Mastering Tough Sales Meetings: How to Guide the Conversation

How often do you enter a sales meeting with a prospect who has a very strong, and potentially intimidating personality? These strong personalities have a tendency to take over the conversation during sales meetings and cause you to fall back and take the easy road in the discussion. The way we get around this is by setting up an Up-Front Contract with the potential buyer. This tactic allows us to mutually set the expectation of what both you and the buyer can expect out of the meeting. This levels the playing field and can be as simple as saying, “Can we agree to ask questions?”

Consider this story:

I think, said Janet to herself, that I just figured out a solution to my problem of letting the prospect run the meeting.

With that thought in mind, she got out of her car and walked into the office building. Her first ever face-to-face with Harry Whitland, the CEO of Whitland & Sons Furniture Factory, had been rather easy to arrange. One of her existing clients, at her suggestion, had arranged for the appointment. Nothing like asking for a referral, thought Janet as she was led into Harry Whitland’s office.

“Mr. Whitland,” began Janet, “I appreciate your taking Gabrielle Deprey’s suggestion and meeting with me.”

“Ah,” responded Harry, looking up towards the ceiling for a second, “Gabrielle and I go a long way back . . . I’ve tried my best over the years to hire her away but she’s always telling me that we’d fight tooth and nail if we were in the same company.”

“Why would that be?” asked Janet, thinking to herself that this meeting was going just like she wanted.

“Not that it would matter, but Gabrielle has an incredibly strong personality and very definite opinions about running a business. The problem, you see,” he said, looking at Janet, “is that so do I.” He concluded and stared at her.

Janet decided that she had nothing to lose at this moment. Either she wimped out and let Harry Whitland start running things or she would keep control. Taking a deep mental breath, she remembered her question.

“I appreciate that you also have a similar personality and definite opinions about running a business . . . and if we could agree on one thing at this point, I think we could both get something out of this meeting.” Janet knew that was a statement, but she wanted to see if he would interpret it as a question.

Harry looked at Janet for a moment; the puzzled expression lasted a few seconds and then faded to one of curiosity. “What might that be?”

“Gabrielle thought that you and I might be able to work some business. Neither of us know at this moment. Can we agree to ask each other questions to find out?”

He thought for a moment and smiled. “Sure,” he said, “you start.”

The RESULT:

Janet got an up-front contract with her prospect about how the meeting would be conducted.

DISCUSSION:

How often do you meet a salesperson who confidently approaches an initial meeting with a prospect, knowing there may be no deal to close? It seems to counter the typical sales mindset that every prospect can be won over if you’re skilled enough to overcome objections.

Janet could have taken the usual path—the “information dump” approach. She might have started by describing a recent sale to Gabrielle, assuming Harry would be interested. Or, if that didn’t resonate, she could have pivoted to discussing her company’s wide range of products. And if neither option felt right, she could have defaulted to the standard question: “What do you need?”

Of course, Harry would likely interpret that question as, “What can I sell you today?”

Instead, Janet got Harry to agree to an up-front contract, outlining how their conversation would flow. They’d both be asking and answering questions. Commonplace? Hardly. Prospects rarely anticipate being asked anything other than, “Will you buy today?” But with this agreement in place, Janet was now free to ask all the questions she needed to uncover valuable insights.

APPROACH:

All you have to do is ask the question, “Can we agree to ask each other questions?”

What’s the prospect going to do, say no? If they do, it’s probably best to find out early and move on. A straightforward response could be, “I understand you’re not interested in answering questions; it seems like our conversation might end here. Could you validate my parking on the way out?” If they don’t stop you at that point, it’s a clear sign there was no real opportunity to begin with.

When the prospect agrees, start asking questions and get them talking. Remember, you’re not there to provide free advice or hand out consulting time. Your goal is to determine if they genuinely qualify to do business with you. The only way to discover that is by asking questions—unlike most salespeople who immediately launch into a one-sided sales pitch

THOUGHT:

The only way to find out what the prospect or the customer needs is by asking questions. By getting an up-front contract that they will answer questions, you are no longer viewed as the run-of-the-mill salesperson who makes run-of-the-mill earnings.

Ready to Take Control of Every Sales Meeting? Learn how to steer conversations with even the most challenging prospects by establishing upfront contracts. Discover more strategies to close deals effectively by joining our exclusive "Sell More" event! Don’t miss out—reserve your spot now and empower your sales approach!

Register Here ➔