on sales

My agenda template for sales meeting with a customer

So, you have a sales meeting scheduled for today or tomorrow. If you’re like me you struggled a bit with how to start the meeting. That feeling of “I don’t know what I’m doing” combined with your eagerness to do a great job can be tough to handle. I’ve been there, and now I find sales meetings easy.

Most developers that have to run sales meetings only want to get started coding. But you need to give the sales some time, to ensure that you’ll get the project, and also make sure you understand everything.

Here’s my agenda for the first sales meeting with a customer

  • Time check – How long do we have? Even if you’ve checked this before people’s calendars tend to get busy. Does anyone have to leave early, or have a flight to catch? Always respect the time.
  • Introductions – Start with yourself and go around the room, briefly letting everyone tell a few words about who they are and what role they have.
  • Problem Description - Let the customer describe their problem in their own words. Try to get them to focus on the problem. You will talk about possible solutions later.
  • Possible solutions - If you can find a solution to the problem right away, tell them so and present the solution. If you don’t have it ready yet, you can briefly talk about different solutions that you’ve done in the past that resembles the given problem.
  • Next Meeting/Action - A successful sales meeting either leads to an order or a next meeting/action. Make sure to include time for this in your meeting so you all can grab your calendars and see what time best fits you all.

You’ll probably add a few things in the middle that suits your business, but this is a good outline for a sales meeting with a customer.

Other things to think about

  • Notes. I always like to take notes myself. After the meeting I usually send out an e-mail to everyone attending the meeting with the notes attached. That way everyone can see if I have forgot something.

  • Keep meetings short. Sales meetings that go on for more than an hour are usually a waste of time for everyone included, at least when selling web development and/or regular consulting.

  • Always focus on the problem first, not the solution. You need to properly understand the problem before even thinking about a solution.

  • Good sales meetings does not feel ‘salesy’ to anyone involved. You should see yourself as a problem-solver, not a sales guy.