A good way to get better at sales is to stand in the shoes of the buyer. I always make it a point to ask different departments to let me sit in on sales-calls to understand how other salespeople sell. One aspect that I’m always surprised to see is the lack of physical requests a sales rep makes during an in-person meeting. Sales, especially B2B sales, in a very physical act, with many people involved in a purchase, and the more you can get your prospect physically involved during a meeting, the better. Taking attendance is a great way to do this.
When you’re going to meet a prospect in person and there are more than one other person in the room, you should always take attendance. Just like when you were in school, start off the meeting by taking roll. This puts all the participants at ease because writing their contact information is very familiar to them. Moreover, this shows that you the rep are confident and increases the chance that this meeting will be a productive use of their time.
An additional benefit of taking attendance is that it starts the meeting with a small close. As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s important to close along the whole sales cycle. When you close for taking attendance at the beginning of your meeting, the potential client can quickly understand the level of engagement. If they don’t sign your book, the chance of them signing a contract is slim.
Having tried this approach is a variety of ways, I’ve settled on my favorite method (for now)---which I’ll share with you. Because we live in an age of smartphones, it’s imperative to get everyone’s cell phone number. I like to fill out the page in my Moleskine as shown below. With “Name” and “Contact Phone number.” I’ve found that by inserting the word “Phone” into the attendance instructions, my success-rate is around 95%.
Taking attendance during on-site meetings is one simple way to start your closing early and improve your sales-rate. Though having a physical pen and paper with you might seem strange in 2017, it will help you gauge the level of interest of your prospect and demonstrate a new level of confidence in your sales.