Earn the First Meeting

 By Rye Overly

Introduction

For all intents and purposes this blog is aligned to Tech Sales professionals who seek to earn meetings through “cold outreach”. This is a particularly difficult task -given the noise in the market and unreceptiveness of potential buyers to engage with sales people. If you have any mutual connections, please start here as it will increase the likelihood of getting the first meeting 10 fold.

My philosophy for this outreach is that you must earn the first meeting the same way you might earn someone’s business. How do you do this? By providing value. To provide someone value, you must connect the three dots.

  • Person (Why me)

  • Compelling event (Why now)

  • Why {Company}, (How is your solution different from the 10 competitors that reached out today)

Let’s walk through each.

Why you

People are usually driven by “what’s in it for me” (source: https://inmotionmktg.com/blog/wiifm-whats-in-it-for-me/). I believe the person you reach out to is the most critical element of the 3. In technical sales, the ultimate price tag is usually over 6 figures which represents the risk your champion faces by advocating for your solution internally. To offset this risk, look for past customers that have moved onto new companies. This way, your contact has hands-on experience with your tooling and can tie the conversation back to experience, not hope. If you’re unable to find a past champion at a new account, at a minimum you must understand in detail the challenges this person faces daily — so you’re able to build trust by understanding.

Why now

Even if you find the right person, if you’re off on timing — no sale (source: https://saleshood.com/blog/compelling-event/). Whether the roadmap is already planned for the year, a large event is coming up, or the company is hyper-focused on a trend (like AI) — you will not get the attention needed. Key events to look for would be job postings, broader tech news, or earnings reports. Through these examples you can uncover initiatives. Where the company is spending, the company is looking to optimize.

Why {company}

Now is where the three elements come together. You’ve found the right person who is looking to fix a problem (or optimize a solution). This is where you offer proof points on why your company is the best option and how you’ve done it before. Once I articulate the initiative they are looking to solve (boost conversion rates, improve productivity, decrease spend), you align outcomes on how this has been done before. Leverage 3rd party analyst reports or customer case studies to prove the value.

Conclusion

Once you’ve aligned the three elements into a concise message, reach out to your contact directly. Be respectful / not pushy and have confidence that you’ve aligned a compelling story to ultimately earn the first meeting.

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