Instant Customer Rapport

For sales engineers, architects and designers who want to generate immediate and sustainable success in building loyal customers.

(6 minute read)

The situation is not unusual.? Your account executive has finally arranged a meeting with a key customer that is willing to talk about your product.? The account executive is good at opening up conversations and building business relationships.? They can position the product because of the product manager’s pitch at sales kickoff, but they can’t go deeper than the first slide that says, “Our widget is the best in the industry” followed by the three points that the product manager gives them. He got a lot of the right buzzwords from the customer in the hallway meeting, and he wants you to help him take the conversation to the next level.

Yes, you could just show up and do the “standard presentation” like the account executive asked.? You know, the one where you describe the product in detail, give some benefits and wow them with the “speeds and feeds”. Most of the slides are blessed by the marketing department after all, so they look great.? Everyone knows that your product is state of the art and was introduced to high acclaim and won best of show in Las Vegas.

How effective is that?? Turns out, not very.? The customer is interested in meeting the needs of their customer, business unit, or administrative department. There must be a better way to relate the technology to the customer so they will not only understand the product, but also what it can do to help their business.

Getting to the evaluation stage depends on the connection of both you and your product to the customer.? Know your customer and their needs, then relate your product to that.? Easy, right?? It’s not intuitive and not everyone excels at this.? Here are three key ways to quickly build rapport with your customer, present the technology and get to the next step in the sales process:

Key #1 – Begin with Company Research

What do you know about the company?? If the company is publicly owned and has stock, you are in luck.? A lot of information is required by the government to be posted on a regular basis.

Company Web Page – Companies are proud to put their key differentiators right up front.? After all, they want you to know right away what they do.? Scan their web site for products they sell, markets they service, and high level executives in their About section.

Annual Report – Some companies post this on their website.? Look for the Investor Information link at the bottom of the page.? The annual report will describe the company’s priorities and major projects.? You might even be able to find the exact project that the meeting is about.

Look for the letter from the CEO.? There you will find the future direction of the company and some tidbits on what the company sees as important, like market trends, key investments, and strategic initiatives.

The annual report also contains the financial statements from the past three years.? Those statements show investments in R&D, operating expenses, and more.? Even if you are not a financial wizard, you can still see what the company values in their financials.

If the reports are not readily available on their website, go to the SEC filing page and find them there:? https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch Look for the 10-K annual report, 10-Q quarterly report, and Proxy statement.? The proxy statement is where you will find how the executives are compensated, an important point when you are trying to relate the product or service to the Executive.

Latest News Stories – A quick Internet search will show newsworthy topics that reflect the company and its position in the industry.? An especially helpful site is the Yahoo! Finance page: https://finance.yahoo.com/.

LinkedIn – Most companies have a LinkedIn page as yet another presence on the Internet.? Look for relevant clues in the About section.? While you are there, look at the jobs section.? Not to find a job, but to see what type of positions they have open.? https://www.dhirubhai.net/.

Key #2 – Research the Customer

Relate, be curious, and only talk about relevant information.? How do you know what is relevant?? You can find out a lot about your customer before you even meet them for the very first time.

LinkedIn – Back to LinkedIn (https://www.dhirubhai.net/) to find the profile of the person you are meeting.? Find them quickly with a search for <name> <company>.? Where did they go to college?? Do you relate to any of their past companies?? Scroll down to their interests and see if they belong to the same groups as you.?

Web Search – Use your favorite web search engine to find out other information about the person you are meeting.? Do they belong to a non-work organization?? Did they hold a public office?? Maybe a hobby that you have in common?? All of these can be used as conversation builders to help you build instant rapport with the person you are meeting.

Key #3 – Build a Personalized Presentation

You were asked to present your widget to the customer after all. Getting beyond just talking about your company and the product is the extra step that will eventually get you to the revenue that retires quota.? Your account executive and you share a commission number, so this is always the goal.

Pare down the slides to only the set that is relevant to this customer. Feature dumping is never a good plan.

Show up early. Getting to the room early gives you extra time with your customer.

Engage in casual conversation while you set up the presentation.? Even before the presentation begins you can show them that you are interested.

Start by showing the customer that you understand them. Use the first slide to show you understand their issues with some of the information that you gleaned from research.

Only present product information that is relevant to them. You did the research.? Now it’s time to show how your widget will solve their unique problems.

Ask for next steps.? Get a commitment for a product demo, proof-of-concept, trial software, or anything else that will let you contact them for help and status updates.

Leave With an Action Item

Now that your fist sales call is done, give them a reason to meet with you again.? Go through your notes from the meeting and tell them the actions you promised to follow up with. Then follow up!

Following theses simple steps will lead to a more quality sales calls and better relationships with your customers.

Just remember the four principles of presales: Discover the Prospect, Increase the Possibility, Accelerate the Opportunity, Secure the Sale.

If you desire to improve as a presales engineer or optimize technical support for sales, please contact me directly today via LinkedIn Messenger to schedule your complimentary 30-minute Presales Technical Effectiveness Evaluation or Technical Sales Acceleration session.

Kerry facilitates cross-functional teams to create, implement and accelerate innovative technology products, services and sales strategies maximizing efficiencies, customer experience and corporate profitability. He speaks from 30+ years of presales experience with Fortune 500 companies Dell Technologies, HP, Sequent and Control Data. Kerry is Managing Principal of Pinnacle Technical Presales empowering the presales consultants to deliver the highest quality sales experience for their customers.?Kerry holds degrees in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Telecommunications, and an MBA. Living in Colorado, Kerry enjoys everything about the great outdoors.