How to Have Awesome First Appointments with Prospects
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The document provides guidance on having effective first appointments with prospects by outlining common mistakes to avoid, such as not preparing or focusing only on selling rather than learning about the prospect, and recommends focusing the first half of appointments on discovery by asking questions to understand the prospect's needs and challenges before discussing solutions. It also provides tips for preparing for, executing, and closing appointments successfully through researching prospects, crafting qualifying questions, sharing value, and setting next steps.
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How to Have Awesome First Appointments with Prospects
- 1. How to Have Awesome First Appointments with Prospects Michael Halper SMART Sales Selling System
- 2. Not So Awesome – Example 1 Salesperson sends email asking for meeting I agree to meet Salesperson and manager deliver presentation Problems •They did not know anything about me •It was all about them •They did not tailor their message •It did not make sense to meet •They wasted valuable time “Show Up and Throw Up”
- 3. Not So Awesome – Example 2 Salesperson hires appointment setter Appointment setter schedules appointment Salesperson goes on appointment and says not a good lead Problems •Assumed that the hard work is done •Assumed the prospect knows their pain •Assumed the interest has been built •Potentially a missed opportunity “Order Taking Mode”
- 4. Not So Awesome – Example 3 I set appointments with current customers and warm leads I go on appointments relying on product knowledge Half of the meetings went OK, half were not productive Problems •I did not make a great impression •There were 0 quality leads produced •Potentially missed opportunities “Winging It”
- 5. The best salesperson is the one that asks the best questions.
- 6. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 7. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 8. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 9. Early Sales Process Stages Alternative Path – Instant AppointmentInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward) Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting
- 10. Splitting Initial Contact and Appointment • It can be common for your first contact to flow into an appointment • There are benefits from preventing that and having two separate conversations: – An appointment at the time of first contact will be rushed – Scheduling on another day allows you to put time on the prospects calendar – The break and scheduling of the meeting will allow you and the prospect to be more prepared for the first call – You will have more time and attention to work with • How to prevent: – “You are asking very good questions. I actually would like to talk with you about this in more detail and I have called you out of the blue. Do you have another 20 minutes to go through all of this now or should we put some time on the calendar to get together?”
- 11. Early Sales Process Stages Alternate Path – Instant PresentationInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward) Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting
- 12. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 14. Pre-Qualify Ask a Couple of Questions Have a couple of questions as the central piece and purpose of your call. – Makes call more conversational – Extracts valuable information – Pre-qualifies to determine if it makes sense to keep talking Full training module on YouTube – Sell More by Screening the Good Prospects from Bad
- 15. Pre-Qualify Building Your Questions Here is a step-by-step process that you can use to build an optimum list of questions: 1. Identify the product you ultimately want to sell 2. Identify the benefits it offers the buyer 3. Identify the pain point that the benefit fixes 4. Compose one or two question for each pain point Full training module on YouTube – Sell More by Screening the Good Prospects from Bad
- 17. Early Sales Process Stages Stage GoalsInitial Contact Cold Call Inbound Call Email Event 2 to 5 minutes 80% on prospect 20% on you Appointment Phone Call Face-to-Face Discovery 20 to 30 minutes 50% on prospect 50% on you Presentation Discovery Presentation Demonstration 1 to 2 hours 20% on prospect 80% on you Pre-Qualify Gather high-level information Build interest in having conversation Schedule a First Conversation Pre-Qualify (Cont.) Hard Qualify Gather detailed Information (Discovery) Build interest in meeting Schedule a First Meeting Sell Product Map out Next Steps Close (Sale or agreement to move forward)
- 22. Appointment Preparation Research •Company website •Yahoo Finance •Awareness of what the company does •Awareness of recent news, events, industry trends •Research prospect on social media Prepare Questions •Qualifying questions •Discovery questions
- 23. Appointment Execution First 50% of meeting focused on prospect •First 50% of meeting focus on prospect •Find out what is working/not working •Current goals/challenges/initiatives •Gather organizational details •Hard qualify the prospect Second 50% focused on you •Explain what you do •Connect the value you offer with prospect pain •Share how you differ •Tell a client story •Share ROI details •Close for the next step in your process
- 24. Performing Discovery Current Environment •What are you using for…? •How long have you been using that? •What is working well? What could be working better? •Is there a current agreement in place? •What are some of the challenges you are focused on decreasing? •If you could wave a wand and change one thing, what would that be? •Pre-qualifying questions
- 25. Performing Discovery Goals and Objectives •What are the key goals that your organization is focused on for this year? •What are the key objectives that your success is measured by? •What are the key critical business issues that your are impacted by?
- 26. Performing Discovery Organizational Details •What is your role in the organization? •What does your organization look like? •What other organizations are impacted by this area? •Who else should I try to connect with regarding this?
- 27. Performing Discovery Decision Making Process •What is the decision making process? •What are the key factors that a decision will be based on? •Who is the ultimate decision maker? •Is there a committee that this type of purchase has to go through? •Hard qualifying questions
- 28. Closing for Next Step • Identify and discuss the different directions to take the conversation • Identify which direction the prospect would like to go • Clarify the timing • Reconcile time with compelling event • Schedule reminders • Add to appropriate drip campaign • Follow-up at agreed timing
- 29. SMART Sales System Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services Sales Training •Recorded Training Videos •Live Sales Training (virtual) •Live Sales Training (in-person) •Custom Sales Training
- 30. Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services • Will help you to build your pitch • Library of Scripts and Templates • Library of Scripts and Templates • CRM Functionality
- 31. Sales Methodology Software Platform Professional Services Sales Consulting •Sales Pitch Development •Sales Process Mapping •Script Assessment Sales Coaching •One-on-One Sales Coaching •Weekly coaching •Coaching Hour Blocks
- 32. Contact Us Michael Halper Founder and CEO SalesScripter mhalper@salesscripter.com @salesscripter
Editor's Notes
- When a gatekeeper answers your call, he or she is instantly trying to screen you out and determine if you are a friend or a foe. A friend would be someone who is already connected with the company in someway like a current vendor or business partner and a foe would be someone who is an outsider trying to get in, like one of those cold callers that is calling to try to get in and sell something. What we want to do is try to get the gatekeeper to see us as a friend so they will less likely to screen us out and one very easy way to do that is to use a tactic of name dropping. For example, we can say something like, I spoke with Tom White in accounting and now I am trying to reach someone in HR. This presents the image that we are already engaged and not a complete outsider and this minor tweak can often be the difference in the gatekeeper letting you in. And if we have not met with Tom White in accounting, we could still name drop his name by saying something like, I am planning on meeting with Tom White in accounting and before I do that, I would like with someone in HR.” Nothing misleading there as we likely are planning on meeting with Tom at some point and by sharing his name and our plans, we give off the image as we are not a complete outsider. We can also name drop external clients that we work with to establish some level of credibility. That is not going to be as strong as sharing internal names and is probably only going to really help when talking with more senior gatekeepers like executive assistants.