Your presence in a sales meeting can make or break your chances at making a deal. The way you interact with the people in the room, the solutions you provide, and your overall tone can quickly put you into the good (or bad) graces of your prospects. Bringing resources, telling stories, and asking questions can all help quickly establish a rapport that makes business dealings easier.

To learn how to better present and connect with potential clients, we turned to Jeff Ragovin, Chief Strategy Officer for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, to let us in on how he approaches a big sales meeting.

How Do You Own a Sales Meeting?

 

1. Be passionate, transparent, and real. "You don’t want to come across as a used car salesman, because that’s the biggest turnoff." says Ragovin. "Prospects love people who are passionate and real. Be a human being." 

2. Stick to solutions. "You don’t want to just talk about product and technology. Offer a solution to their problem." 

3. Be armed and ready. "You want to go in with case studies, and all of the great stuff that you have at your fingertips, and really think about how your play is going to follow suit in that meeting. Have a referral ready and share it right in the beginning, before they have a chance to ask you. It shows that you’re prepared."

4. Always be relevant. If you’re following up after a meeting, have a reason for why you’re reaching out. Share a new case study, news about their business, or industry updates. Don’t use up that credit that you have with a bad email or bad follow-up phone call. 

How Do You Interact With People During a Sales Meeting?

5. Be a storyteller. "Tell stories when you’re meeting with clients before a deal actually takes place. Showcase those customer case studies, successful programs and how you helped similar businesses. These are the answers prospects are looking for.

6. Ask plenty of questions. This gives the client the opportunity to give you the answers and tell you what they want to hear. Asking questions is great to uncover information and it’s critical. You’ll understand them and their needs a lot more.

For more great sales success tips, be sure to download the free ebook below.