About nine years ago I was asked to attend a presentation in Washington. We were presenting our capabilities to a major government contractor who had recently won a long term program with the DOD. We were invited because of the efforts of a consultant we had on retainer that was tasked with getting us involved in government contracts. Our consultant had a wealth of experience in the crazy ways these contracts were funded and awarded, but had almost zero experience in sales presentations.
We did a pretty decent job. We laid out their scenario and likely challenges and presented a solution. We even got the audience engaged and talking – if you’ve been in one of these debriefings you know how difficult that can be! After the meeting was over, our consultant took us to Morton’s for a celebratory lunch… Morton’s. I didn’t even know they were open for lunch. He looked at my sales engineer and me during the toast (yes, a toast at lunch) and said “you guys just closed that deal – that was awesome”.
Well, you know what happened. We never saw that contractor again.
This is a common problem amongst sales people, and not just the rookies. Even the senior sales professionals get wrapped up in the excitement of killing a demo or presentation. We leave and start counting our commissions. Meanwhile, the audience goes back to their day-to-day routines and may or may not ever buy your product or solution. Don’t get me wrong, you’re in a great spot, but you’ve still got work to do. So, what can you do?
First of all, don’t start celebrating yet. As a meeting is coming to an end, I coach all of my clients to prepare for the worst. Even if a client is telling you how great you and your solution are, you may never hear from them again. However, if you prepare for the worst you will be fine. How? Below are some examples of what you need to do:
- Schedule the next appointment
- Ask permission to work with your point of contact’s assistant to schedule future appointments
- Connect with them on various social media outlets
- As you debrief, lay out a follow-up plan and schedule. For example, you might want to send the group an article in follow-up that validates your presentation, but hold a case study in your back pocket in case you have trouble with follow-up.
You might think they love you and will buy millions from you, but if you don’t get over yourself and prepare for the worst, you’ll lose most of these “guarantees”.
