The Selling Essentials Minute, Ep. 36: The First Meeting

Time for another episode of the Selling Essentials Minute!

For those unfamiliar, The Selling Essentials Minute is a series of videos that offers one sales idea in about sixty seconds. You can use the Minute to kick off a sales meeting, push an idea out to your team, start a discussion or reinforce your training.

On today’s episode: What’s the worst thing a sales professional can do for a prospect in the first meeting? Present a solution. Even if its the perfect solution, the buyer isn’t ready to hear it. Why not? Watch this video to find out.

Video Transcript:

You’re meeting a prospect for the very first time and things couldn’t be better. After all, last month you sold to a company the same size with the budget and the same needs. So you know exactly how to solve the prospects problem and you’re chomping at the bit to tell them.

But hello there partner, the worst thing you could do right now is present a solution even if it’s the right solution the buyers not ready to hear. Instead he’s likely to think I met this guy an hour ago and he thinks he knows me? NOPE! This sales rep thinks my company is just like this other one? And just because that other company is happy he presumes I’ll be happy? Who does he think he is.

In complex sales, prospects usually aren’t looking for solutions in that initial meeting, they’re looking to establish a relationship. They want to know who is this guy, does she listen, does he really understand my company, and most important, does she have my best interest at heart.

So, what to do? Well even if you’re bursting to relieve their pain, instead stay focused on establishing rapport and learning more about what the prospect is trying to accomplish. Remember, at that first meeting, you haven’t yet earned the right to present a solution, let alone solve the buyers problem.