The face-to-face meeting with a client, especially the first one, is the single most important event in the sales process. Not screwing it up is a useful thing. There are five big mistakes to watch out for in that all important first meeting with a potential new client. They are 1. No Traction, 2. the Robot, 3 Read More...
Demonstrating value is an integral part of any client meeting. It's being useful to your client. It means that they are deriving benefit from their interaction with you. From the salesperson's point of view, the ideal demonstration of value is explaining how your product or service can solve a problem for your client Read More...
A sales meeting is most effective when your prospective client is willing to answer the questions you ask. If they think you're just another useless salesperson, you won't get there. Getting to the point where they are ready to answer your questions, is crossing the credibility threshold. Establishing your credibility usually requires you to do some talking Read More...
Do you look for a reason to disagree with your prospective client? One primary goal in a first meeting with a prospective client is to create a connection. I want them to think of me as someone they'd like to know. Being irascible and contentious is not the way to get there. Ultimately, it's only through harmony that one can invite any change Read More...
Question #9 in the would you or would you not series is... You're in a meeting with a new potential client and they mention a need they have that one of your products can solve. Do you wait for them to pause and then tell them about your product? This is a perfect situation. They have a problem and your product can solve it Read More...
You're in a meeting with a potential new client. While you're listening to your client talk, an idea occurs to you that might be useful to them, but won't help you at all. Do you take time out of an already short meeting to explain your idea? Or, do you stay focused on understanding the needs they have that your product or service might be able to meet? This is probably an easy one for most folks Read More...
When you have a meeting at a prospective client's office, do you ask for a tour? Is an escort around the client's office space an effective use of your time? Ask for a tour. First, you never know who you’ll run into, the chairman or the CFO or an old friend from college, which happened to me once in New York City Read More...
At Selling with Creativity we are working through a list of a dozen actions a salesperson might do or say at a first meeting with a new prospective client. Here are actions four through six. Remember, it’s your first time face to face with a new client. Are these things you would do or say? 4) Summarize a transaction you are currently working on with a well-known client Read More...
We're at the beginning of a quiz here at Selling with Creativity. I am proposing some things a salesperson might do or say at a first meeting with a prospective client. Here's the first one and my response. 1) What is your company’s overall strategy and what are the three biggest challenges or objectives that the strategy creates for you? I do ask this question Read More...
This blog is a merger between structured creativity and selling. There is a natural union between the two. Since 1993, I have been exploiting that union for myself and for my clients. This blog is perhaps just another iteration of that exploitation. It is a sales blog, but underpinning everything in it, is structured creativity Read More...
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