83%
There’s a saying for delivering presentations called the 6 Ps – Proper Preparation Prevents P_ _ _ Poor Presentations.
It’s the same when preparing for sales meetings, considers this:
83 out of 100 B2B Decision Makers think salespeople are unprepared. What a damning statistic for our industry.
There really is no excuse, particularly when you consider how easy it is to find information about prospects online. The website for the business, LinkedIn for the person you’re meeting, Twitter, Instagram. Even Googling them to see what else the internet might throw up.
Depending upon your prospect you might consider driving past their premises or even mystery shopping them. In my time at Omega Performance we used to do this with banks, it’s surprising how different the perception of senior management can be to those treading the customer pathway!
There is no excuse for this lack of preparation.
If you really have your customers need at heart, you’ll take the time first to learn a bit about them and their business and second prepare some needs-focussed questions to ask them.
“It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want” – Steve Jobs