You Secured the Meeting, Now What?

There are several milestone achievements the SDR/BDR attains during the front end of the sales cycle. One is to successfully prospect, engage and finally qualify a potential prospect who will consider buying a solution to solve one, or many, of the problems they might have. You are wrapping up the call, reviewing the next steps, and confirming a date and time for the next meeting. Done!

Well, not quite yet. You have only partially completed your own sales cycle. There are a few things that you need to button up. You have secured the meeting, now what?

Here are a few tips to ensure the potential prospect continues to engage as you move the opportunity forward:

1. Summarize the outcome of your call with the prospect. Take the time to outline your understanding of your prospects needs, challenges and goals.
   
   
2. Ask your prospect, “Is there someone else that will attend our introductory meeting? Who else can I invite to this call?”
   
   
3. One more question, “Jack, to make the best use of your time we will be discussing the following items you shared with me. Are there any other items you’ll like to add?” Thank you!
   
   
4. Send a calendar invite to the prospect with date, time, and bridge number.
   
   
5. Ask if they want a reminder text to their mobile phone. “Jack, most of our customers appreciate a brief text reminder 10-15 minutes prior to the call. Is it okay if I send you a text message ahead of our meeting? What is the best number?”
   
   
6. Take the time to debrief the outcome of the call with your Account Executive (AE). Ensure you cover all items you have collected on your pre-call planning and also your discovery sheet.
   
   
7. If you have call-recording technology, share the recording of your call with your AE. This will allow him/her to listen to the tone of the call, the qualification questions and will help them get a sense of the prospect’s interest and other items that were discussed during your qualification call
8. Ensure you go through the pre-call planning with your AE. Take the time to debrief with your AE about this prospect, the company and the potential opportunity. Review what you know about the account,and the topics to review in anticipation of the discovery call.

Following these steps will allow you to improve your sales skills, your listening skills, and, most importantly, help advance your potential opportunity forward. Always remember, the front end of the sales cycle is just as important as the back end.

About the Author
Ivan Gomez is a Force Management Partner who specializes in training inside sales teams. He's also the President and Founder of NextStage, LLC, a consulting firm that helps companies accelerate go-to-market strategies with sales development and inside sales. This blog post was originally published on NextStage's website.