A regular mistake made by most sales consultants is to start ‘selling’ their credentials, products, services and solutions, way too early in the sales conversation.

A client appointment should have two clear phases: the ‘connection/needs’ phase (where the client is doing most of the talking), and the ‘solution’ phase (where the salesperson does most of the talking). These phases are often confused, and not allocated the appropriate percentage of time.

The needs phase should always precede the solutions phase, and we would argue that in a first appointment, the weighting of time should be 80/20 (needs/solutions)… or, at the very least, 60/40!

This implies that we talk less, and that we should ask questions to get the client to talk more!