Why would your customers or prospects meet with you – either virtually or F2F? What can you say, do, or offer that would warrant a worthwhile meeting to them?
Even though some businesses are re-opening, there are still some major hurdles to jump when it comes to securing a meeting. Most businesses are not allowing salespeople on-site, and everyone – especially buyers – are receiving almost double the amount of emails as before, making it easy for some to get lost or easily deleted before they are even opened.
This is the current reality, and yet salespeople need to be securing more business now than ever, to make up for the sales lost during lock-down.
What will you say to get the attention of a client or prospect to secure a meeting – virtually or F2F?
You will need to have a strong, compelling, and purposeful reason to meet.
Don’t wing it – take the time to prepare in order to increase your chances of securing the virtual or F2F meeting. It’s more about quality than quantity.
Don’t wing it – take the time to prepare in order to increase your chances of securing a virtual or F2F meeting. It's more about quality than quantity. Share on XYou MUST craft a conversational reason to meet – its not a pitch – as that will easily get ditched!
Ask yourself these questions before you even pick up the phone or send an email:
- What are the biggest challenges in their role? Their organization?
- What would make them look good in their role?
- What are they looking to change or improve?
- What are their goals/strategic direction? Has this changed during COVID?
- What do you and your company do better than your competition?
- What would be the purpose and ideal outcome for a meeting?
- What expertise, advice, solutions can you bring to this meeting?
- What can you concisely say to get their attention?
After asking yourself these questions, you can then craft your customized messaging for your email, telephone call or even video email!
Here’s a few tips to consider when creating your customized messaging:
- You will have to be creative. A generic “copy, paste” message is not likely to “wow” your prospect. Take the time to write something original and tailored. Better yet, try reaching out in a new way with a video-email! Platforms like BombBomb, Covideo, and Vidyard make this new form of contact simple (even fun!).
- Keep it concise! Everyone seems short on time these days, meaning they likely won’t have time to read a page long email, or listen to a five-minute voicemail (if they even check their voicemail these days). Highlight only the most important, compelling, and though-provoking points when you’re reaching out – save all the nitty-gritty details for once you’ve secured the meeting.
- It must evoke an emotional response.
- Clearly answer WIIFM – What’s In It For Me (the prospect, not you as the salesperson). Let them know what they can expect to gain from meeting with you.
- Double Whammy – 2 compelling touch-points back-to-back to increase your response rate. For example, a phone call followed by an email, or an email followed by a text. Its doesn’t matter which combination you choose, you can increase your response rate by 50% when you do the Double Whammy!
End your email with a strong call to action and provide 3 date/time options to meet with you. Doing this shows your client or prospect that you’re serious about meeting, and have time allotted to do so – making them more compelled to respond. Put these tips into practice, and let me know your results!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.