Major Account Selling: How to Prepare for a Customer Meeting

Major Account Selling: How to Prepare for a Customer Meeting

by Lois Wong

Most of us have experienced the frustration of an unproductive sales meeting. It often starts with introductions and small talk, and then a presentation ensues. So what’s the problem? The problem is that the presentation was given without a connection made to the direct and relevant benefits to the target company.

 

In order to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you must be prepared to present your company’s services in relation to the company’s goals and objectives. This requires careful preparation advance of the meeting, and then a guided discussion before the presentation that demonstrates your understanding of the company’s business, with the goal of verifying the information you have and to seek for further clarity and understanding of what they are trying to accomplish.

 

Here are The 9 Steps on How to Prepare for a Customer Meeting:

 

1.    Create an agenda based on the meeting purpose, establish a goal, and formulate a strategy.

2.    Research the Company

a.    Browse website

b.    Read press releases, recent news articles, and white papers, etc.

c.    Talk with your colleagues/vendors for insights

d.    Check company CRM for historical insights

e.    Check Linksv.com for company venture capital funding and Board members

f.     If public, use Google Finance to obtain a description of the company, management, and financials

3.    Call the administrative assistant to obtain names and titles of the attendees

4.    Check Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter for insights into your attendees

5.    Speak with the customer attendees about meeting requirements

6.    Send a draft meeting agenda to the customer attendees for their review

7.    Develop a strategy with your team.

8.    Relate company services and benefit during the presentation

9.    Anticipate questions and prepare for answers.

 

Thomas A. Kayser, a thought-leader in designing effective meetings, published Mining Group Gold: A Cooperative Approach to Meeting Effectiveness. I had the pleasure of working with Tom at Xerox. Tom honored me with one of his books, and it’s been my meeting Bible over the years. I’ve shared his best practices in my coaching business. Tom recommends that we start every meeting with a clear statement of its purpose. Understanding the goal of a meeting sets expectations for the session.

 

In my next blog I’ll share with you sales meeting challenges and successful elements of an effective agenda.