Sales meetings are the key to your company’s commercial success. So it’s vital to organise these crucial steps to optimise your time and resources.
Find out how to organise your meetings and maximise your chances of closing successful deals.
Prior to appointments, preparation
You need to start by setting up an organisation that will enable you to anticipate the different stages of each meeting. You need to define clear objectives for each meeting, draw up a precise schedule and put in place an effective follow-up system. The meeting type can be physical or digital. In the last case, you will just out an invitation link to the different stakeholders and synchronize the time meeting when the stakeholders are in different countries and timelines.
Setting clear objectives
You’re about to schedule a meeting. Clearly define the objectives you want to achieve with your contact. They can be as varied as selling a product or service, building customer loyalty or obtaining commercial information. With a clear idea of what you want to achieve, you can prepare your speech and your approach accordingly.
Planning your interviews
Now that you know what your objectives are and who you’re talking to, you can plan your meetings. Draw up a schedule with the dates, times and locations of your sales meetings. This roadmap will enable you to organise everything you do. For example, you can avoid scheduling meetings too close together in time or too far apart geographically.
Setting up a rigorous monitoring system
There’s no point in having one sales meeting after another if you can’t follow up on each one. You need to keep a record of all your visits, with all the relevant information.
This includes your customer’s full contact details, a summary of the meeting, the offer presented and the follow-up schedule. You can make do with a simple Excel sheet or choose dedicated software, depending on your preferences.
The sales meeting, animate the meeting
Preparation is essential, but it’s not everything. In the presence of your interviewer, you will have to lead the meeting to achieve your objectives.
Make your sales meetings captivating and productive!
A climate of trust
You may be meeting someone you don’t know, so it’s essential to create a climate of trust before getting down to business. Adopt a warm and friendly attitude, while remaining professional. Be in control of what you say and show that you have a thorough knowledge of the products or services you are offering.
A personalised approach
Every customer is unique! Adapt your approach to their specific needs and expectations. You need to find out in advance not only about the history of your company’s relationship with the customer, but also about their current concerns. This will enable you to offer them appropriate and relevant solutions.
Active listening
A sales meeting is never a monologue. You need to listen carefully to the person you are talking to and get them to give you information that is relevant to your sales pitch.
You will gain a better understanding of their needs, detect any objections or reluctance and adapt your sales dialogue to what you have learned.
Time management in maintenance
Having several sales meetings in quick succession can tend to make you “rush the job”. Conversely, spending too long in a meeting will only confuse your customer. You need to devote exactly the right amount of time to each visit to give yourself the best chance of success.
Calibrated appointment times
There are many parameters that influence how a sales meeting goes. The complexity of the product, the complexity of the customer’s needs or the level of knowledge they have of your company. It is essential to monitor the degree of attention and responsiveness of the person you are talking to. A meeting that takes too long will always be counter-productive.
Optimised travel
Time is precious and wasting it means losing business opportunities. It is essential to optimise the time spent travelling. Group your meetings by geographical proximity. Also remember to always leave some room for manoeuvre to deal with unforeseen circumstances such as traffic jams or a long wait at your customer’s premises.
Organise your sales meetings efficiently. You’ll maximise your chances of success.
At Heronviews, we can help you optimise the entire process chain, from making appointments to following up with your customer.