The conversion of prospects in customers is one of the big challenges in B2B sales.
The danger? Dilapidate Leads generated dearly by marketing, junior salespeople on your team, or worse: yourself. Do you know the parable of pierced basket ? Let's try to avoid it.
While browsing this new episode of Sales Acceleration, you will gain an overview of winning strategies to be implemented in customer appointments. To do this, we followed a chronological framework:
⚡️ The preparation phase
⚡️ The discovery appointment
⚡️ Follow-up appointments
Happy reading!
1. The preparation phase
Arriving prepared for a customer appointment is of course the basics of any sales person. By omitting this step, you are effectively excluding yourself from the competition. On the contrary, by over-delivering, you will create a lasting intuitu personae.
1 ️ - Market study
Before you even pick up the phone or step foot in the meeting room, remember the weighted value of the first upcoming appointment: does the data show that following an R1, you have a 20% chance of concluding a sale with an average basket of €50K? You simply play €10K per appointment.
Do your searches About the company that you encounter: its history, its business model, its customers, the challenges of its industry, its potential needs.
2 - Account mapping
This is an essential step in semi-complex to complex sales, when different interlocutors come into play. It's about visualizing All the people who participate in decision-making, and to organize them into levels of influence. LinkedIn offers a useful feature in Sales Navigator called” Account plan ” which provides significant assistance in this regard.
You can also use tools like Xmind to visually map the various players in the account you want to open. This visualization helps to understand its dynamics, and to identify the key players.
3 ️ - Confirmation of the appointment
This is the fear of salespeople: R1s won by the sweat of their brow during long prospecting sessions, but the famous” No-Show ” upon arrival. Fortunately, you can be (even smarter): make sure the appointment takes place, for example by calling the day before in a Impromptu to confirm the challenges of the appointment. And show that you have started your preparatory work, in preparation for the appointment.
4 ️ - Find out about the contact persons
In addition to knowing the business, look at the people you are going to interact with. Consult their LinkedIn profiles to understand who will be in the room or video, why they are there, if they wanted to be there, and how you can interest them. Get ready to meet different personalities.
Try to anticipate their communication style and potential behavior using models like the” DISC ”. This pre-positioning will allow you to adapt your approach in order to better connect with everyone.
5 ️ - Anticipating needs
Before you even sit down at the customer's table, list the 4 or 5 challenges they usually encounter. But without Prejudge nothing during the upcoming appointment! This expectation of needs is key to moving from being a seller to that of consulting. Instead of just talking to a prospect, you're initiating a process of problem solving, in which you both have an interest. You're going on the same side of the net.
At Akimbo, our Scale support allows you to set up the best commercial processes (sales method, CRM, Playbook) to create an over-performing and agile sales machine.
Preparation is the key to the success of customer appointments. Once the foundations are in place, it's time to build solid relationships with your potential customers.
2. The discovery appointment
During the discovery appointment, several points should be taken into account:
✅ The presentation of the interlocutors
Start by presenting yourself properly but succinctly. Who are you? What is the size of your team? Who are your reference customers? But above all, what are the challenges and problems that you solve? Test the personal rope. Explain your process in a way that reassures your interlocutors.
And don't forget that even though France is Descartes' country,Homo economicus is not as rational as they say:” people buy with their emotions first, and then justify it with reason ”. According to a Harvard professor, 95% of buying decisions are unconscious and emotionally motivated. It's a cliché: create a good first impression.
✅ Meeting plan and moral contract
Before diving into the details, come up with a clear plan for the meeting and define a moral contract : Outline the goals of the meeting, what each party can expect from the meeting, and the steps to take to reach an agreement. This increases transparency and makes it easier to make decisions. This way, you limit unpleasant surprises. Also, always invite your prospect during the first part of the appointment to present their challenges.
And to conclude, a cliché: you have two ears and only one mouth. Keep this rule in mind when speaking.
✅ The qualification of needs
Qualifying and quantifying needs is an essential step for any salesperson. It saves time and energy, by focusing on the prospects who are most likely to become long-term customers. Use funnel questions, moving from factual questions to judgmental questions (e.g. FOCA method).
Bonus: the best salespeople manage to control the emotions triggered in their interlocutors by their questions. They identify them and play with them. By training there, you will change your scope.
✅ The pitch
An effective presentation tells the story of a Captivating story, but it should also include reassurance signals to build trust.
A great classic is the Start with the why by Simon Senek. Get out of there. If you're used to using slides, consider setting them aside. Feel free to share factual details as you tell your story.
For example, you could start with a situation that your prospect frequently encounters, highlighting a challenge or pain they are experiencing. Then, explain how your solution solved this problem for other customers, providing concrete results and testimonials.
In short, an effective pitch doesn't just captivate, it leads to tangible evidence of the value of your solution.
At Akimbo, we systematically observe major margins of improvement among the customers we support in terms of the conduct of customer appointments. Get in touch with us to challenge your approach.
In conclusion, discovery appointments are the ideal opportunity to establish solid relationships with your potential customers, and to understand their conscious and unconscious needs.
3. Follow-up appointments
Let's see how to approach follow-up appointments in a way that Maintaining the momentum that you have created beforehand.
✅ Identifying sponsors (internal champions)
During your discovery appointment, try to identify sponsors within the client company. Champions are people who are enthusiastic about your solution, have influence within their organization, and are ready to support your solution in the face of the inevitable internal obstacles.
On complex sales, it is impossible to do without them. To take advantage of a champion, develop a relationship based on trust and mutual interests. The champion must sell in your place internally. Invest time in understanding their goals, and align your solution with their own needs.
✅ Informal communication between meetings
A very large part of the success of a sale is built outside of formal meetings. Use the phone instead of email to avoid any ambiguity. That said, keep in mind that communication preferences vary.
After a phone call, send a follow-up email MECE (MECE Framework McKinsey), summarizing the discussion, potential obstacles, and agreed next steps.
✅ Refine your value proposition
Choose a sales approach that promotes co-construction. Focus on creating value, keeping notes on the problems and pain points of your prospects. Focus the conversation on solving their specific problems because you're selling a solution to a problem, not just a product.
Each customer is unique, and by understanding their specific needs, you will personalize your offer to precisely meet their expectations.
✅ The method of Mutual Action Plan
Use a tool like the Mutual Action Plan maximizes your chances of concluding a successful sale.
It summarizes the commitments and actions agreed between you and your prospect. It maintains focus, transparency, and accountability throughout the sales cycle. The Mutual Action Plan is essential for today's sales teams. He:
⚡️ Accelerates the conclusion of complex transactions;
⚡️ Improves the customer experience;
⚡️ Helps to predict the pipeline more reliably;
⚡️ Reduces time-consuming administrative tasks;
⚡️ Improves success rates
Within a sales team, any change in behavior requires consent, alignment of interests, and above all: repetition. Our Performance offer makes it possible to significantly increase the performance of your team by anchoring changes over time.
Feedback is a gift: feel free to share your feedback with us by email. It was a pleasure for us to continue this adventure, and to count you among the community Sales Acceleration.
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