How To Run Effective Sales Meetings

“Thank you for your time”

“Thank you for your time today. We’ll regroup on next steps and get back to you.”

I review a lot of sales meetings. Most are friendly, informative and achieve nothing. Many end with a comment like the one above.

Sales people spend a lot of time in meetings, both in person and online. Calls run back-to-back and leave little time for reflection. Getting results during a meeting is essential for effective time management.

The purpose of a meeting is to progress to the next stage of the sales process. This may be another call, signing a non disclosure agreement, or arranging a demonstration or trial of a product.

Only rarely does a meeting close a sale. The ideal interaction is friendly, informative and moves to an effective conclusion.

Engage from the Outset

Some bosses assume every meeting means a hot lead. This is most likely when they do not have a sales background.

Founders and senior leaders mistake the deference they are shown for genuine interest. Often the prospect cannot wait for them to leave to tell the sales person what they really think.

I worked with a founder who began every meeting the same way he started a speech. After one presentation, I asked if he noticed that the audience engaged only after 20 minutes, when he started talking about solutions.

His response was “It takes the audience a while to warm up”.

As a salesperson or speaker it is your job to engage from the outset. My proprietary ADVISE model shows how to do this on a webinar. The technique works for any presentation and when selling.

You must not lecture people or present a series of slides about your company and product. We do not learn by being told something, but through our imagination of what is being said. This is why showing works better than telling.

The best way to have someone create an accurate image is for them to speak it out loud. How do you achieve that?

By asking questions.

Control any Conversation

You control any conversation with questions, because the person asking is in charge.

If you’ve been stopped for speeding you know how unnerving the simple question “Do you know how fast you were going, sir?” can be. In courtroom dramas, the hero is the lawyer who exposes the crime through clever questioning. An air of authority is amplified by asking.

Selling is not unnerving a prospect, but they should be uncomfortable. Tension in a sales meeting is good if you create and control it.

A potential client must feel uncomfortable with their current way of working. Ask them to spell out issues with their day-to-day workflows. Then ask how they could be better. The image their brains create when answering is selling your service to them.

Here are some tips for asking the right questions.

Be Specific

“How likely on a scale of 1 to 10 are you to recommend our brand?”

Surveys like this achieve little given the standard answer is seven. They work if a person fills out a box explaining their choice. Usually only the angry people do this.

Ask people about a specific feature.

“How often did you use the copy / paste icon?” reveals far more than “How did you get on with the software?”

During trials you use this to your advantage when you know that the person did not try a popular feature. When they admit as much, you show it.

One at a Time

The purpose of questions is to have the respondent form a clear image of the benefit you provide. Compound questions confuse this imagery.

“What was your favourite feature and would you recommend it to a friend?” is two different questions. Ask them one at a time.

Arrange the Next Stage

The most important question to ask is the one that moves to the next stage of the process.

“How would you like to progress from here?” is okay, but can trigger the response at the top of this post. If so, then ask,

“May we put a date in the calendar, say Thursday at the same time, to demonstrate the benefits of the platform?”

Do not finish the meeting until there is a commitment to take the next step. Even a tentative date is better than endless waiting for potential buyers to get back to you.

I'm Simon Maughan and I write The Profit Elevator as a guide for B2B firms seeking faster growth. Seizing the sales opportunity is covered in The Streamlined Selling System in my P.R.O.F.I.T. Through Process Planner.

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