Start Every Sales Meeting Like This

Rob  00:00

I don’t care who you’re selling to or who you’re meeting with, you need to start every single sales meeting just like this. Let’s get going.

Rob  00:07

Alright, everybody, welcome to The Slow Pitch, and today we’re going to talk about how to start your sales meeting so that you put yourself into a position where you’re not like every other sales person.

Rob  00:21

And that’s not an easy task to do it because it, because here’s the thing, every single person that you meet with is thinking almost the same thing. Think about this way. The first thing that they’re thinking is, okay, here we go. I’m going to meet with another sales person, and I know what this is going to go like.

Rob  00:39

They’re going to try to sell me, they’re going to sell me hard, they’re going to work on me, they’re gonna, they’re gonna grind me down and they’re gonna make me buy. That’s what they’re gonna do. And I’m gonna be, I’m gonna buy. I can just feel it, or some, some variation of that, right?

Rob  00:53

That’s kind of how, what how people think when they sit down with a salesperson, it’s like, I don’t look forward to this. It’s never a pleasant experience. Sorry. It’s just not.

Rob  00:57

The other thing that they’re probably thinking is that they don’t want to lose control of the conversation or give away too much information, because they feel like that’s going to be used against them, in a sense, right? So they feel like, I don’t want to tell them too much, they become defensive. In defensive I just mean that they’re they’re limiting the information that they’re giving you.

Rob  01:17

They’re making you work for that information. And I think part of this conversation today is going to be more about, how do you lower those defenses? How do you make them open up a little bit more without even really having them realize you’re doing that?

Rob  01:31

Because it’s really important that if they don’t open up, you’re not going to get the information you need in order to actually know whether or not they need your product or not. That’s the way you end up doing it. If you end up going through the process and you find out that they don’t need your product or service, then you don’t sell.

Rob  01:45

I mean, that’s just the way it works. But if they do need it, then you probably need to work to the next step. But you can’t get that information if they’re being very, very defensive.

Rob  01:53

The other thing that they’re thinking is, how long is this going to take? Like, I you sent me an invite for this meeting, and it says 60 minutes. Is this really going to take 60 Minutes? Should the sales meeting take 60 minutes? I don’t feel like it needs this long. So they’re thinking these things, and you know what it’s going to take.

Rob  02:04

It’s probably not going to take all 60 minutes, or it may take all 60 minutes, but you know what it’s going to probably take. They don’t, and they feel like it’s over the amount of time that the needs, right?

Rob  02:18

And so you need to make sure that they’re feeling comfortable knowing this is what it’s going to take. So think about it this way. If they’re thinking all of these things, they’re not going to open up as much. They’re defensive. They’re not open to having a conversation.

Rob  02:32

And the other thing that they’re thinking is, is that they think there’s a hard close coming. There’s gonna be a point where you’re gonna be like, okay, Saturday and okay, what’s gonna what? How do we make this, make this happen, right? How do we close this deal like they’re that’s what they’re expecting from you, or they think they’re going to see that.

Rob  02:48

And the other thing that they’re thinking is, is, what if I say no, this is going to get really awkward, really fast. I I don’t want to be the awkward person who wastes an hour for this. This the sales person that comes in my office. Maybe they don’t care, but they’re, they’re wasting an hour of their own time. And so how do I say no after we’ve spent so much time?

Rob  03:04

And those are the things that they’re thinking. And that’s really important to know, when you’re meeting with somebody, what they’re thinking in their head.

Rob  03:12

So let’s flip this on the other side now, what are the things that you’re working on or thinking when you walk into a meeting? And these are legitimate things that you probably are thinking before you walk into a sales meeting.

Rob  03:23

They’re based on fear. And I say that in a nice way, right? First of all, your biggest concern is you’re not going to be able to give them the information that they need to make a decision. You’re saying in your head. You’re saying, What if I don’t get a chance to pitch the information that I need?

Rob  03:34

What if I can’t show them what I have? What if we get into this conversation and they never get to the point where I can show them what we can do for them? That’s a problem, right? So you need to have that ability to do that. What if they don’t want to hear me out? That’s another question.

Rob  03:51

What if they What if I’m just wasting my time as a sales person? What if I walk in there I spend 30 minutes, 45 minutes, plus my travel time, plus motor whatever, right? And probably my prep time, all the things that I’ve done to get ready for this meeting.

Rob  03:57

And I walk in, and after 30 minutes, I go, You know what? Get out. And that’s it like, Oh, you’re out of time, sorry. And then you even get a chance to pitch. You didn’t get chance to talk about it. You get none of it. And now you’ve wasted your time. So you’re thinking that yourself, right?

Rob  04:15

And then you don’t want to do that. The other thing you might be thinking is, is I need to say x, y, z, whatever that is. I got to get this message across, or I need to be able to tell them this information. And if you feel that way, just let’s take a break and say no, no, I don’t need to tell them anything.

Rob  04:31

Really, that’s what you need to think about beforehand. So let that’s sometimes what people think is they need to say certain things, or I need to say these lines. No, let’s get that out of your head right now. Okay, and obviously, if they cut me short, that’s okay, that’s okay, all right.

Rob  04:46

So let’s get into some of the different things or tactics that you need to do to be able to overcome their fears, their problems, their issues in their head, and your own issues in your head. Let’s get into some of those things now.

Rob  04:58

The first thing you need to. Do in order to make it so that everybody feels less defensive. Okay, really, that’s what it comes down to. Is to lay down some ground rules. These are the rules of my engagement

Rob  05:09

and our engagement. This is what we’re going to do. Think about it in terms of baseball before the baseball game, here’s what happens. The umpire takes the key people out into the field and says,

Rob  05:18

okay, we’re all in agreement here that when you hit a ball and it goes to the right of this foul line, and if it’s hit to that side or to the right side of that is a foul ball that counts as a strike. And if it goes to the left side of this, this particular line, that’s a strike.

Rob  05:33

If you’d over the wall out there, that’s that’s a home run. And they basically, they go through some basic here’s the park rules. If it hits this part and it bounces back in that’s a ground rule double whatever the things might be, right?

Rob  05:46

So each park has its own separate little nuances that they want to make sure that everybody’s on the same page with, so that when that happens, they know what the result of that means. And here’s what we’re going to do. Okay?

Rob  05:58

That’s how every baseball game starts, and it’s the same. In every sport, there’s ground rules that everybody adheres to, and they all know what those rules are. The funny thing is, is, in sales, we don’t have rules.

Rob  06:09

Nobody’s told us what the rules are, and so we just kind of make it up and push our way through. So let’s go through some ground rules that you should be able to set up.

Rob  06:17

And it’s very simple to do, but every meeting needs to start with these rules, because if you don’t, all these questions come into mind before the meeting even starts. Okay, so here’s what, here’s what we got to go through. Rule number one, why are we meeting? Simple as that.

Rob  06:32

I know that sounds really simple, but why are we meeting? So your first conversation is going to be, you know, you call me in because X, Y and Z were the issues that you were running into.

Rob  06:40

I know that we offer a couple of services that work through that and fix that, but we may not be able to fix that, but we’re going to talk about some of those things. And I’m sure there’s other things that you want to have questions about for me.

Rob  06:51

And so the next rule is, hey, you’re going to have some questions, and I’m going to have some questions. So think about it this way. You say, here’s why we’re here, here’s what we’re meeting about.

Rob  07:00

The second thing is, is, hey, I know that you’re probably, before we had this meeting, you probably jotted down a couple questions you wanted to get answered. I know I have a couple questions that I need to get answered before I can even tell you whether or not this is even a solution for you.

Rob  07:13

Because if it’s not, I want to be able to tell you it’s not a solution. Okay, and so you’re kind of having this, you’re going to have questions. I’m going to have questions. That’s a normal interaction that you should be able to have during a sales call.

Rob  07:26

But lay that as a ground rule, I expect you to have questions for me, and I know that you probably expect me to have questions for you. That’s it simple as just a simple statement. Doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make it a simple question.

Rob  07:38

The other question you might want to add is, what do you want to learn today? Is there anything you wanted to walk away from this meeting with so that you know all the information you need to know for me, so you probably have some questions. What?

Rob  07:47

What do you want to learn today? And then just jot those down. Let them tell you. Well, I’m hoping to learn a little bit about how much it costs. Well, of course, we’re gonna talk about that. What else? Because they’re always going to bring costs, that’s that’s the number one thing.

Rob  07:58

Well, I don’t know how much it costs every time guaranteed, but then what else? What other things do you want to learn today? And then when they give you another one, you say, Okay, write it down. And then, just like the last episode we talked about, use the word and and they’ll give you another reason.

Rob  08:14

And then after they give you an answer, you’re going to say. And just like we talked about in the last episode, you know, what, what? What What else do you have? And let them tell you some more, and then they tell you another thing, and you go, and what else? Until they go, that’s it.

Rob  08:27

That’s it, that that’s really what I wanted to look at. Okay, so you want to learn these things, and you read those back to them. That’s a great tool, because they want to learn these things. So in your conversations, need to make sure you cover those and answer those questions. Those are part of their questions. There’s more questions to come, though. Just remember that.

Rob  08:45

The other thing is, you want to counter that with saying what I’m hoping to get out of this meeting today is just like you have some things that you want to learn. Here’s what I want to learn. I want to learn a couple of things about your business.

Rob  08:56

Number one, what is it that you’re having the challenge with, what’s causing some of those problems, and what have you kind of done about some of those problems?

Rob  09:05

And start kind of talking through, here’s the things you’re hoping to get out of this meeting. By doing that, you’re giving them a little prep of mental time to be able to think about, what is it that they need to make sure they’re ready to answer your questions with.

Rob  09:18

Now those are not specific questions that you’re going to ask, but really, like general I want to learn a little bit more about some of the issues and challenges you’re having so I can determine whether or not what we’re doing is actually going to be a good fit or not.

Rob  09:29

And then another thing you want to be able to say is, hey, here’s the way this meeting is going to go. So we’re going to go through all these questions, I’m going to go through questions, you’re going to go through questions, but in the end, I want to be able to walk away from this meeting with a couple different outcomes.

Rob  09:42

Basically, what I want to do is I want to be able to come to the end of this meeting and say, Hey, we’re a good fit. We should work on going to the next step. That’s one of the options.

Rob  09:52

The other option could be, I am, you know what? After having this conversation, I’m not interested. And there, it’s a hard No, it’s okay. And I. Want you to make sure that you know, as a prospect, as a buyer, that it’s okay.

Rob  10:04

Okay, you don’t have to say it that way, but basically what you’re going to tell them is it’s okay for them to say no, and if you can make sure that they feel comfortable that they say no, they will say no easier, and you’ll be like, okay, okay, no problem.

Rob  10:17

Because here’s what that does. It saves you time later, because if they tell you no at the end of your meeting, there’s no follow up call, there’s no follow up messaging, there’s no well, when are we going to meet again? There’s none of that.

Rob  10:27

It’s they’ve got to know. And hey, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. I’m glad we had a chance to have this conversation. If I can help you again in the future, let me know I’m happy to do it. That’s it.

Rob  10:35

There’s nothing else to it, and you just saved yourself a whole bunch of time. Okay, so that’s a really, really, really important step start every meeting with that. And then the last thing is, what are the things that is a showstopper for you, something that you’re not going to put up with?

Rob  10:49

And I know that sounds like a little hard line, but it’s along those same lines. Is I want a yes or a no. So the last part of that is, the one thing I don’t want to have is besides a yes and a no, one thing I don’t want to have is let me think it over. I don’t, I don’t know what I’m going to do next to me.

Rob  11:07

That’s a little bit of a waste of time, right? So what you want to do is you want to prevent that waste of time. So by saying to them, I want to we’re going to get to the end. We’re going to go, yes, we’re going to move to the next step, whatever that may be. We’re going to decide on that doesn’t mean we’re closing the deal today.

Rob  11:22

It could be just, we’re moving to the next meeting. We’re moving to this, whatever it is, could be a no, and the last step is could be an I don’t, I don’t know. I’m going to think it over.

Rob  11:31

And to me, that’s not an option. It’s either going to be a yes or no. We’re going to move to the next step or not, and that’s okay. And what you’re doing is you’re saying it nicely.

Rob  11:38

You’re going to say it nicely, but what you’re doing is you’re doing is you’re preventing this, and you’re setting the expectation of, I’m not expecting you to not make any decision after this, because making a decision and not making that decision isn’t not a decision, right? So it’s a no.

Rob  11:52

So if you basically, you can say is, if you tell me, I’m going to think it over, I’m going to take that as a no, and that’s okay. So because if you’re going to take it over, take it as a think it over, you’re probably not feeling like this is a good deal, and there must be a reason for that.

Rob  12:07

So you don’t have to say all of that at this time. But when you go through the meeting and you’re get done with the meeting, what you’re going to find is that when they get to the end and you say, Okay, what do you want to do next, they’re going to say to you, Well, I think we need to meet, or we need to do this, or we need to, they’ll tell you what the next steps are.

Rob  12:23

Or you can recommend if they’re not sure, the other things they may say is, you know what? This doesn’t feel like. This is a good fit because of x, y and z, okay, that’s perfect.

Rob  12:31

But if they go, oh gosh, I don’t know what we should do here, I think I feel like I want to think it over, you can very easily say, okay, that’s that’s fair. I understand you want to think it over. I think if you remember, in the beginning, we talked about there’s really no Think it over.

Rob  12:45

So my impression is, is that it’s a no, and that’s okay. And I’m kind of curious as to why you why you think it’s a no at this point, because you’re pushing them into the end of that bucket, and they’re gonna have to explain why it’s a no.

Rob  12:57

And if they’re saying it’s price, it’s this, it’s that, that’s okay, you have the option then to either ask some more questions, or you have the option to say, Okay, if, if price and this and this, whatever those things are, are the issues that are causing them, to say, no, then you have the option then say, all right.

Rob  13:13

That’s very helpful. I appreciate that feedback. If there’s anything I could do in the future for you, let me know. I mean, you could shut it right down, right there, or you have the option to ask some more questions. But in the end, you want to lay these ground rules.

Rob  13:26

You want to be able to say, here’s how much time we’re going to take, here’s what we’re going to talk about. I’m going to ask you questions. You’re going to ask questions.

Rob  13:32

We’re going to go through all the details. I’m expecting at the end of this meeting, a yes or a no, but I do not expect a Think it over. If I get a think it over, I’m going to consider that a no. And that really lays the groundwork. It’s like going to the baseball game and laying out those rules or any sporting event.

Rob  13:49

It lays those rules right out for them, and for you, you’re all on the same page. It is the most useful tool that you have in your tool belt to be able to start a meeting with this get people to understand what you’re looking for and expect expecting, and what they’re expecting, and laying out the ground rules, it’ll save you a ton of time later.

Rob  14:07

If you found this to be helpful, make sure you like and subscribe, because it’s going to be more content like this coming in the future. If you could think of anybody who might need this information or is in sales and maybe doesn’t understand these concepts, make sure you share this with them so that they have a chance to look at it and review it and remember Slow Down and Close More.