What can you do outside your sales meeting that will make it so much easier once you are in it?

The biggest thing you can do is to prepare properly for the meeting. Most people say they already prepare for every meeting. They don’t turn up with a few scrappy notes jotted down at the top of a page, as happened on a “ride-along” with a salesperson I did a while ago.

May I suggest that you check that you and your team have a proper “Pre-Call Plan”. Ideally it should have all of these elements:

Information about the company (size, turnover, company news, industry news)
Information about the people you are going to meet (name, position, DISC style, your standing with them)
The previously agreed up front contract (purpose, time, agenda, outcome)
Pain they are experiencing (and why do you get that impression?)
Questions they will have for you (so you are ready for them)
Questions you want to ask (particularly some crafted “assumptive” questions)
Your attitude to the meeting

All on 1 sheet, the last thing you see before the meeting begins (or even as notes you bring into the meeting). It only takes a few minutes as you probably have most of the information available. But what difference would it make to your meeting?

Then you should debrief after the meeting.

That document should cover

Were you right about their DISC style, if not, what would you say it really is? Did you do a good Bonding & Rapport step?
Did you re-set the Up Front Contract?
What Pain did you uncover (Indicator, Business Impact, Personal)?
What are they prepared to invest?
What is their decision cycle?
Did you do a presentation step? If so, what did you do and what was the agreed outcome?
Did you do a Post-Sell step?
What are the agreed next steps?
What did you learn that you can use to get better at future meetings?

These two documents will make a significant impact on your effectiveness in every sales meeting. And help keep you and your team accountable to what you know should be happening.

If you'd like a copy of a Pre-Call Plan or a Debrief sheet, let me know and I'll share with you what I find effective.

Remember, Work Smart, Not Hard!

Paul Glynn

Sandler trainer