1. The clock is ticking.

You have 15? 30? 45 minutes? to cement the next step toward a close. Are you winging it or properly prepared to make maximum use of that limited time?

  1. We close on the details.

We must extract the details which will get us to close. We must constantly ask ourselves “Will the details and specifics I am extracting be sufficient to overcome the urge to do nothing or work with a competitor?”

  1. Competing against not only other competitors but all the project options on the manager’s plate.

You might end up being a superior option, but if a manager perceives that the change is not worth the effort as compared to all the other things they may do with their time and money, you won’t get the account. Being a superior option is not enough. Your bottom line benefit must be bigger than what other projects would bring.

  1. Do not be “deselected.”

Do not say anything that could get you knocked out of the Box.

First Sales Conversations, Discovery Calls, Demos and Meetings: Do You Qualify, Close or Runaway?

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There is a first substantive interaction to every multi-step sales process. Whether you label it a first sales meeting, discovery call or demo, the first interaction may be the biggest influence on whether you close a deal or not. That’s right; it’s not the magic words you try to come up with when a deal is slipping from your grasp that matters most, it is how you laid the proper foundation for the close that matters most. Do the right things in the beginning and you don’t have to grasp at straws at the end.

The first interaction clarifies your strengths and creates a solid foundation and springboard toward a close. Or, can be a great opportunity lost because your prospect didn’t grasp your value and enough reason to move forward.

Conduct future sales calls with a plan that communicates your value, positions you favorably against competitors and gains commitment for the next step in the sales process.

Here are some key concepts.

Closes hinge on the 2% difference. Your first meetings and discovery calls extract that 2% difference.

You win or lose most accounts by a hair. You need to be just a bit better than others to win, a 2% difference. It is in the earliest stages of your interactions that you extract and clarify that 2% difference so that when push comes to shove at the very end, you have the substance and specifics to nose out the competition.

Proposals should be confirmations, not explorations.

Think very carefully about this. Are your proposals explorations or confirmations? Proposals that end up closing are much more confirmations of concerns & terms already discussed, than fishing expeditions hoping to land the big one.

If you think of proposals as confirmations, then you must discuss the core components of your proposal to resolve differences or concerns. If you are collecting just enough basic information to deliver a pretty much standard boilerplate proposal, thinking you will find out what they think and adjust from there, your closing percentage is nowhere near where it could be.

Top producers and closers prepare questions; the rest prepare presentations

If you believe, and I think you should, that closes hinge on the 2% difference. And, that proposals should be confirmations, not explorations, then you will have to decide how best to find out what the 2% difference is in the mind of your buyers and have an actual conversation to confirm the major points of your proposal. Prepared presentations do not lead to that.

There shall be no proposal before its time

Like a fine wine, there should be no proposals before their time. Too many companies and individuals seem to think that making proposals is a goal. It’s a numbers game the knucklehead’s shout. But if the proposal is built on sand because the proper work hasn’t been done to include the things or confirm the things that would make it acceptable, it’s not a proposal; it is a waste of time.

You sell by appealing to actual needs and wants. Not by discussing what you think they need, not by trying to convince them of anything, but by drawing out issues that make the eyes of your prospects light up. Good questions, preparation, and practice make that possible.

Will the juice be worth the squeeze. What would it take for your prospect to buy? To change vendors?

You might think having a better widget or providing superior service is enough. That, if the prospect concludes that you are “better,” that you will get the deal. Nope.

Your prospect may conclude that you are a superior vendor, that you are worth the time, but many times, that is not enough. Your decision-maker has many many demands on their time. You might be “better” and yet not be more important than the other 25 demands on their time.

You might win the battle of “being better” yet lose the war if that difference is not more important than all the other demands on time and resources.

If there is no 2nd meeting, there will be no check

Virtually all of my clients have a multi-step sales process. There are typically multiple meetings/interactions before a deal is finalized. If it typically takes 5 meetings/interactions to close a deal, and you don’t earn the 2nd meeting, there will be no check.

During the discovery call or first sales meeting, you are not trying to make a sale so much as you are trying to lay a foundation for a sale. That foundation includes additional interactions. You had to “sell” the first meeting, and you also have to sell the 2nd and 3rd to make sure it happens.

Break the discovery call into three parts: The commercial, the questions, confirming the next step.

The Commercial

After very brief pleasantries you need to start working on your meeting objectives. You want to frame the discussion, orient to your strengths, relate credibility and minimize your weaknesses.

You might get down to business by saying something like this. “Would it help if I took a minute to review my background and why people choose to work with me?” The answer is always “Yes.”

I might say something like this. “Almost all of my clients, start their sales process with a face to face meeting or discovery call. When they get in the door at the right level, they can close, but if they are not at the right door at the right time, their competitors get the account. I have done work for recognizable names such as Wells Fargo that sent me into every one of the sales territories years ago and Jan-Pro, which is the #1 franchisor in the country and venture-backed startups, but most of my work is mid-size or emerging companies that need a process that works to get in the door. Have written two books on the topic and my scripting book was on Amazon’s list of top sales and selling books for more than three years. Every project is a bit unique, but the common themes are getting to the right people, scripting, communicating value, objections and follow-up. The most common comment I get from clients is “wish we had done this earlier.” Most of the quantum leaps come from organization, focus and consistently implementing the basics well rather than the latest greatest strategy of the month. Many companies who use me to get meetings, ask me to help them to convert those initial meetings to solid 2nd and 3rd steps. People seem to like that I actually did this before teaching it, set more than 2,000 C-Level appointments and is based on real world experiences rather than a standardized course. So that is a little about me, tell me about your situation and what you are trying to achieve.”

Notice in that spiel that I was trying to set the agenda, relate credibility and expertise and highlight the issues that are typical client hot buttons or play to my strengths. You should be doing the same.

The middle, questioning stage of the first sales conversation

You will sell and close based upon what people tell you matters to them.

At this stage, big picture, you are trying to…

– earn a commitment for the best next step you can get

– uncover specifics that motivate the buyers

– crystallize the options and consequences

– rub salt in the wounds.

Remember, the clock is ticking

First sales conversations have a time limit. It might be 30-60 minutes, maybe more, maybe less. But the bottom line is that you must flush out things sufficiently so that you can close on a solid next step that could lead to a close. You must make sure there is enough time left at the end for you to secure the next step.

“Oops, times up, got to go.” “I’ll be in touch, send me something, or my people will be in touch with your people,” often leads to the prospect never talking to you again.

“Great meetings,” after which the prospect vaporizes, were not that great.

How often has it happened? You sweat and with tremendous effort gain a commitment for a discovery call or first sales meeting. The meeting goes great, you are superior to their current situation, the pricing is right, and then they vaporize. You call and call to touch base again and hear nothing but crickets. Happens all the time.

You must properly choreograph your discovery calls or those “great meetings” will vaporize

Remember, if you don’t secure the 2nd or 3rd interaction, there is usually no deal. Your early interactions, particularly the first interaction is where you lay the foundation for the next meeting on the way to the close.

If your first meetings or discovery calls need to convert at a higher level, contact us to discuss.

Basic Roadmap and Strategic Focus to Conduct Effective First Meetings with Sales Prospects

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1. How long does a typical first sales meeting of discovery call last?

Probably 30-60 minutes. As a general rule we have certain objectives to accomplish and we only have a certain amount of time. It is probably reasonable to assume that we will only have 40 minutes to accomplish our objectives. Plan and pace your first meeting to accomplish your sales objectives within 40 minutes. Be prepared for less.

Even if someone is very interested in what we have to offer, after an hour or so, energy levels start to wane. Even if we stop earlier than we could, we have laid the foundation for that additional interaction which can help advance the sale.

Example. If it normally it takes 3 or 4 interactions close a sale, even if the prospect is willing to get all the info in one session, it may not be in our best interest to give it all to them at one session, as we decrease the chance of future interactions, and future interactions are critical to creating the trust necessary to eventually close the deal.

When you are in control, you are conscious of how much time you have and you are conscious of where you are in relation to where you should be at that meeting.

2. The three stages of a first meeting.

– The commercial.
– Inquiry into understanding the past, present and future of the company and the individual we are speaking to.
– What is the next step. Ask for the next meeting.

3. The commercial.

After initial banter, first step is to present a brief commercial about your company or offering. You might ask the prospect if it would be helpful some brief background on the history of Mega Company Inc. Boom. Then go into brief commercial. Background only. No suggestion as to a recommendation or what might be best for them

The commercial should always end with a question. So a question might be… A. Have you ever used radio to market your business? B. What other marketing tools do you use? C. What are your major concerns in these areas?

Balance between going with the flow with the prospect and accomplishing our objectives for that interaction or meeting.

As a general rule if we lose control over what is discussed at that first meeting, we diminish the chance for a 2nd meeting or accomplishing our sales objectives.

A major sales environment is fluid and things rarely go as planned, but there are winning and losing behaviors. There are steps that are more likely to lead to a sale and steps that are less likely to lead to a sale or diminish the chances of a sale being made

If we lose control over the sales process and the prospect ends up determining what is discussed and what happens next, then the odds of the prospect and our company ending up on the same page and getting a check is minimal.

If we can’t keep close to our well planned roadmap to success we have to remember that the prospect doesn’t have a roadmap likely to lead to our company getting the business. They have no roadmap.

There is little risk to steering a prospect back to a process or stage that we know from experience is necessary for them to pass though, for the result to be that our company gets a check. If the prospect is unwilling to pass through those stages you have a choice, do you think that varying from proven experiences so greatly is going to positively impact the chance of advancing the sale.

It is important to have a clear idea of what we consider the successful first meeting to look like in a perfect world.

As we vary from that model, we can make a rational decision as to how far to go. We are in charge of determining how far to go, not the prospect.

There is a school of thought and some very very successful salespeople adhere to this with much success, is that if at any particular time the prospect will not engage in a discussion of what the salesperson wants to talk about, that the salesperson will end the sales process. He/she will explain that the purpose of this meeting is to determine if there is a mutual basis of doing business. If the prospect will not take the time to answer certain questions or engage in certain activities, they end the process as they feel that their needs are not being met.

They simply state that the purpose of the session is to determine whether they will be able to do business together at any particular time. The objective is to mutually decide whether we are going to be able to work together. You need to get information to determine whether or not it makes sense to work together. And if the prospect will not talk about what needs to be discussed the meeting is over. Without certain info the odds of closing the account is low low low, so why bother?

All too often salespeople are afraid to let go. Most of the time because they don’t have clarity about the circumstances most likely to lead to a sale and the circumstances that are probable doom and wasted time.

Being direct about our purpose is not a problem. Being direct, saying something like “Look, we are trying to make a decision as to whether it makes sense for both of us to have a business relationship, in order to do that we need certain information, if you are not willing to share that information that is fine, but we would choose not to invest additional time pursuing a relationship,” is not a problem.

4. The inquiry phase.

What has happened in the past, what is happening now, what are the plans for the future? For the company and for the individual we are meeting.

Write down the specific questions we need to ask as we are focusing on specific behaviors.

What is the company history with this type of service?
Have you personally done a lot of work with this service?
What have you accomplished in the past with this service.
Did it work
How happy were you personally with the way things worked out?
How did you decide that?
Why did you select that process?

As most people have worked with companies like us in the past it would be important to ask questions about that history.

Ask how and why questions. We should ask questions in depth about the past, as this gives us our first clues as to how individual and company are thinking,

When asking about the past, indirectly you are also asking how they selected a particular vendor.

Then we ask questions about the present

What are you trying to accomplish now?
How does your company usually operate in this area?
How do you usually do this?
What are you doing now in regard to these services?
Why are you doing it this way?
Why did you choose this method?
How is it being used?
How is it working from your point of view?
Why does the organization track this information?

Enable them to talk about how they view the present situation.

Get more info with the question .. is there anything else?

It is always about the individual and the organization

As to future questions, we now are trying to lay a foundation for our request

What would you personally like to accomplish in the future?
What is the company trying to get done in the long term in this area?
How would you like to accomplish that?
When would you like to achieve that goal?
How will you be evaluating your current system?

Point is to develop all the info necessary to move the sale forward or to make a mutual decision not to, at least for the time being.

We may very well conclude that the odds of us winning this piece of business is not high, or they are not close to making a decision, so it may be best to make a mutual decision not to pursue a piece of business at any particular time.

Many times there is a reluctance to go into depth with these types of questions. Many times salespeople hesitate to give the prospect an opportunity to express any doubts, fears or regrets. In our environment it is important for us to know their doubts and fears so that we can address them or else we will not get where we want to go.

Many times a price objection is really something else being masked. When you follow this process, you are giving people the opportunity to vent the real issues.

In a major sales environment, it has to be assumed that there will be multiple contacts. We have to assess when is the most appropriate time to ask the right questions.

Additional meetings give you an additional opportunity to zero in on the prospects needs. If we try to accomplish too much at a first meeting, we can “skip stages” and going through each stage well is a prerequisite for making the sale.

There usually will be some sort of summary. When you said… your comments… it makes sense for me to put together a preliminary outline… to demonstrate the following.

We should come up with some sort of template to obtain commitment for the next session.

What is the recommendation for what may happen next in a way where they are likely to agree to a next session?

Everything we say is in only to relation to what the prospect says during the meeting.

Sometimes the client has difficulties they don’t know they have and there is a temptation to describe solutions to problems which they have not expressed, important to focus and respond specifically to what they say and the concerns they express.

Always ask for the next appointment.

What do you consider to be acceptable next steps after a first sales meeting with a new prospect?

It is absolutely not, we will do something and you will no nothing.
Or, we will all think about it.

They will put info together, provide reports?

Set up meeting with additional decision maker or influencer.

What do we request from prospect between first and 2nd meeting?

Ask for specifications

Ask for conference call between that person and practice manager in preparation of next meeting.

We should clarify the range of requests we make of the prospects. The more they interact with us, the more time they spend with us, the more comfortable they get and the greater are the odds that they will eventually write a check.

Have a game plan for the first meeting that lays a solid foundation for your sales process.

Be willing to walk away if they will not sufficienty participate in the process you know is most likely to result in a sale.

10 Sales Pitch, Discovery Call and First Prospecting Meeting Tips

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1. Very easy to rush through beginning phases of a sales call.

2. Very easy to talk about what we want to talk about.

3. Difference between sales efficiency vs sales effectiveness.

Sales efficiency: getting in front of the right prospect at the right cost at the right
cost. And spending the right amount of time with them and no more.

Sales effectiveness: Converting that suspect to a client.

4. Focus on what the client is telling us vs focusing on our offering.

Put focus on eliciting from the prospect where they are, what they need, what their future looks like. The focus should not be on what you can provide them.

5. No sales effort is better than the foundation it is built on.

We are focusing on two components of sales behavior. First, help people uncover and develop strong needs and position our services to meet those needs. Second, build value which differentiates us from the competition.

6. The emphasis is on helping the people we talk to come to certain conclusions or get to a certain place without us telling them.

If we tell them a conclusion it can have zero impact. But if through a proper questioning strategy, they can come to the conclusion we want, it has a great impact on them and facilitates our making a sale.

7. Much of the buying decision has to do with trust and credibility, and that can only come through interaction. One of the objectives in the initial sales call is to lay the foundation for future interaction. We should create the opportunities for interaction. That interaction will make people more comfortable with us and reduce the risk factor in making the decision to go with our company.

8. Query: where is your strongest competition? Does it come from other vendors or from the prospects status quo?

If our competition is the prospects status quo, we have to have a strategy to make people uncomfortable with the status quo.

9. We should know…

How to create the perception that it would be worthwhile to meet with us again.
How a successful sales call differs from an unsuccessful sales call.
How we differentiate our current sales behavior from our own future desired sales
behaviors.
The specific sales behaviors which have the most impact on our prospects.

10. It is important at every stage to get to the next stage. If we give too much at any stage, it may not help us in getting to the next stage.

What Top Sales Performers Do on First Meetings and Discovery Calls

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Plan questions rather than presentations.

They focus on larger strategic sales rather than quick hits.

Have different strategies for different competitors.

Get quickly to business rather than spend time on small talk.

Ask questions with impact rather than unfocused questions unrelated to result sought.

Hold back from giving service details and features too early.

Do not talk about capabilities unless important to the prospect.

Do not simply give a capability dump

Always ask for the next meeting.

 

Better B2B Appointment Setting Guarantees Nothing… Without 2 Other Strategies

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– How to avoid a flood of new appointments, yet no sales.
– Two reasons why meetings you initiate require new tactics.
– Five things you must establish to have even a chance at collecting a check.

Setting more sales appointments is often a necessary first step to new account generation. Yet, sales and revenue increases may not materialize without adjusting your sales process.

When you substantially increase your rate of access to targeted companies, your expectations and sales approach must adjust to avoid serious disappointment.

Enhancing 1) “first meeting” skills and 2) increased focus and attention on making advancements in the initial stages of the sales funnel are necessary to realize your revenue expectations.

Example #1.

Forty-person company currently closes 50% of accounts they gain access to. Typical sale is $75,000 – $175,000 range. Most desired sales are in the $300,000 – $600,000 range. Inquiries are generated from speaking and publishing of key personnel.

This company seeks more access to decision makers at targeted companies which could result in $300,000 – $600,000 sales.

If your mindset is “We know how to close. All we have to do is get in front of more decision makers to meet goals” …. you are usually deluding yourself and headed for disappointment.

In this first example, the sales team is used to seeing people who know them by reputation. They have heard a top officer speak or read a published article. Speaking and publishing are the two best marketing methods for communicating credibility.

When people call them currently they have a recognized need and believe that this company can help them.

But, but, but… when they start to initiate sales appointments, the meetings will be with people who don’t have the same qualitative frame of reference, if they know them at all. They also typically will not be fully aware of all the benefits they could get from use of their service.

It is wrong to assume the same close rate in these circumstances.

The solution is below.

Example #2.

A current coaching client realized a quick flurry of new appointments with targeted companies. The good news is that all of those companies would be great accounts. The danger is that without sharpening “first meeting” skills and implementing some new contact and credibility strategies in the beginning stages – my new coaching client will fail to make the advances necessary to be at the table when a new vendor is selected.

Why is this? When you drastically increase the number of first appointments, it is more likely that 1) they are less aware of you, if they know you at all. 2) that they are in the very early stages of the buying process. or 3) they have no present intent of buying. The meeting serves an introductory and information purpose only.

Let’s set aside the time management questions as to what meetings you choose to accept.

You must approach the meetings with a heightened awareness of what is necessary to earn an advancement. You have much to accomplish in 30-60 minutes.

Gaining access is only one step to gaining a foothold in an account with potential. Your ability to “manage the mix” and “earn advancements” will be as critical to meeting your sales goals as gaining access.

MANAGING THE MIX

You must properly “manage the mix” of new appointments.

– Go on too many short sales cycle small volume accounts and your margins will suffer.

– Go on too many long sales cycle large volume account appointments and not much may close in the short run – killing your cash flow.

– If you go on too many appointments and don’t have the time or support to follow-up, follow-up and follow-up… you are doomed to failure as your new contacts will not receive the frequency nor quality of communication necessary for them to feel comfortable writing you big checks.

EARNING ADVANCEMENTS

Nobody does business with anybody that they don’t trust and respect. When you start to initiate sales appointments, many of those you see will have little knowledge of your company or the benefits you offer.

Before you even have a shot at selling anything, you have to establish trust, respect, credibility, comfort and effectively communicate value.

More frequent communication is better than less frequent communication. A consistent message is more powerful than an inconsistent message. Clarity and conciseness when communicating value has more impact than spraying and praying.

THE BOTTOM LINE….

Setting sales appointments alone is no guarantee that you will reach your sales goals. More sales appointments will force you to evaluate your skills and strategies in making advancements and managing your time.

You will change and adapt, or you will leave a lot of money on the table.

Best wishes for prospecting success,
Scott Channell

First Meeting Outside Sales Strategies. You Got the Meeting. Now What?

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Often the question is asked, “Do you have any tips on making the most of these first meetings?” Yes, I do. Here are a few.

First meetings have a specific objective. Make a substantive advance toward a sale. “I’ll call you” and “You’ll call me,” “we’ll keep in touch” or “I’ll send you that info,” are sorry substitutes for a substantive worthwhile first meeting.

You need to:

1. Obtain the information you need from the prospect to determine what to do next.

2. Identify needs that play to your strengths.

3. Lead the prospect to the conclusion that it would be worthwhile to invest additional time with you.

A current coaching client spurred me to write this by her request to look over her Powerpoint slides and critique them so that she could have the best first meetings possible with all her new appointments. Guess what? We didn’t do that.

We did discuss going into first meetings with a strategy as to how to obtain the result we seek. It doesn’t happen by accident and it certainly doesn’t happen if we spend a good chunk of first meeting time presenting garbage (even garbage that looks nice) without a clue as to what the prospects real issues are.

You can probably only count on 30-40 minutes for your meeting. So you have to move through your objectives within this time frame. If the meeting ends before you have accomplished your objectives, your ability to make advancements on this account will be significantly diminished.

You need to ask a lot of organized focused questions. You are trying to do much more than just “find the pain.” You need to discover the past, current and anticipated future situations of the company and the decision-maker you are talking to. You need to find out much more than just their buying plans for your offering. You need to find out how their needs have changed over the years, how they have selected vendors, what success looks like to them, their best experiences, their worst experiences.

My recommendation is that you prepare a “Client Needs Analysis,” which essentially is all your key questions organized onto 2 or 3 sheets of paper.

You are asking questions with a purpose. Your offering has certain strengths. Previous or current clients have often experienced certain situations that led to them doing business with you. You know that your clients often experience certain benefits when they do business with you. You need to ask questions that will uncover information you can leverage to advance a sale.

And when you discover a benefit you can deliver, that doesn’t mean that you immediately start explaining it to the prospect. Early explanation of benefits is not fun for you or your prospect. You need to uncover all the information you need and to work through all your questions, before you start hinting at benefits.

Just as you set the appointment by remaining in control and working your plan, that is how you will have a successful first meeting.

Let me ask this. Have you ever stopped to write down all the specific benefits that your product or service delivers? Have you written down the specific problems or losses that clients were suffering before working with you. Have you written down and documented specific success stories (quotes, letters, testimonials) of your clients or customers.

If you haven’t, how can you ask the best questions to advance the sale. The most powerful questions are questions calculated to provide you information you need to really advance the sale.

Your questions should lead your prospect to the conclusion that they have a problem worth addressing.

If your service reduces administrative costs by 10%, cuts production errors by 5% and reduces finger loss by 50%, you must ask questions about these issues.

Once your carefully planned calculated questions have uncovered needs that play to your strengths, do you then launch into your presentation? NO!! You only discuss the issues that the prospect has identified as a concern.

You may know that very important benefits can be delivered by you. But if the prospect has not identified them as important, you should not bring them up. Present only to the issues that the prospect considers important. Put your pre-formatted presentation away.

You have another important objective before you leave. You must solidify the next step. The next step is not you do something and the prospect does nothing. The next step must involve the prospect taking some action that will advance the sale. Your questions lead the prospect to the conclusion that it is in their best interests to invest more time with you. They might commit to a 2nd meeting with another decision-maker, provide some information to you, introduce you to someone important, the point is that part of your plan going in is to engineer some continuing involvement with you.

We know that if the meeting ends with “I’ll call you” or “You’ll call me” that you are going nowhere.

You engineer the result you seek with careful preparation of your questions and client needs analysis.

Best wishes with your selling,
Scott Channell

Strategic Questions For Outside Sales First Meetings. Avoid Prospect Vaporization.

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WHAT ARE THE BEST QUESTIONS TO ASK AT A FIRST MEETING THAT ADVANCE A SALE?

First meetings that lay a solid foundation for a sale are not the result of accident, your witty repartee or your shining personality (nobody cares).

You will advance or make a sale at a first meeting as a result of information you obtain that enables you to focus solely on what is important to your prospect.

A typical first meeting will last 30-40 minutes. You can’t count on more. You need time for an intro and a wrap-up. How much time does that leave you to get the info you need? How many questions can you ask and get answered in that time. What would be the best questions to ask to accomplish your objectives?

Here are some questions you can ask. Incorporate these or similar questions into your client needs analysis. There are more types of questions you should ask that will be addressed in future issues.

The 2nd phase of a successful first meeting is the inquiry phase. What has happened in the past, what is happening now, what are the plans for the future? Make inquiries both as to the company and the individual you are meeting with.

What is the company history with this type of service?
Have you personally done a lot of work with this service?
What have you accomplished in the past with this service?
Did it work?
How happy were you personally with the way things worked out?
How did you decide that?
Why did you select that process?

As most people have worked with companies like you in the past it would be important to ask questions about that history. Ask how and why questions. Asking in depth about the past provides clues as to how this individual and the company thinks.

When asking about the past, indirectly you are asking how they came about selecting a particular vendor.

Then we ask questions about the present.  Write down the specific questions that you need to ask as you are focusing on specific behaviors.

What are you trying to accomplish now?
How does your company usually operate in this area?
How do you usually do this?
What are you doing now in regard to these services?
Why are you doing it this way?
Why did you choose this method?
How is it being used?
How is it working from your point of view?
How do you develop your reports to management?
Why does the organization track this information?

Enable them to talk about how they view the present situation.

Get more info with the question .. is there anything else?

It is always about the individual and the organization, not you nor your product or service offering.

As to questions about the future, we are now trying to lay a foundation for our request.

What would you personally like to accomplish in the future?
What is the company trying to get done in the long term in this area?
How would you like to accomplish that?
When would you like to achieve that goal?
How will you be evaluating your current system?

Point is to develop all the info necessary to move the sale forward or to make a mutual decision not to, at least for the time being. You may very well conclude that the odds of winning this piece of business is not high, or that they are not close to making a decision, so it may be best to make a mutual decision not to pursue a piece of business at any particular time.

Many times there is a reluctance to go into depth with these types of questions. Many times sales people hesitate to give the prospect an opportunity to express any doubts, fears or regrets. It is important to know their doubts and fears so that you can address them. If you don’t know them, you can’t address them. Fears and doubts not addressed cost you the sale every time. Ask good questions.

Best wishes with your selling,
Scott Channell

30 Questions that Lead to More Closed Accounts

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How’s this for being put on the spot?

I’m speaking to an annual meeting of a large international manufacturing organization. Top management and salespeople from around the world in front of me. The CEO of the company impolitely interrupts my remarks to demand an immediate answer to a question.

No warning. No notice. No thinking about it. In front of hundreds.

The question?

“Tell me… right now… the one thing we should be doing to significantly increase our sales?

The answer? (Fortunately for me, it was an easy one.)

I said without hesitation… “Ask better questions.”

You see, it is through the questions we ask that we uncover true buying motives, how they have decided things in the past and all the specific conditions that must be satisfied for them to buy from us.

Two important points about conducting a successful sales appointment. It could be with a prospective or existing customer. You could be renewing an order or cross-selling something new.

1. People will spill their guts and tell us exactly how to sell them… if we enable them to do so. People love to talk about themselves. Let them. Steer them. Draw from them information you can use to close.

2. We close on the details. The questions we ask are important. The follow-up questions are even more so.

You get complete information, and you get the details you will ultimately be using to close, when you ask good follow-up questions.

Is there anything else? And that means what?

If your competition is getting more information and details then you are, who is more likely to get the deal?

Ask good questions.

Make sure you ask better follow-up questions.

Choreograph your questions and follow-up questions with more care than a Baryshnikov Ballet.

Here are 30 questions to stimulate your thinking about how you can obtain information that will help you close more business.

1.Project forward 12 months. What is different about your business? What do you want to accomplish?

2. What are your major challenges?

3. Describe your process for… ?

4. Are you experiencing problems with… ?

5. What are your customers telling you about…?

6. How much staff time does it take…?

7. Do you have any concerns in the area of… ?

8. Do you have any in-house expertise for…?

9. Describe your biggest unmet needs in terms of… ?

10. If someone needs what you offer, what keeps them from buying from you?

11. Are there any common misperceptions customers/clients/accounts have about your business?

12. What are the most significant benefits people get when buying from you?

13. What are your two most important sales events each year?

14. Where does most of your business come from? How much?

15. Is your business experiencing the kind of growth you need/want? Why not?

16. How are you addressing this?

17. Is there anything else I should know/we should discuss before I make some recommendations/discuss some options with you?

18. Is there anything else?

19. And the significance of that to you is what?

20. Are there other individuals involved in this decision?

21. How did you decide that?

22. Why did you select that process?

23. Why did you change vendors?

24. Why did you select that vendor? That marketing method? That process?

25. What is the company history with…?

26. Were you personally happy with this decision? With the way things worked out?

27. What are you doing now in regards to… ?

28. Why are you doing it this way?

29. What would you personally like to accomplish in the future?

30. We have all had bad experiences we would like to avoid. Have you had any bad experiences with this you don’t wish to repeat?

Remember, good questions are important.

The follow-up questions are even more important.

copyright 2012 Scott Channell