Should we share targeted appointment outcomes with prospects?
Murray Sellars 💡
General Manager @ BLE Lighting and Power | CONNECTION REQUESTS WELCOMED | IoT Expert | Early Adopter | Mentor | Coach | Vision
We hear a lot nowadays how selling is moving towards a consultative approach. (Free e-book download) and I fully agree. However, how far do you go?
Travelling to visit a prospect the other day a member of the Business Development team and I were discussing our appointment setting procedure in general and the Visit Report in particular!
We both agreed on the importance on knowing what we wanted to gain from each meeting being documented before the meeting. This helps to keep appointments focused and saves time. (Ours, but more importantly, our clients)
I suggested that both the Agenda for the meeting and the desired objectives should form part of the Visit Report that we file for every visit. "Just attach it to the Outlook appointment", I said, "that way we all have a copy and can give it some thought prior to the event" "Not so fast!" said my colleague, "if we do that the prospect will see it too!"
As business persons working on deals each and every day, often as a buyer and a seller, what do you think?
Can you go too far with information sharing or would this type of "open book" operating lead to greater trust?
From time to time, I am minded to share some of the experiences we have gained in contract packaging and packaging materials over the last quarter of century .(and on three different continents!) The topics will cover best practises for packaging (in the Transit Packaging field) and also proven tips that can be implemented in any operational field or Owner Managed Business. Hyper-links to other resources on the topic covered would be most welcome in the comments section below, that way we all keep learning.
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Dental Handpieces & Infection Control | Helping Dentists safely reduce downtime through planned preventative maintenance
8yAgree, transparency builds trust.
Business Development Specialist
9yI believe the customer/client knows why you are there. Sales all differ. Some are a product, some are a service. Get to know the customers expectations and need for the product/service you are offering. Listen to them. If you don't have a strong belief and knowledge regarding the product/service you are selling the sales process will never go well. I would not show up with an agenda.
Editor/Author
9ySelling techniques such as Miller Heiman have advocated using an analytical and consultative process and I have never had any issues with including the customer in understanding the purpose of any proposed meeting. I would agree with Chris Lester that you should not be coming to see a prospective buyer with an agenda that you would not feel comfortable sharing with them.
Sustainable Transit Packaging | Warehouse Safety & Stock Control at Lindum Packaging
9yIt seems to me that, if I were a client, I would want to know fully what the aims and objectives of this meeting were for both sides. I know what I want and it isn't to be manoeuvred by someone else's secret agenda. I mean, if your hiding anything from me now, assuming I carry on dealing with you, I'm going to treat everything you say to me as potentially suspect until I know differently.
General Manager @ BLE Lighting and Power | CONNECTION REQUESTS WELCOMED | IoT Expert | Early Adopter | Mentor | Coach | Vision
9yPlease take a moment to comment on this post. We really would value the opinions of real contacts, customers and prospects.