Getting a first meeting with a prospect

So this week I've had a question from Matthew and he said to me, james, I want to book more meetings with prospects.

First meetings with prospects.

How can I do this?

So in this podcast, I'm going to share the key things you've got to put in place to get more meetings and ensure your diary has opportunities in them that you can turn into business.

Welcome to the Diary of a Sales Expert Podcast.

My name's James White and I'm on a mission to help business owners and sales professionals all over the world get incredible sales results.

So thanks for listening and let's get started.

Welcome back to the podcast.

This week we are going to talk about that very big, difficult subject which someone has asked me to talk about, which is getting a first meeting with a prospect.

So, Matthew, if you're listed, this is for you.

You reached out and asked me a question.

You connected on LinkedIn, by the way, Matthew connected with me on LinkedIn, which anyone's more happy to do.

I'll put my links to LinkedIn below.

And I asked him what if there's any other areas that he needs some help with.

And he's told me this is the area that he needs some support with.

And so this is the podcast for you, Matthew, and also lots of other people.

So if you're listening to this, thinking, oh, there's a subject I'd love James to cover in a podcast, drop me a note on LinkedIn, let me know what you think to the podcast and we can cover it.

So Matthew was saying that he works in a sales environment and getting a first meeting with a prospect is a challenge and so does I.

Do I have any tips on how to solve this?

And so let me, let me talk about this in general and then I'm going to give you some tips and some things you can do to implement to get the results in, to try and make things easier for you.

But let me start by saying this is the toughest part of selling.

There are lots of tough parts to sales, but getting meetings with prospects is difficult.

And if someone says to you someone's in a sales management role or sales leadership role, and they're telling you it's easy, then tell them to come have a conversation with me.

I will happily show them the facts and the stats and the figures that show that getting first meetings with prospects is not easy, the reality is your response rates can be less than 5% to get people to respond to communications, let alone to book a meeting with you, because what they are doing is giving their time up and Giving their time up when they don't know you is the most precious asset in commodity they have.

So getting meetings is a challenge.

So first you always say to yourself is, don't beat yourself up.

Don't be in a position where you think yourself and you down talk yourself and say, I'm not a very good salesperson.

I'm not being able to get meetings.

It is difficult.

The best in the world, even the best in the world would not get a much more than a 10 to 15% conversion rate of every 100 people they spoke to.

So the reality is it does take work, it takes time.

And not everyone is going to, it's going to happen with.

It just isn't going to be the case.

So please just be, you know, be sure of that.

But what do we need to do to get a meeting with a prospector?

Here's what I would do.

Here's what I would do.

If I was in your situation, Matthew, or in anyone else's situation, the first steps I would do.

By the way, this is all part of what I will talk about as part of my sales plan.

I have a sales plan course, I have a sales plan outline that can give you the steps you need to get successful selling.

The reality is if you are trying to reach out to anyone and everyone with your sales prospecting and you're targeting anyone, then it's very hard to sometimes be relevant enough and be valuable enough in your engagement to make them think they want to have a conversation with you.

So let's be clear in the reasons why a meeting, a prospect doesn't want to have a meeting with you.

It's because at the moment they cannot see enough value that you're going to provide them and me enough use of value of their time to make them give up their time.

It's not that they have anything against you personally.

It's not that they don't like your product or service.

It's not that they don't have meetings with people.

It's just at the moment there is not, there is a value gap between what it is they do to value their own time versus what you can do for them and make a difference in their world.

Now let me give you a scenario.

If you were to imagine that person and they had the biggest problem that they had in their world right now and they could guarantee that someone from a sales perspective was able to come in and show them that they could solve that problem and solve the problem and make them take the problem away, would they meet that person of Course they would.

They'd be intrigued to know who they are, what they do.

If they could guarantee, if they could go into the, you know, into the future and see that that person could help them solve an issue, of course they'd meet them.

So people are open to having meetings, but what they're not open to doing is having meetings before they've built up some trust and some value.

And the biggest mistake that I see people making is connecting with people and then asking for time.

I've literally today just deleted Someone.

And on LinkedIn, by the way, I'll connect generally with most people, but if you connect with me and then try and sell to me straight away, I will delete you and unconnect with you because I'm not interested in that.

It just doesn't work.

It's a bullshit way of selling.

So if you connect with someone and then start adding some value to them and start showcasing some ideas that are helpful and start being someone that they, you know, people think, oh, actually that's.

He's quite useful, that guy.

They're sharing some insights, then they're going to be more inclined to want to have a conversation with you.

But that's not guaranteed, so you're going to have to give value.

So the first thing I say to you, Matthew, is make sure that what you're sharing, if you're picking up the phone saying, hi, my name's Matthew, do you want to have a meeting with me?

I want to sell you my stuff.

Most people are going to say, nope, not interested.

If, however, you know, let's say you're selling specifically to, I don't know, IT directors or facilities directors and the type of client that you're working with, you know that those type of people have problems with costs of something or they have a problem with recruitment or whatever the issue is.

And you can go to them and say, you know, I know specifically that people in your position are having challenges with this issue and this issue.

Let me share a resource, let me share some insights.

I want to share some stuff that's going to help you overcome that challenge.

Then what it's going to do is going to make the other person think, okay, who is this person?

Okay, well, how do they know about me?

How do they know about my market?

They've done some research.

Okay, this is a bit more interesting.

And if the thing that you talk about is a burning problem for them, they're going to be more inclined to then go, okay, well, okay, well, this is actually quite helpful.

I've got that problem.

I'm more inclined to at least entertain this.

Now they may not want to actually book the meeting there and then.

Which leads me on to point number two, which is about being consistent and following up.

So hope you've been enjoying listening to the podcast.

If you have, then I've got a new sales plan course that I think you'll find incredibly helpful.

You can find all the details you need@www.I needasalesplan.com and the sales plan course has been put together with my years of experience of building and helping supporting salespeople all over the world and business owners get incredible sales results.

I've implemented thousands of plans with companies, with my previous company, with my current business.

And this plan is going to give you everything you need to be able to identify how to deliver on a target or goal that you to achieve for your business.

It's got all resources on different stages of the process, how to identify the right target customer, how to engage with them, how to create content, how to hit a sales target.

It's got everything you need in there to get great results.

So have a little look@www.I need a sales plan.com.

it's a great resource that I'm sure if you start to utilize it, you're going to be able to hit the plans that you want.

Now back to the podcast.

But if you engage with value and engage and talk about a challenge that they're facing in their industry, a problem that they've got, a problem that other people similar to them have got, or something that's going on that they think, or something about their industry that's changing.

Fred Copest, on my podcast with him a couple of weeks ago, talked about the respect he talks about.

There are a number of factors which affect business respect, regulation, environment, social, economic, political, technological.

If you can talk about something, one of those areas that's affecting the industry that you're working with and give that senior person an insight that maybe think I didn't know that then you're going to be in their mind, you're going to be someone that they're thinking, okay, this is, this guy's quite intriguing, or this lady is quite intriguing.

Now the second part of the process is you can't just do it once.

You've got to consistently follow up to get meetings.

So one of the things I advise you to do, you know, Matthew and anyone else listen to this is pick an audience of let's say 30, 40 people, maybe 30 if you want to do 30, maybe get higher if you want to do higher, but you're going to take more people equals more time.

And I want you to write out a plan over the course of, let's say a eight week period, maybe a 12 week period, depending on how long it takes you to your sales cycle, from when you meet someone to when they do business with you.

And I want you to plan out at least 10 to 15 communications engagements with them over that period of three months.

And those communications should include maybe an email, a call, a social message, maybe even a letter, a video message.

And by the way, I cover all of this in my sales plan course if you want to know.

I don't know how to do this, James, I will take you through it in my course.

But if you outline that plan and work out what it is you're going to do over that period of time and then continually reach out to that person by sharing value and by sharing stuff of insight and then picking up the phone and saying, look, I appreciate you busy, you know, so and so, but I want to share some stuff that's useful for you and give you some insights and that can help you.

You're going to increase your chances of a meeting exponentially.

So you've got to be consistent in the approach and you've also got to be brave.

You got to be brave and add value.

You've got to be able to say, look, I know what's going on in this space.

These are the things we're seeing, these are the trends that we see and I want to share it with you so I can help ensure that you don't get into that position or other people in your position were facing this challenge.

I want to help you do this, can let me come and meet you so I can share with you some of the insights around that.

What I would also do in that meeting is I would also say sorry in that message and I would also say to them, by the way, it may not be that we're a good fit to work together, but let's open up a conversation and see.

And if we're not, no worries.

So what you're also doing, most people don't want to have the first meeting because they think they're going to be sold to.

So if you can take that pressure of the sales situation out and make the other person think, all right, so I'm not going to be sold to.

No, you're not going to be sold to.

I'm just going to share insights and information with you and it may well be that you're Not a good fit for us.

In which case, hey, we've we've only lost half hour.

Then it sort of de risks it for the other person.

It makes them think, well, I'm not going to get sold to.

So therefore, there's the potential that this meeting might be a useful use of my time and if I can get some value from it, okay, I'll have the meeting.

So you've got to sort of take the risk out of it.

You've got to stop being a salesperson initially and be someone that's trying to be a problem solver.

And if you can become a problem solver initially and focus on.

Focus on the problem, not the product, then you're going to be in a position to get that person to think, okay, I'm open to at least having that conversation.

The other key thing you want to try and do to arrange meetings is make them curious about you.

So make them curious about you.

So maybe you could share something that says them.

You know, I've worked with two or three other organizations similar to you to help them solve these challenges or help them get to this place.

Would it help if I share that information with you?

So when you share messages like that, people go, oh, okay, I'm curious about that.

Oh, I did want to.

You know, that's quite interesting, actually.

Actually, I wanted to know how he's doing that or how are they making that happen.

So you want to leave them with wanting more.

And when you make people curious, then it can work really, really well.

You want to make them think, wow, when they see an email from you, they're thinking, I know that person's helpful and what they share, they're not just trying to sell them to me.

They're not just trying to say, we are this.

We're amazing, we do this.

They're sharing insights about my industry.

They're sharing stuff about other companies in my space.

I need to keep an eye on these guys.

These guys are helpful.

So you've really got to dream in a position where you make them curious about who you are and what you do.

But the other final thing I'd also say, Tim, is show that you've personalized the approach.

When I get people ringing me and I just.

I'm just another number on a list.

I'm like, no, it's not interested when people try and reach out to me.

And I actually, I very rarely do this because most people do it badly.

But I arranged a meeting with a guy on it.

He messaged me on Instagram and he Did a video that said, look, I know you've got, you know, you've got lots of stuff going on, but I wanted to talk you through a model.

I think he could help you and if you don't, you know, you know, utilize the model, then, hey, no worries, you can have it for free.

And I've only lost half hour.

And we were going to set up the meeting.

I can't remember what quite happened, but I was open to setting up the meeting.

So I was like, okay, he's, he's focused, he's personalized me.

The video that he created using a little tool like Loom or Vidyard had shown my website and my, you know, my, my approach.

And so I know that I wasn't just another number on his list.

He'd gone out of his way to try and find my details.

So I think the other example I can give you, Matthew, for that is to try and be focused on them.

So if you are going to do some video prospecting, again, we cover this in the sales plan course that we do, then you can start to really show that you've understood them and you've got their website in the background or You've got their LinkedIn profile in the background or you've got their details, their social media feed or their board report, for example, out there where they're talking about issues.

And you can show that they're not just another number on your list, but it's someone you personalize things with.

So these are the things that I encourage people to do when it comes to prospecting.

But the final message, like I say, is be consistent and persistent.

It's going to take time if you try and do it once.

I mean, the average person I think gets access to or gets, you know, sees 5,000 messages a day.

They act upon about four.

So if you are just a hope that what you do is going to get there and one email or one message is going to get results, you're living in cloud cookie land.

Stop thinking that you need to do that.

You need to engage over a consecutive period of time, not harass people but, but continually share value and insight over a period of three, four weeks, three, four months, whatever the time cycle is, and make that person go, okay, this person's got some interest.

There's something curious.

They understand my world.

They've personalized their approach.

This is going to be more, make me more inclined to have conversation with them than if someone's just trying to ring up anyone and not focus on who they are, what they do and have a general spray and pray approach.

And that's how you get meetings with prospects.

But also understanding that 9 out of 10 of them will say no, 1 out of 10 is the result we want.

And we have to kiss a lot of frogs to get a prince or princess.

And that's the nature of sales and selling.

And if we don't like that, then I'm sorry, we're in the wrong business, we're in the wrong job.

That is what sales is and what it's about.

So that's how I use, you know, time to get meetings with prospects.

I have my team in growth resource and we have this conversation a lot.

And I actually use an example of a podcast and a video series I did with some of my cricks to sponsor the guys that I sponsor for cricket.

And I remember Jamie and Craig Overton saying to me, they bowl 49 balls, you know, per, you know, per time and get fate and fail.

But the one time they get a wicket, they're happy and they get a wicket every 40 balls or 50 balls.

In other words, they fail 40 times and they're acceptable and they know that they have to trust the process to get the wickets.

So I guess the same applies to you to here.

If you're on the meeting, you've got to have 30, 40 conversations before you get the one conversation to come out that be positive.

That's just the way it works.

Accept it, don't try and fight that, but be curious, be consistent, add value, use multiple media, adapt an approach that you can add value to the prospect's world.

And it's going to hopefully enable you to get those meetings booked in and then do what you want to do within those conversations.

So I wanted to interrupt the podcast just because I want to ask one small favor.

If you really enjoy the podcast, could you do me a favor and just give us a review?

Just head on over to your podcast network and just basically put in a review and tell other people what you think to it.

Now back to the podcast.

So that's helpful, Matthew.

Let me know, let me know in the comment section below if it is.

Tell me another problem you might have if you're, you know, like Matthew and you've got a question that you wanted to raise to me.

Share it with me.

I'm very happy to comment on on podcast that I can give you some advice and tips on that can help you get the results you want for a sales perspective.

So look, I always finish the podcast on the inspirational story and I wanted to Do a story of a guy called Ben Smith and I don't think I've covered this one.

If I have, then apologies, but it's such a good story that I don't mind covering it twice.

And Ben is from a place near me actually, in the Somerset area of the southwest of the uk and he was a victim, sadly of bullying at school, which I think is terrible.

And I've seen people bullied at school.

The damage is done and we've really got to encourage people to try and be kind and to be nice to people.

But Ben ran 401 marathons in 401 consecutive days around the UK to raise over a quarter of a million pounds for anti bullying charities for Stonewall and Kidscape.

And he's now started to visit over 100 schools to spread the anti bullying message.

And I think running 401 marathons.

I've done a podcast with Gary McKee who ran a marathon every day for 365 days.

Plays an incredible toll on your body.

And you know, I, I go out and run three or four miles, it can, it can hurt me.

So let alone doing that.

And to have that as a cause to help stop kids being bullied at school I think is incredible.

So Ben Smith is my inspirational story today as I'm always looking for inspirational stories.

If you've got one, share it with me.

But Ben, incredible story.

So pleased to hear your you're helping solve this bullying issue and along may your work continue and hopefully you can do more and more great things to raise money and help these charities solve this issue.

So that's, that's been the story this week.

But as ever, really appreciate your ears.

Listening to the podcast, it's hugely joyful for me to be able to know that I'm impacting people.

When people reach out to me and tell me that it's helping them, then that makes my heart sing.

So please, if you are listening to the podcast and think, yeah, this really helped me reach out, connect with me on social media, drop me a message on any of my socials and let me know that the podcast helping you.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, it really would help me and make sure I'm continuing to drive great content for you but also continue to share stories that inspire you to achieve your best.

So until next week, thank you so much for listening.

As ever, stay safe as they well and I'll see you then.

Take care.

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