Alina McComas, on April 30, 2024
I think we can all agree that securing appointments is foundational to achieving sales goals.
However, findings from the recent Media Sales Report found a persistent gap between the expectations and reality of salespeople and their managers when it comes to the actual number of scheduled appointments.
Elissa Blankenship, on May 12, 2022
Creating an environment of trust and becoming a trusted advisor is one of the most important roles of a successful sales professional.
That requires a shift from focusing on selling your product or solution to understanding and meeting the needs of the prospect or client in the now, near, and far.
The Center for Sales Strategy, on July 23, 2020
We often think of the needs analysis meeting as the beginning of the sales process, but, is it really? Today's buyers are complex. Their needs are perplex and they're hesitant to share information. When speaking with a prospect for the first time, you must ask the right questions. First, you have to know what questions to ask.
To conduct a great needs analysis meeting— one where the client is anxious to participate and is really open with information—there are two areas you need to work on before the meeting ever begins.
Alina McComas, on December 5, 2018
I recently attended a session at a conference that centered around incorporating authenticity into account-based marketing, also known as ABM. If you are not familiar with ABM, it’s simply a strategic approach to focus an organization's B2B sales and marketing efforts on a defined group of high-potential targets instead of everyone, in an effort to create more personalized messaging and content to increase engagement.
Demrie Henry, on May 24, 2018
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Have you ever felt like taking a “Wild Wild West” approach to securing your first appointment? Think about it… if only it were appropriate to ‘lasso’ your prospect, ‘tie him down’ and force him to stay engaged so that you may cordially introduce yourself, establish credibility and politely present your value proposition. Honestly, if you could just get his undivided attention for 5-minutes… you know he’ll like you, and you know he’ll be intrigued and perhaps even excited or anxious to learn more, right?
Personally, I have indeed toyed with the idea (more than once) of taking the Wild Wild West approach to securing that first appointment. Fortunately wisdom intervened, because I’m certain I would have been greatly misunderstood and most likely thrown in jail if I had decided to draw from my Texas ancestor’s tactics and put those thoughts into action! Needless to say, my understanding of acceptable social behavior and, well… modern law kept me from utilizing an Outlaw Josey Wales sales approach.
Jim Hopes, on March 2, 2017
What if you never wrote another proposal? Outlandish statement? Maybe not.
Most people are anxious to get a proposal in front of their prospect as soon as possible. After all, the sooner we ask them to buy something, the sooner we will get an answer right? Correct. You WILL get an answer sooner when you ask a prospect to buy sooner. So, why not crank out those proposals?
Here’s why:
The quick answer you get is far more likely to be “no” or a “Let me think about it.” Which you know eventually winds down into a “no." A woodpecker bangs its head against a tree a thousand times a minute. Is that how you see yourself?
So, what about this?
What if by the time you presented your proposal, you and the prospect had already confirmed that you are working on the right needs? Needs that warrant attention and a solution sooner rather than later?
Emily Estey, on December 29, 2016
Maybe it's because I live in the great Pacific Northwest (the really cold part) that has me thinking about getting traction—both on the road and in sales. I talk a lot about traction when I'm coaching people through the selling process because it is the metric for how we move through the process.
You can tell that you are moving the process forward when you get the traction to turn the wheels to move to the next step. Your prospects are not going to do this for you. You must take the wheel. They aren't going to be doing the contracting and partnering to move to the next step—that responsibility lies squarely on your shoulders. And amazingly it can be as easy as making sure you are at the same stage in the process and agreeing on what the next steps will be.
What does that sound like? How about this… "Thanks for meeting with me today Ms. Decision-maker. I learned a lot about what you do. I'm thinking my next step should be to review the information we've discussed and start to put together some preliminary ideas. I'll then bring those back to you so we can review them together. Would you agree that's the path I should take?"
Without clear contracting, you sit idle or even worse, start sliding out of control.
Oops. In your enthusiasm to close the sale, did you promise the car dealer or medi-spa owner that the advertising for their grand opening will bring so many people that they will be lined up around the block? In your energetic attempt to close the deal, did you tell the roofing or HVAC company that their phone will “ring off the hook”?
What happens when there aren’t lines around the block and the phone doesn’t ring off the hook?
Your credibility has been destroyed along with trust. How can this all-too-often occurrence be avoided?
Matt Sunshine, on August 27, 2015
When a sales manager asks, “What does the client or prospect expect from this meeting?” too often salespeople say something like, “I don’t really know, but I definitely need to ask them some questions about their business.”
We spend so much of our time working to get the appointment, and then we fail to make sure the appointment will produce a successful sales meeting. What a missed opportunity!
"Things were so much simpler before Apple," says my 11 year old daughter after a recent panic attack over the thought of losing her Instagram followers and pictures. Her iPod Touch was a lemon and luckily under warranty, but the time between her device crashing and her logging back into her Instagram app was pure torture… for both of us!
