Don’t fall into this trap with your prospect meetings

Business technology concept as two hands holding a group of machine gears shaped as a human head as a symbol and metaphor for the transfer of industry information or corporate training.
Don’t fall into this trap with your prospect meetings.  I met a businessman recently, who was brimming with enthusiasm about the value of his company’s service to their target market.  On one hand, it was really refreshing to meet someone so enthusiastic about their business, but on the other hand, I felt that I was the recipient of a monologue about the features of his service which raised a concern in my mind.
I asked him to outline his approach to meeting with his potential customers and he took me through how he pitched all the great things his company had achieved and the extensive list of features he could offer.  He is by no means untypical, but the problem is, his prospect isn’t interested and potentially isn’t engaged at this point; she wants to know what his service will do for her and her business.
To be able to make his pitch relevant, he needs to use his ears and his mouth in the same proportion that he was given them.  I suggested that he adopted a more investigative approach and spend the first part of the meeting asking questions of his prospect and listening to her answers, than talking.  Once he understood the business landscape and challenges of his prospect, he could then tailor what he presented to her.  There is a great book on this topic by Mahan Khalsa, called Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.  It’s well worth a read.
Always remember, your potential customer isn’t interested in your or your company’s background; they want to know what you and your company will do for them, so my advice is use the time in your first meeting to ask questions, not deliver a monologue!  There will be a time and a place for that once you have clearly understood what your prospect’s issues are.
I hope this gives you some food for thought and if you want to chat over how you improve your sales, then feel free to drop me a line to phil.partington@psalesp.co.uk or call me on 01664 840763 or 07712 305111.  It will cost you nothing to find out if I can help you and could generate you a lot in extra sales!
All the best.
Phil