It’s amazing how many sales people enter a first call and make the 2 biggest FATAL mistakes:
- Pitch their company story on how big, great, superior, experienced, financially stable, oldest in the market,…. they are.
- Can’t wait to demonstrate their product convinced that the product is so good it will make the difference.
This is the best way to decrease your hit-rate and create a bad corporate brand despite the money and energy you put in corporate branding.
This is why:
This picture clearly shows the impact of field-driven activities on your brand in a B2B environment based on research
by sales & marketing management in 2006
So what should one do to increase your hit-rate and improve your brand perception:
Telling a story was definitely the right way. We all know that stories, pictures and metaphors are a great way to communicate a message.
Yet the story should be on ….. a customer.
So here’s a great way to open a first face to face meeting:
- Present the goal of the meeting and get buy-in
- Propose an agenda (and check available time dependant on the country culture)
- Present yourself
This is the part where the story kicks in. The story starts with your value proposition adapted to the prospect in front of you. followed by telling a story about a customer (don’t use the name)who was faced with several problems,…….. Together you found a solution which would enable him to …….. and this resulted in an improved…. decreased by ….. (use numbers!) after a certain time of use. This story should be adapted to the prospect and the role of the person in fromt of you.
- Transition into needs analysis through questions
The story you just told is proof of your expertise and shows the prospect that you’re used to hear and handle confidential information. That’s why you should not give the name of the reference at this time since you would otherwise implicitly say that you will use his confidential information to other prospects in the future. It will create enough trust for the customer to start telling his story and explain the specifics of the problems their faced with. A better insight in the specifics will allow you to create a vision of an improved future based on capabilities they will acquire without mentioning your product nor its features. You need to wait to speak about your product until you get confirmation on the vision. We call it getting Vision-Lock.
Tip: Check your PowerPoint’s used by sales and adapt them in a way to facilitate the above scenario with quotes and pictures. It’s a great tool to be used in meetings with multiple people for the first time.
Remember what happens in a doctors cabinet: First diagnose then prescribe!