Nailing the 3 Key Moments in Every Sales Meeting
In my experience, the difference between an amateur salesperson and a professional salesperson is their ability to nail the key moments in every sales meeting.
Unfortunately, most salespeople are messy and push too hard which results in bad sales meetings and more importantly no sale.
The good news is it’s possible to sell work even when running bad sales meetings because the construction industry is so behind when it comes to professional sales skills. The great news is that by controlling 3 key moments in every one of your sales meetings, you can launch yourself from amateur to professional and close even more work. Which, if you don’t know already, will make you more valuable to your company and put more money in your pocket.
If you want those kinds of results, then don’t worry, it’s easy. Let’s talk about how you can do it tomorrow.
Mindset
Before talking about nailing your sales meetings, I want one thing to be clear: probably the greatest difference between an amateur salesperson and a professional is that professionals never sell. Instead, they listen and make recommendations based on what they’ve heard. As a result, this means that they are hardly ever pushy. If they are, it’s because they are so confident in their recommendation that they truly believe their client needs to take action.
So, as a starting point, you must adopt the mindset of a great salesperson: be genuine.
Genuinely listen
Genuinely try to help
Genuinely think whether you are the best service provider
Start here, and the rest gets easier.
Nailing Moment #1: The Introduction (Setting clear expectations for the meeting)
The start of the meeting may be the most critical part, and you can control the rest of the meeting if you start the meeting right.
Amateur salespeople jump right into the meeting and start talking about themselves. Professionals know that nailing the introduction comes down to setting clear expectations for the meeting.
The top expectations I find are the most important to set are:
Your agenda
The prospect’s agenda
The role you will play in the meeting
The potential outcomes of the meeting
Basically, this should sound something like:
“Well, I’m very excited to meet. If I understand this right, the purpose of today is for us to get to know each and see if there is a fit for us to work together your agenda. With that said, is that what you were expecting too? Do you have anything else to add to the agenda that you are expecting to cover todaytheir agenda.”
[wait for their reply]
“Great! We can definitely cover that too. I know I have a bunch of questions I will be asking, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have along the way too your role. And with all that said, I’m figuring at the end of the meeting we’ll—based on how it goes—we’ll be talking about whether it makes sense to pursue projects together in the future. Does that sound right to you too? potential outcomes”
And that’s basically it! You’re just trying to start the meeting off on the right foot and make sure both sides are extremely clear on where you’re headed today. If you do this step alone, you’ll be shocked at how the quality of your sales meetings increases.
Nailing Moment #2: The Climax (Making a recommendation)
Now, as crazy as it may seem, you should spend the majority of the meeting listening and asking questions. A good rule of thumb you’ll see in a lot of books about sales is to listen 70% and talk 30%. This means you are asking tons of questions, gathering tons of data, and resisting the temptation to talk about how great your company is the whole time.
If you do this for the meeting, then it sets you up perfectly to nail key moment #2, which is when you take all that data you’ve collected and you make a recommendation. Typical recommendations may include:
Pursuing work together
Setting up another meeting with more decision-makers
Passing on opportunities to work together because there is not a fit
Providing design-assist services on their next project to prove your capabilities
Bidding the next project that is in your sweet spot
And many more
The point is, instead of selling your services regardless, you are actually listening and then recommending the appropriate next step based on what you’ve learned throughout the meeting. This transforms you from a salesperson into a consultant. And, as I said earlier, consultants make genuine recommendations where salespeople push their product no matter what.
So, don’t spend the whole time talking—aka selling.
Instead, listen, ask questions, and then nail your recommendation. If you do, you will set yourself up perfect for moment #3.
Nailing Moment #3: The Resolution (Scheduling ext steps)
If the recommendation is the climax of your sales meeting, then moment #3 is the resolution. It’s after the dust has settled and the recommendation has been made. At this point, the prospect should know exactly the right next step to take together—based on your recommendation—, and now you just need to lock in that next step.
So, before the meeting ends, make sure you are taking 2 minutes to schedule the next steps.
If your recommendation is a meeting with decision makers, schedule that meeting right then and there.
If your recommendation is a design-assist proposal, schedule a proposal review right there.
If your recommendation is to get to know each other, schedule the happy hour right there.
Get your calendar out, pick a date, ask if the prospect is available, and get it scheduled right there!
Why is this so important?
Because getting sales meetings is hard. And getting people to respond to emails is hard. So, every time you are leaving a meeting saying, “Let’s shoot back and forth some emails after this to find a time for our next steps.”, you are reducing your chances of actually getting those next steps!
Amateurs do that, and sometimes it works out, but professionals always schedule their next steps then and there to remove any doubt and increase their chances of closing the deal.
Final advice: Get tons of meetings
It may go without say, but my experience with Contractors is that you can never say it enough: the easiest way to be confident and nail sales meetings is to have a ton of them on your calendar. This is important for 2 reasons:
You get a ton of practice at nailing the 3 moments above. Without practice, you’ll struggle every time.
It’s a lot easier to be confident when you have tons of meetings—and therefore tons of sales opportunities. You stop feeling so pressured to sell every deal and start feeling confident in a good “no”. It’s an absolute game-changer.
So, in summary:
Get tons of meetings
Be genuine in every single one
Nail the 3 key moments and be a professional
Go have some fun!
Spark Notes:
The greatest difference between amateur and professional salespeople is that professionals never sell; they listen and make genuine recommendations.
A successful sales meeting starts with setting clear expectations for the meeting's agenda, roles, and potential outcomes.
Spend the majority of the meeting listening and asking questions, then make a recommendation based on the gathered data, transforming yourself from a salesperson into a consultant.
Schedule the next steps before the meeting ends to ensure follow-through and increase your chances of closing the deal.
Increase your confidence and effectiveness by having numerous sales meetings, allowing you to practice and feel less pressured to sell every deal.
