Sales people are constantly in and out of meetings and sometimes you forget the little things.  Forgetting the small stuff could be detrimental to your success and you could end up losing the sale even before you leave the first meeting.  You don’t have to get too complicated, but putting together a small game plan before a sales meeting is very important.  Do a small background check on the person you are meeting with, prepare some good questions that you want to ask, and make sure you there 15 minutes early.

Here are 4 things you can do today that will help you get closer to a purchase order:

1.  Shut up and Listen:

The biggest problem that I see with many sales people is that they tend to talk a lot.  Although it’s a good trait to have when you are at social events, it’s not the best thing to be over talking during a meeting.  Don’t sit there and spit out information at the potential client because you will just end up confusing and overwhelming them.  Ask proper questions and try to uncover problems.  This doesn’t mean that you should sit there like a mute, you can still strike up conversations, just keep in mind that your there to hear what they have to say and to see if you can help solve their problem.

Come up with a bunch of good questions to ask and prepare yourself before walking into the meeting.  Not only will you have a productive meeting, but you will come off very professional.

2.  Nobody Cares about Bits and Bytes:

If your selling technology, don’t over concern yourself with knowing every technical detail about the product.  If you are sitting in front of the right person, they aren’t going to be grilling you about the engineering specifications.  Concentrate on fully understanding the customer and their needs.  If they are asking you overly technical questions, you can always write them down and follow-up the next day.  It’s another excuse to give them a call and touch base.

3.  It either has to Make them Money or Save them Money:

If what you are pitching doesn’t help the potential client make money or save money then your solution is most likely not a fit.  Of course this isn’t true for consumer products (i.e. TV, iPod, etc), but if your in business-to-business sales then this is 100% true.  When we walk into a potential clients office they are usually asking us to come in because they need to reduce theft or liability (if you don’t know, we sell security solutions).  If you are selling a state of the art machine to a manufacturer it should be able to speed up production, in turn making them more money.  Always ask yourself “will my solution save them money or make them money?”  If the answer is No, then you are most likely wasting their time.

4.  Follow Through:

Make sure you follow through on absolutely everything you talked about in the meeting.  Write down all of the customers questions and take good notes.  When your done the meeting ask them when they need you to follow-up.  Do they need answers tomorrow or next week?  If they need answers tomorrow, then you make it a priority and get them an answer tomorrow.  If they need an answer next week, then make sure you get all the info into your CRM system and you get back to them on exactly the date you agreed on.  Make sure you answer every question, no matter how ridiculous they sound to you.  By being responsive and easy to deal with shows your potential client that your company is the same way.  Many people miss this small but simple task and the decision maker will notice.