{"id":745,"date":"2007-03-12T12:09:37","date_gmt":"2007-03-12T17:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/dont-wing-it\/"},"modified":"2007-03-12T12:09:37","modified_gmt":"2007-03-12T17:09:37","slug":"dont-wing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/dont-wing-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Wing It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Selling Power published <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?NLid=3&amp;Layout_ID=620&amp;ARTid=2836&amp;nDate=March+12%2C+2007\">How to Manage Customer Meetings Effectively<\/a> which offers some sound advice for running an effective sales meeting.  There are many salespeople who believe they can wing it through a sales call by simply talking loquaciously.  Mistake.  Here is some advice found within the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hoffman suggests that you begin by clearly defining a personal goal for the outcome of the meeting. Don&#8217;t define a weak goal such as, &#8220;I want to establish next steps or action items.&#8221; Instead he suggests identifying a specific goal \u20ac\u201c is it an order? A trial for your software? Expansion into new markets? Referrals? And yes, says Hoffman, you can have more than one goal. Just don&#8217;t overcomplicate it. You will more likely achieve simple goals.<\/p>\n<p>Next, says Hoffman, work backwards. What do you need to do in order to achieve that goal or goals? Are the people you&#8217;re meeting with the right people? Do you have the influencer and the decision maker attending? What&#8217;s the timeline?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sounds like qualifying, doesn&#8217;t it?  The kicker &#8211; if you cannot answer these questions, don&#8217;t schedule the meeting until you can answer them.  There is an approach in selling where the salesperson believes being active is synonymous with success.  Salespeople who employ this approach are the sames ones who create a furious cloud of dust, but at the end of the day, the wagon has barely moved an inch.<\/p>\n<p>Finally:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Some people are <strong>visual<\/strong> and will respond well to Power Point presentations. Some are <strong>auditory<\/strong> and respond well to literature and conversation. And others are <strong>kinesthetic<\/strong> or hands-on learners.&#8221; How do you tell what learning types you have before a meeting? Well, aside from giving them all a test, you can&#8217;t, so Hoffman suggests mixing up the presentation to include all types of learners.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>People do have a preferred learning type &#8211; this is an area we have been exploring in more detail.  It can be difficult to determine their preference, but you can get clues by paying attention to their word selection.  I am auditory and tend to use pet sayings like &#8220;sounds good&#8221; or &#8220;talk to you later&#8221; or &#8220;that doesn&#8217;t sound good.&#8221;  You get the idea.  People broadcast their style frequently, you just have to be attentive to it.  And if you don&#8217;t know, start with visual (65% of the population) just to play the odds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Selling Power published How to Manage Customer Meetings Effectively which offers some sound advice for running an effective sales meeting. There are many salespeople who believe they can wing it through a sales call by simply talking loquaciously. Mistake. Here is some advice found within the article: Hoffman suggests that you begin by clearly defining a personal goal for the outcome of the meeting. Don&#8217;t define a weak goal such as, &#8220;I want to establish next steps or action items.&#8221; Instead he suggests identifying a specific goal \u20ac\u201c is it an order? A trial for your software? Expansion into new markets? Referrals? And yes, says Hoffman, you can have more&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/dont-wing-it\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-techniques"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-c1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1169,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/09\/sales-traits-series-realistic-goal-setting-for-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":0},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Realistic Goal Setting For Others","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As the unfortunate recipient of some heinously impossible sales quotas in my day, I am most intrigued by this week's trait as it pertains to Sales Managers (and a few from my past that I would enjoy assessing on this topic). Realistic Goal Setting For OthersThe ability to set goals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aptitudes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1613,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/defining-excellence\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":1},"title":"Defining Excellence","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling Power released an archived article titled Four Elements of Excellence.\u00a0 The short article provides a well-thought description so let's cut right to the chase.\u00a0 Here are the four: 1.) Goal Setting 2.) Commitment 3.) Feedback 4.) Organizational Support I would say that is a good list.\u00a0 The one that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/top-tactics-for-every-sales-call\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":2},"title":"Top Tactics For Every Sales Call","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The stereotypical description of a \"good\" salesperson is his or her ability to talk.\u00a0 Granted, good communication skills are extremely important in successful selling, but there is far more to it than just that ability.\u00a0 Salesopedia.com posts What to Know Before Every Sales Call\u00a0which details common sense goals for each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":327,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/09\/top-10-tips-for-effective-goal-setting\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":3},"title":"Top 10 Tips for Effective Goal Setting","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"CareerBuilder.com has an interesting management article regarding goal setting that I wanted to pass along. They have 10 quick steps in helping the goal setting process become more effective for managers. Their 10 steps are: Allow Your Employees to Own Their Goals Set Deadlines Make Sure the Goals are Measurable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/01\/sales-traits-series-realistic-personal-goal-setting\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":4},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Realistic Personal Goal Setting","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's sales traits comes with an anecdote. At a previous company, I worked with gentlemen who ran their own part of the business and had responsibility for their own forecasts. I remember submitting my forecast for the upcoming - it was a reasonable number. The 2 other business segment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anecdotes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anecdotes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/anecdotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":430,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/11\/sales-aptitudes-series-results-orientation\/","url_meta":{"origin":745,"position":5},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Results Orientation","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, we defined Project and Goal Focus which is important for successful selling in any market. Salespeople must stay on target over extended periods of time while overcoming many obstacles. The companion aptitude to Goal Focus is Results Orientation. It is one thing to stay on target, it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aptitudes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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