Let us explain. In recent months I have noticed the principles applied for Dating are very similar to the most commonly heard suggestions given to Salespeople. And when I heard Gary Venerchuck say "you are not romantic in your sales. You can't make a sale in one meeting", it stuck in my mind.
It's true. Salesperson making sales in their first meeting is very rare. Depending on the size of the client It takes weeks and months of research to close a single deal. Most sale people are always Pitching, Following up, and meeting new and old prospects. All the time.
Sales don't happen in a day. Your prospect is relying on your service to build their business. They won't risk it by doing business with you without know that you can deliver and continue working with you for a long time. They need you to earn their trust and building trust takes time.
The First Step
So what do you do? How do you give the first impression in your first meeting to make sure you have an interesting prospect? You learn some tips on a sales call, from the world of dating.
Towards the end of this article, you will find a video by Account-Based Marketing and Sales Expert Sampath Mallidi. We highly recommend you to check out the video to learn more about the similarities in Dating and sales call!
Rules for First Sales Call
Talk About Them
Bridge The Gap
Read The Table
Talk About Them
A question: What is the absolute worst time to pitch your ideas?The Answer: the first meeting!
When on a sales call, your goal is to learn more information about the prospect. There's a reason behind this. You don't want to waste time on a sales call where the person is not interested in your offering.
Most smart Salespeople do their research before placing the call or arranging the meeting. They understand the importance of the First impression and want to go in prepared.
Once you know the prospects is a client who is looking for something similar to your offering, now comes time to know more about them. This is crucial since the information you learn here will help you steer the discussion in your future meetings.
For now, Talk about the prospect and know as much a possible. This entire call/meeting is about them not you.
Bridge The Cap
The offering you are trying to sell, and the requirement of your prospect is not always 100% in line. As a salesperson, it is your job to find prospect with 100% inline requirements. However, this is very rare and in most cases, you have to bridge the gap.
To help you better understand the requirement of the prospect you need to learn about their business. how they function and what problems they are facing.
Read The Table
Get the hints of the signs as fast as possible, assume that you are finished your outbound sales call, what are the next action steps that they are taking. In the sense, are they looking at involving their stakeholders? or are they may be talking about their budget or timelines. or are they giving you a definitive next step?
If this is not happening maybe it's not worth investing a lot of time. So you always are looking for the hint whenever you are on with your potential prospect. is very important.
