Sales organizations want to deliver a fantastic sales experience for all of their customers. But what does that mean, exactly? Being sold to doesn’t always have the best connotation, but we instinctively know a good salesperson versus a bad one, even if we can’t quite grasp what the extra something they have is.
But we want to know what that extra something is. In our series, we’re going to experts around the world who we think have that extra something and asking all about that crucial last mile with a prospect: the in-person meeting.
This Week’s Expert
We got a chance to ask Janice Mars, principal and founder of SalesLatitude, about how she approaches sales. Janice is a sales performance improvement consultant and change agent with more than 30 years of experience in growing top performers to impact bottom line growth.
She helps companies build successful sales teams by maximizing their time and resources, selling from the buyer’s point of view, and strengthening the effectiveness of leadership. In Janice’s words, here are the elements of a great face-to-face sales meeting.
How would you describe your interactions with a customer before you meet in person?
Janice: Before meeting anyone in person, it is important to do proper research and discovery. That entails researching everything you can on the individual and the company, as well as understanding industry trends and level of interest based on their social media footprint.
[Tweet “Before meeting anyone in person, research research research! “]
This is crucial to ensure you can have a relevant discussion when meeting in person and have an opportunity to ask questions to fill in the blanks—about their business goals, priorities and risk tolerances, etc.—and to validate and gain additional information about other key stakeholders as well. Interactions before the in-person meeting are typically done by phone, using email to summarize or provide follow-up from the phone conversation.
How would you characterize your meeting style and approach?
Janice: If I’m meeting with just one person, my style tends to be more conversational. Regardless, I always confirm the goal or desired outcome of the meeting from the customer’s point of view in advance, as well as have a clear understanding of what I want to achieve for me and my company.
If there are multiple people in attendance, I may use a PowerPoint presentation only to frame the conversation rather than serve as the main content of the conversation. In addition to preparing and validating the desired outcome of the meeting, I prepare open-ended questions to confirm what I know as well as to help fill in the gaps of my knowledge.
[Tweet “Use PowerPoint to enhance your conversation, not drive it.”]
How much do you talk compared to the prospect in that initial meeting?
Janice: Always, always, always — the prospect will talk more than me. If all the talking is on my end, then I will not have an opportunity to learn what the person is trying to accomplish or what his/her priorities are, nor will I understand his/her risk tolerances and why.
[Tweet “You vs. Prospect – Who should talk most?”]
My part of the conversation will be to either educate the prospect on trends, how we have helped others in the same industry attain their goals and what I learned from previous successes, and of course, discuss possible next steps and timeframes.
How do you follow up with a prospect?
Janice: Within 24 hours, I send an email to the prospect highlighting the key points of our conversation in bullet form to ensure I heard things accurately. I always ask the prospect to confirm this content and highlight areas that I may have missed, misunderstood or not given the right priority. I will then put a reminder on my calendar and in my CRM to ensure I follow up via phone as agreed upon and/or call to confirm a subsequent in-person appointment.
[Tweet “Why recaps are so important after a prospect meeting:”]
Is there anything that prevents you from maximizing the potential of your meetings?
Janice: No one is perfect. But if I prepare and set the appropriate expectations for the in-person meeting, then I have a great chance of ensuring I accomplish the maximum desired outcome of the meeting for both me and my prospect.
[Tweet “How I maximize the potential of my in-person sales meetings:”]
You can get more of Janice’s insights on Twitter. Check out her profile on LinkedIn to learn more about her proven approach to sales training.
Previous Installments:
Tal Vinnik
Digital Content Strategist
Tal is Mediafly’s Digital Content Strategist. You can find him spreading the good word about Mediafly on every corner of the web, writing blogs, looking for GIFs or explaining gibberish on whiteboards. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
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