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59: The best way to convince a B2B sales prospect to take your meeting · Cyber Go-To-Market Talk: The Cybersecurity Podcast About Cyber Sales, Marketing & Revenue Growth

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to improve the chances your prospect will take your meeting?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Ainerino gives us some pointers in the lust art of closing.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bite-Size Sales Podcast, where we believe that you don't need to take time out of the field or off the phone stuck in a classroom to get great sales training, and that taking bite-sized steps each day to get better at your craft is the best way to improve your results.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Andrew Monahan, and I'm using my 20 plus years in B2B sales to bring you simple, actionable ideas that you can use every day to help you get better.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is sponsored by Sales Bluebird.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us don't have time to keep up with the latest sales ideas in all the blogs, podcasts, news articles, YouTube posts every week.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sales Bluebird curates content from all these sources and gives you three mindset tips, three sales skills tips, and three sales leader tips once a week in your email inbox for free.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up right now at salesbluebird.com.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 59 of the podcast.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And today's topic is all about getting those first meetings with our ideal prospects.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's ever been easy to try and get those first meetings booked, but it's certainly difficult right now.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And depending on the market you're in, what you're selling, the prospects you're trying to reach, the level they're at, you're either finding it tough or very tough, is what I tend to read from people at the moment.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the temptation when it is difficult is that we sometimes lose sight of the fundamentals in favor of the shiny objects or the new little thing I read somewhere maybe on LinkedIn from someone, and I'll I'll go center my strategy around that, right?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: When in reality, we'd probably be much better served just by focusing back on the fundamentals about what we're trying to do in these first meetings, and then articulate that effectively to people so they might want to take them.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that Anthony Aynorino introduces or talks about in his book, The Lost Art of Closing.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So let me read directly from the book.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: When calling to schedule an appointment with their dream client, some salespeople say something like, I'd like to stop by and introduce myself and my services and learn about your business.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: This language still works sometimes, but let's look at the value proposition for your prospective client.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: They get the great honor of meeting a salesperson who promises to talk about themselves and their business, probably using a slide deck with pictures of their management team, their locations, and the logos of their well-recognized clients.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Additionally, they get to answer the salesperson's questions about their business.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The very same questions that every salesperson has asked them in every past meeting they've agreed to.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can you see why it's so easy for your dream client to contain their enthusiasm?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: The lack of a value proposition for the sales call makes this an easy commitment to reject.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: There is no real value for your dream client in this pitch.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Their time is too valuable to waste in something with no return on investment.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: What value could you trade for that meeting?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: What could you give your prospective client in exchange for their time that would benefit them?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Whether or not they ever do business with you in the future.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: That ask might sound different.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am calling you to schedule a time to share with you the four trends that are going to impact your business over the next 12 to 18 months, and some ideas about how the decisions that these trends might require you to take.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you never work with us, you'll ask your team different questions and you'll have some ideas about what you need to do.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a better value proposition.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: You are trading something with potential value.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: In this case, your dream client is going to learn about the four trends that may potentially harm or benefit their business.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And they're going to have new questions and ideas to share with their team as they discuss these issues.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: As an added bonus, you've acknowledged that your prospective client receives this value even if they never work with you.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's read directly from the book The Lost Start of Closing by Antie Narino.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you then do you recognize this pattern, the first one he talked about of, you know, I want to come and meet you and discuss you discuss your business in a little bit weak.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And where do you stand on that, right?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is it been working for you or has it not been working for you?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you look at his approach and what he talks about, I can see how it's more likely that someone might see value in that.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's more likely, frankly, it's a different ask or a different way of talking or a different value prop for the meeting compared to other people that are competing for their time.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But it does require work, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have these four trends.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You have to know about it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be able to articulate them and discuss them and give some viewpoints and advice that goes with it.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not easy if you don't have this already.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I bet you with a bit of work, you'd be able to find these things out.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you in your organization, small, medium, or large, depending on what you are, there's going to be people that can give you this.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: If it's already made up, great.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: If not, go have discussions with people to try and figure out what are the big things that are happening right now to our clients or prospective clients that we could talk about in depth and with value.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they might not be four things that are all to do with your product or what you do, they might be more about their part of the industry or their part of the job functions inside the company that's being impacted, right?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it's something that you can show that you have knowledge about, you have some examples about, and you could help them with some perspective that might be different to what they're they're used to doing.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So there's the action for you, really, is to say if you have that knowledge already and you're not using it, start use it, right?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just have that as the as the value prop, the reason for meeting.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have it, then put the work in to put this together.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you have a talk track, you know what the three or four or five trends might be, and you feel confident going into a meeting to do them.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And this might take you know an hour a day for a week, an hour a day for two weeks, but for whatever it is, block off the time, put the work in, and be an expert so you can have those senior level discussions about the big uh factors going on in the industry so you can be a more valuable person to your prospects.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you like this episode, the single most useful thing you could do to support this podcast is share it with your sales network.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It'll probably take you less than 20 seconds.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is click the share icon in your app right now and share it wide and far.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It will mean the world to me and it could make a difference to those you share it with.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I need your suggestions, please.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a topic you want me to cover or just want to get in touch, simply email me at upside at unstoppable.do.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's upside at unstoppable.do.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And now to wrap up, training without implementation is just entertainment.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And pretty poor entertainment when I deliver it.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you take action on what you learned today and keep getting it better and better each and every day.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Also, this world does not need more sales BS.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So please don't create any more.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Be great at the fundamentals, be honest, be real, be yourself, just do not BS.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, I'm signing off as the great Joe Sexton would by saying gone to sell.