Is this your first time?
The first time you meet with a potential new client can always be a little daunting and you never quite know what to expect. It doesn’t matter that you have done your homework, researched your client, their business and the market, there is the human factor to be aware of and everyone reacts differently in any given situation.
So what could go wrong? Well there’s plenty of things to consider so let’s have a look at just some of the things to be aware of.
The salesperson who goes into a meeting with the ‘my product is the best thing since sliced bread’ attitude runs a serious risk of coming across as superior and patronising. Remember that you are still trying to sell them something so keep your ego about your product in your back pocket.
Try and build a strong relationship with your client before you dive into a sale pitch. Building rapport quickly is quite a skill (which is the subject of another report) so although you may want to get right to selling your wares it is better to get to know your client first.
A common mistake made by junior salespeople is using their company brochures and marketing material as back-up. Then the first thing they do is overwhelm their prospect with a ton of paperwork as soon as they get into the meeting. They are very unlikely to read it as it will have no real context. You need to sell it first. So you might want to consider doing the sales job first and then leaving the paperwork as back-up in the real sense of the word.
The old golden rule of listening and speaking still applies. You have two ears and one mouth so use them in that ratio. Making the sales pitch all about you and your company can be quite dull and the prospect really just wants to know what you bring to the party, as it were. In other words, “What can you do for me?”
The very least you should come away with from your sale pitch is the agreement on what happens next. This could mean involving some other departments or a demo of your product etc. but either way, simply leaving the meeting empty handed is not acceptable.
There are plenty of sales and commercial courses run by Maguire Training that will help you in your endeavours and the one below is a great place to start with regard to new client meetings:
