First sales meeting…You want to make sure that your sales team can secure the next steps confidently. Maybe, you are seeking “excitement” in the eyes of the prospect.
As an enablement professional how can you help your sales team?
In this recipe, I am going to look into “the Anatomy of a Sales Meeting”:
Time Confirmation & Management
Always be confirming the time
“We have 1 hr as we agreed on right? That’s how I crafted my presentation for today”
Personal intro
This is the 1st step in building trust with the prospect.
Did you create a WOW moment with your introduction?
Chit-chat, overall engagement, Likeableness
Make it more quality, relevant, value-oriented – This is the ice-breaker moment!
Ask open-ended questions to engage.
Create meaningful conversations with quality check-in questions.
Discovery
Ask “open-ended questions” to discover, note the answers, and mirror them.
Do not forget to cover the prospect’s pain points with your solutions.
Elevator Pitch
You need a strong Elevator pitch at the beginning – so your audience can understand more from the very beginning.
Industry Facts
Sounds like an expert in that vertical – Understand the terminology, use their lingo in your examples, craft your demo according to their pain points – personalize your meeting flow according to the industry
Story Telling
Use the power of stories in order to make your 1 hr meeting unforgettable for your prospect.
Product Knowledge
Best salespeople are the ones curious about the Product! Be a heavy user of your product.
Benefit Communication
Don’t just rely on feature communication, but show them the value – What’s in it for them? What would be the impact? What’s the opportunity cost?
Objection Handling
Handle the objections in a simple & short way. Long explanations don’t mean “good quality”
Direct questions require direct answers, listen carefully.
Do not move forward if you feel that you couldn’t clarify the concerns totally.
Credibility
If you don’t know the answer – be confident to say “let me take a note and get back to you”.
However, do not forget that you have limited credits to say this sentence to build & maintain your credibility.
Demo
Back up your slides with the well-designed & personalized demo – show the magic!
Adaptability
Hear your prospect, be adaptive according to 5 pillars; tech stack, industry, discovery, role & title, communication style (personality type).
Learn mirroring & matching technique.
Meeting Flow
Don’t let anyone control your flow, you are the bandleader!
Transition
Are you creating consistent storytelling with your slides?
Are you making a smooth transition from one slide to another?
Closing
Salespeople like talking. But it is time to stop and ask for feedback with the right “open-ended questions”.
Understanding the intent, decision-making, and timeline.
Clarify the concerns.
Get the feedback & set the next steps.
6 WOW moments a.k.a compelling events
Aim to create 6 WOW moments during a 1hr sales call – 1 WOW moment/10 minutes.
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Now you know where to start! Time to upskill your sales team by focusing on each pillar one by one. Are these criterias familiar to you?