Episode 138. The 4 Step process to working with a client.

Simplify Your Sales and Business meetings. Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach. She has over 35 years of marketing, sales, and leadership experience. She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  Lisa coaches leaders on simplifying sales and business meetings with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.

 

Episode 138. The 4 Step process to working with a client.

 

How do we close more business? We get more assignments to solve from our clients.

 

It starts with our first meeting with the client; we have to discover several things to help them. What do they need to accomplish? What is their desired business goal or results? How can we ask better and more thoughtful questions to help solve their problems?

 

This is where you come in to help. Yes, our title may say account executive, account manager, sales representative, sales consultant, or sales manager. All these titles and many more have one goal in common - we are problem solvers. We are meeting with new clients to see how we can help solve a business problem they are currently having, and we must uncover this in our first meeting.

 

Let me ask you a question? As a Leader, have we prepared our team to ask questions that can help uncover their desired business results. If you have the questions, is your team using them on calls? Could this be a step that we rush through, but taking a moment to slow down and making sure we have this right could accelerate the sale process faster. This topic would be a great discussion in your next Leadership and sales meeting.

 

I went looking for the best way for us to help our teams. I discovered a process that Kurt Sima from the Center for Sales Strategy recommends using, and it involves a 4-Step process that you can implement with your teams.

 

Before we dive into the 4 Step Needs Analysis Process, remember that First Impressions Matter, be knowledgeable about the person you are meeting with and that it is all about them, not us and our products at this stage of the sales process.

 

Let's review the 4-A Steps that can help us:

 

Assessment

Assess the desired results the business is looking to achieve. Don't just accept the first desired business result; uncover several more to ensure you end up with a meaningful assignment.

 

Ask questions like:

• Help me see the business through your eyes. When you look at your P&L, what do you pay the most attention to?
• What areas of the business account for the bulk of your sales?
• Do you have some emerging or growth areas that are showing strong promise? 
• What key business results are you focused on achieving this year?
• Which results are you having trouble reaching?
• What opportunities do you want to capitalize on in the future?

 

Assignment

Summarize all the desired business results and select one to focus on first. The goal is to have an assignment after your meeting.

 

Follow these steps:

1. Summarize the desired business results you've uncovered so far.
2. Ask if anything is missing from the list.
3. Focus on an actual business result you have the capabilities to address. Ask the business to prioritize the list. Which is most important? Most urgent?
4. Test the emerging "Assignment" by asking questions about already-existing plans, potential spending to solve the problem, and how soon the prospect wants to see possible solutions.
5. Agree on one or more Assignment (s) the prospect wants help with, and you will work together.

 

Analysis

Once the Assignment is clear, analyze the problem to solve. Find out what is getting in the way of achieving the desired business result. Lead with the consumer journey—focus on what they are trying to get the customer to do.

 

Ask questions like:

• Why are you focused on this business result? What makes it so important? What makes it tough to achieve?
• Who is the target consumer? What consumer behavior will need to influence to achieve this result?
• What benefits do they seek? How does this advertiser stack up to competitors when delivering on those benefits?
• What is getting in the way currently?
• Describe the journey that brings them to make the purchase you want them to make.
• What are some of the things you need to see in the ideal solution?
• What has prevented you from having a solution already?

 

Agreement

Agree on how to measure success. What expectations do they have, and how will they measure the results. It's a good idea to have 2-3 ways to measure success.

 

Get your client to agree by asking questions like this:

• How would you describe the ultimate measure of success here?
• What return on investment are you looking for?
• Given our conversation about the consumer journey, how can we measure success along the purchase path?
• What would be an early indicator of success?

 

I encourage you to have your team do a Discovery Call with you as a practice. Let's keep in mind that some of our discovery meetings are in person and others done remotely. We must ensure our team has practiced doing these Discovery calls using Zoom or Teams platforms to give them the best pathway to success!

 

If you think someone could benefit from this article, I invite you to share it.

 

Learn more about Simplifying Your sales meetings using 3-word topics at http://www.threewordmeetings.com

 

Learn more about The Center for Sales Strategy http://www.centerforsalesstrategy.com