8/8 steps to win at every single sales meeting
In this series, I take you through eight key steps to plan your B2B sales meetings in a way that sets you apart from the competition.
By building continuous momentum, providing value, and advancing sales at each step, you will ultimately get more (and faster) closed business.
Preparation is the secret to closing sales — and it needs to happen for every encounter with a prospect. Before each meeting, answer three key questions:
Why should this client meet with me?
2. Clarify your value proposition
What do I want my client to do?
5. Clarify continuation vs. advance
How can I provide value in this encounter?
7. Identify your unexpected value
Step 8: Close like a pro
“Closing is the act of obtaining commitments, including all of the decisions that advance the sale.” — Anthony Iannarino
Did you know that a huge percentage of deals are lost because no decision is made? That means the business isn’t lost to a rival — rather, the prospect simply does nothing.
In many industries, no-decision failure is the biggest reason behind sales loss. No-decision losses average at around 44–60 percent, climbing as high as 80 percent in certain sectors.
Are you failing to close sales because your prospects aren’t making a decision?
If yes, that’s on you.
A sale doesn’t close itself: the salesperson must make an effort to advance the process and clinch the deal. You can’t depend on your prospect to do this — you need to take charge of the situation, and firmly lead them towards a positive decision.
At the end of the meeting, you have the opportunity to finalize the actions and next steps that will keep the sales process moving forward. For each item, you need to agree on the responsible person and the target timeline. Also, take this time to schedule your next meeting with the prospective client.
Practice your closing questions and phrases until they become second nature, so you can use them effortlessly in the flow of conversation. Avoid making them too complicated or elaborate — they should come easily and naturally.
It’s also crucial to ask for a commitment in the right way. Don’t put pressure or be manipulative — this will leave the client with a bad taste in their mouth, which isn’t good for your long-term equation.
Research shows that using even one closing question increases your chances of advancing or closing the sale by a whopping 36 percent. Here are a few good questions you can use, depending on the situation:
- Does it make sense for us to talk about getting your budget approved while we go through the other details together?
- Does it make sense for us to talk about putting together a pilot so you can try it out?
- Does it make sense for us to schedule a meeting with the rest of your team so we can get their input on which features would be key for them?
- Does it make sense for us to spend some time with your technical team so we can get a clearer picture of the security needs?
- Does it make sense for me to meet your head of department so we can get some details about her goals for the project?
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Hi there, I am Maddy. I help B2B & SaaS founders get first 1000 customers and scale fast!
Sales is a science. Just like you engineer your product into existence, I can help you build a sales and marketing machine to help people see how your product changes their lives for the better.
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