Nail the First Call

I had an interesting week. I like to take a couple of cold calls or answer a few cold emails each week to stay on top of the latest trends and technology. Last week, I had two such meetings. One was the best I've had in a long time, and the other, well, it just sucked.

In today’s world, nobody is eager to spend money, but everyone is desperate for a guide or coach to help grow and scale their business. It’s such a weird time.

That first meeting with a sales rep? It's everything. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so I'm always surprised when companies let every rep do whatever they want. Really? You get one chance, and you’re going to leave it to chance?

For the first meetings I take, I'll admit I always come in doubtful but also hopeful. I need help like everyone else. If I had every answer, I probably wouldn’t be writing this. Regardless of my state of mind, I'm looking at the people on the first call to impress me. It’s their job to make it WOW – like, REALLY WOW.

If you nail this, I'll buy from you EVERY TIME.

Some say the first call isn’t important, or the first call deck is just a deck, and that’s part of an old tradition that is dead and gone. They're wrong. I can’t stress enough the importance of that first interaction. If you don't have a scripted, iterated, and perfected first call, SHAME ON YOU.

But it’s hard, right? How do you figure out what to do? Shouldn’t somebody else handle that? Product marketing or sales engineers – it shouldn’t be me, right? I don’t care who you are and what excuse you have, if you run first meetings, you should try and be part of the solution, not the problem. The task has to get done, so whoever should do it should just jump in and do it. We don’t have time for blame and pointing fingers.

With all of that said, I buy a lot of stuff myself, so I thought I’d lend you a helping hand and tell you exactly how I expect the first meeting to go. Then, I want to show you an example of a meeting this week because I have to admit, this company absolutely nailed it.

1️⃣ Intro

• Content: Tell me why we're talking and make intros quick. Keep questions to 3-5 max. I don’t want to waste 15 minutes on BS questions. Focus on how I measure success so we can align. At the end of this short segment make sure you reframe what you heard before you move on.

• Slides/Visuals: No

• Question: Yes you should ask questions here

• Timing: 3 minutes

2️⃣ Your Company

• Content: Give me the quick take on your company and what you do. Don’t need to go into a lot of depth. Give me your one line overview and then a couple of facts about the company

• Slides/Visuals: No

• Timing: 1 minutes

2️⃣ Logos That Matter

• Content: Next, jump into the obligatory logo slide. I want to see that you work with companies I care about, but tie it to something bigger. Tell me you specialize in an industry I might care about or demonstrate expertise in a specific area.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 1 minute

  

  Logos That Matter

3️⃣ Why Do I Care

• Content: Don’t make me guess and don’t bury the lead. Just get to the point and tell me what makes you different or what your unique point of view is and what I’m going to get from you.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 2 minute

4️⃣ Personalized Demo

• Content: It’s important that you make this about ME, not you. I get it, you don't know everything about me, but you know enough. Make your product overview relevant to my industry or what you think I want to hear. If I see a generic overview, I get PISSED. Also, I don't want to see your big ugly product. Real companies use a clickable demo on the first call so it's focused and honed.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 5 minute

5️⃣ Case Study/ROI

• Content: Show the tangible results of switching to your solution and relate it to metrics that I care about. Oh, and tell me basic pricing.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 2 minute

  

  Proven Results

6️⃣ Journey

• Content: Show me how you're going to get me from my current state to the future state and the team that will get me there.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 2 minute

  

  Team Support

  

  Implementation Overview

  

7️⃣ Next Steps

• Content: Tell me the next steps. Don’t be a wimp and ask, "What do you think?" Tell me what to do next.

• Slides/Visuals: Yes

• Timing: 2 minute

8️⃣ Follow-Up Email

• Content: Send me a follow-up email that is short, simple, and to the point. It needs to have a short recap, a couple of ‘leave behind documents’, and clear next steps.

• Slides/Visuals: N/A

• Timing: N/A

There you have it. I want you to do 90% of the talking, and I want to walk away dying to buy from you. Here's the formula – will you please use it?