It’s the middle of October, already. Wow. I’m sure you’re looking ahead at the rest of the year, and wondering how you’re going to deliver a successful fourth quarter. Whether your fiscal year is calendar or not, October, November, and December are exciting months for all companies. Most customers do follow a calendar fiscal year, so we’re hoping they’re going to spend the remainder of their budget with us.
As important as your hunter mentality is right now, take a step back with me for a few minutes. Let’s back up to a point where we have our customers’ challenges and goals in mind. Are you there yet, or are you still planning your attack on bringing those 2018 opportunities into this year to take advantage of your accelerated commission rate? Once you’re there, read below to learn about the best thing you can do with your top customers in the next 10 or so weeks.
As mentioned above, your customers are dealing with challenges and goals that transcend your products and services. They need help. They need an expert to identify their problems, and guide them through the solution – that’s you, btw. You don’t get to this level of conversation with a typical sales call. You need a special meeting. A meeting where your customer is prepared and has set aside the appropriate time. You need your boss, your sales engineer, your controller, or any other resource that matters to your customers. You need a Vision Meeting … and it’s up to you to schedule it.
The objective of the Vision Meeting is to help your customers identify the challenges between their current states and their three-year vision. You, the sales person, should schedule and drive the meeting. This is not about their vision with you, nor is it about their overall vision as a company independent of you. This is about the vision of the departments you service – IT, security, facilities, etc. This is also about them understanding your capabilities, and plans to expand or innovate in the next year or so – letting your customers know where you’re going. I’m not suggesting that you make this a sales call, but you should start the meeting with something like: “We’re going to spend most of our time discussing your plans over the next few years, but I’d like to spend the first ten minutes showing you what we’re doing – at a very high level.” That’s it – ten minutes. Tease them a little, but jump into their scenario – goals, challenges, politics, etc. It’s important they see a little bit about your vision because they’ll tie it to their scenario. At the end of the meeting, you should agree upon the next steps, and the feeling in the air should be one of solidarity – as though you’re one team.
You can’t do a vision meeting with all your customers, so I recommend selecting one to three this year. If you want to expand next year, go for it. I suggest manufacturers working with their top channel partners, and system integrators working with end-users. Obviously, there is a ton more detail I share with my clients about designing Vision Meetings, but you’re experienced enough to take it from this short post.
One last note: A key factor to scheduling Vision Meetings is setting the proper expectations - defining a client-focused objective, agenda, necessary audience, and time frame.
Ok, after deciding on your one to three customers, you can now zoom back into your closing mentality, and go capture those sales opportunities that are just waiting for you!
