This is possibly one of my favourite topics, if not the greatest!
Unfortunately, if you are in sales for the first time you will make this mistake. And this is ok, nobody was born to understand that what is important in a client meeting is what the client says not the other way round.
Humans have a native tendency to talk, we love “advertising” our achievements and speaking about what we are proud of.
The whole idea can be better understood if one considers the reason a meeting is conducted. Most might say that the meeting’s objective is to get closer to a sale. That’s the purpose, sure, but aren’t we there to help and consult the client in the first place? By helping the client finding a solution to a pain point, we get closer to selling our solutions. Sales is the result of finding the way to servicing the client. Assuming we conduct the meeting to help a client, doesn’t that mean we need to learn more about them, about their world, their pain points and their objectives? How can we answer these questions if we don’t let the customer speak the biggest part of a meeting?
The best way to make clients speak is to make effective, powerful and meaningful questions. But before that, we need to be genuinely intrigued to find out more about them and their business. The right questions will reveal lots about them, things that will be important for closing the sale as well.
You will be surprised how much clients love talking about them, about their business, and if they trust you they will talk about their challenges, their goals, they will then listen to you and your insights and discuss ideas about the business.
Letting clients talk will also reveal the compelling reasons for them to buy, the urgency, their worries and their dreamed environment and solution.
Don’t lose the opportunity to learn about them in a meeting, don’t throw away such an opportunity.
Happy selling!