Slides kill conversion in the first conversation

Showing slides or a long intro in the first 10 minutes of a sales call is an accelerated conversion killer.

Yet most tech (sales) professionals still think: "I explain my solution and what benefits it has for the customer."

The higher the rank, the greater the belief that prospects want to listen to you.

Wrong.

This makes you EXACTLY the classic salesperson you DON'T want to be. Pitching instead of listening.

Yesterday I was at a software company. Their top architect had an important client meeting.

His preparation? Filling the PowerPoint and adding use cases. "Death by PowerPoint" with full images to impress.

"How did it go?" "Not well. There were a lot of objections."

And an expected closing from the prospect: "We already do this ourselves. Just leave those slides here, we'll call you if we need anything."

It's all about starting your first conversation with the customer point of view. That doesn't start with delivery, but with a genuine desire to understand and therefore listen.

NEVER start with slides. Otherwise, you're saying, "I'm not here to listen, I'm here to tell you what to do." This is perceived as incredibly condescending, even if you're a managing director, a founder, or Gandalf the Wizard.

What steps for your first conversation

1. Do you understand your customer's business in advance?

→ What market pressure is there on their organization?

→ What are their opportunities and risks?

→ How do they make money and what costs them money?

2. Do you know the interests of your stakeholder?

→ Did he profile on LinkedIn? What does he read? Write? Post?

→ What keeps him awake at night?

→ How does he make decisions?

3. Have you thought about tactics?

Who are the other decision-makers? Who should I speak to first?

→ What assessment do you do beforehand? For example, a shared contact for speaking engagements? Consulting ChatGPT? Scanning press releases?

4. Can you get a picture of his behavior?

Is he analytical? It's useful to be specific and include facts.

→ Is he relational? Then connecting or making him safe is key

→ Is he results-oriented? So focus on how to achieve goals

5. Finally, call ahead and ask “what the conversation should be about for him”

→ What would happen to your confidence and conversion rate if the prospect

→ And would that contribute to your preparation instead of coming to the table with a blank slate?

Prepare for conversations where you ask 90% of the time questions and say almost nothing. Zero pitch.

The road to the deal gets shorter.