The Magic Cheat Sheet
When we are starting out in anything new, there is a lot to learn. This is true for selling as much as it is for anything else. That’s why when I go into a meeting, or when I jump on a call, I love a good cheat sheet.
As someone who has started a new business, you are passionate about your product and what you do in your business. You are super excited to get out there and help other businesses with your solution.
What you might not have anticipated, is that when you finally get that great meeting with someone, you find yourself in the meeting and – you draw a blank. You might be a bit nervous – and suddenly the room feels like a whole lot of silence. Or you may have so much information swimming about in your head that you want to convey, you don’t know where to start. What do I say? How do I get started?
Don’t panic! This is very common when people first start selling to other businesses. That’s why I recommend people prepare for their meetings with a few simple things written down, to help them. You need some cheat sheets.
Have a goal for every meeting
First, you want to have an objective for every meeting. That is, you want to have a goal of one key thing that you hope to get from that meeting. For a first meeting, a good goal is to aim to fully qualify the opportunity.
If you are not clear on what I mean by qualification – check out our free download on How to Sell B2B.
Other times your objective might be to clarify some specific information you need, like the progress and specific timing on a project that needs to be completed before they can move forward with your solution. A common objective might be to identify who the key decision makers are, and what each of their roles are in the process.
If you are at the discovery phase of your conversation, your goal may be to capture enough information to be able to go back with a presentation of your suggested solution. For larger complex solutions, this can involve capturing a large amount of information. To do this effectively, you need to have a structed way to approach the information capture, as well as a way of ensuring that you have captured all of the key information you need.
Write down your key questions
If qualification is your goal, write down your key qualification questions before going into the meeting. Have them to hand so you can refer to them and keep yourself on track. Remember, qualification is about you deciding if you want to work with them – not the other way around. So you may only need maybe three or five qualification questions, depending on the size and complexity of your solution.
For larger more complex solutions, once you’ve completed your qualification, you may need to ask a lot of discovery questions to flesh out what is needed to craft your presentation. Have these questions prepared ahead of time, as much as you can.
Keep a record of the questions you are asking at each stage of the sales cycle. Over time you’ll find that you can build out a set of standard questions you can use as a base to refer to at each stage.
It is always a good idea to review your standard questions ahead of each meeting, as you will want to adjust them to be focused specifically on the customer you are meeting.
Guide them through your process
Having your questions written down gives you some structure to work to. Having a simple plan means you won’t get stuck in awkward silences or waste time in rabbit hole conversations that aren’t helpful to you or the customer.
One of the reasons for a plan is to enable you to walk your customer through a process. You want to have some direction with your conversations, not wander aimlessly around in circles. Knowing where you are up to and what comes next helps you to stay focused and keep things on track to an outcome. It also takes a lot of the stress out of the conversations, as if you get stuck you can just refer to your cheat sheet of questions to get yourself back on track.
Cheat sheets for each stage of the process
In addition to having mini cheat sheets with your questions ready to go – having a list of common objections can also be really helpful. To build this, all you need to do is keep a record of any questions you get asked during the sales process.
When you have some planning time, have a think about the best way to address the questions and objections that you most commonly come across. Write down your answers and approach.
In addition to a great exercise and thought process to prepare for meetings, this list forms a great reference for the future. If you think you might not remember how you planned to address the objections when you get in the meeting, keep a copy of your objection handling ideas in your notebook to refer to.
Keep it simple
Remember, simple is the best. Having a simple process and set of questions to use in meetings makes things a whole lot easier. You’ll be more confident and more effective. Over time, you’ll find that you are referring to your cheat sheets less and less. But there is no harm in keeping it there for peace of mind and to keep yourself on track.
Everything takes practice, so let yourself practice different questions and ideas. You will make mistakes - this is how you find out what works and what doesn’t work. You’ll work out what feels right for you and what you find most effective. No one is an expert at anything overnight. So keep it simple – and be kind to yourself.
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