Listening on what people are looking for!

Recently I have had several sales presentations given to me. Specifically three. I want to break these down because there was a variety of positives and negatives. Plus, I feel like I have not touched the core of this "Sales" blog.

1. This presentation was in person and had one person present that had never met me before. It continues to amaze me that someone will travel over four hours for a sales visit and not confirm an appointment the day before. What if I forgot, no longer there or something had changed? Eight hours would be wasted. Next, they came with prepared PowerPoint of death. If your even going to attempt this, you should probably come with something to show it to me on. Then, we went directly into the presentation.

No questions! Not what are your interests in this, business problems, are you the right person, or any type of qualifying question. Simply I am going to regurgitate this old presentation (PS with a another companies name at the end)

Keys to remember in starting a successful sales cycle.

1. Remember that people's time is important.
2. Prequalify when setting an appointment. Just getting an appointment isn't the goal
3. Set expectations early.
a. How much time it will take.
b. What you will be covering
c. Needed information or equipment
4. Visit the companies website. Know something about the company you are going to visit.
5. Try and learn something about the person you are going to meet. Facebook and Linkedin are great resources to find out about contact people. Their interests, successes and family!
6. If you are going to have a power point presentation (Personally, I suggest not to) put the companies logo on it, maybe a web shot of their page.
7. Invite the person you have the meeting with to bring other contacts within their company to attend. You may be surprised who the bring (In a good way!)
8. BE ON TIME! I SUGGEST 10 MINUTES EARLY. I HAVE NEVER DONE BUSINESS WITH ANYONE WHO IS LATE.
9. Confirm meeting day prior to the meeting
10. Shut off your phone, or better yet, don't bring it into the building. You looking at your phone during your presentation make me wonder if I am important enough for you.

OK, I started this entry with the idea that I would cover all three meetings. Clearly that would be a HUGE entry. So I have decided I will cover the next two meetings in the next couple of days. I will deep dive into the meeting itself and then the followup.