While you may see your goal in any meeting as to sell a product, in reality, what you are trying to do is to solve a gap in the buyers existing abilities and what the possibilities exist for the company. Sales and marketing align together to reach a sales goal. A sale only happens if there is value in the product for the buyer, but that doesn’t mean that the only goal the sales rep has is to make the sale. Learning how to clarify and align sales goals is a key part to your sales teams success. Here is some detailed information on how to clarify and align sales goals during your next sales meeting.

In fact, the seller needs to go into the meeting also looking for a way to resolve the challenges of the buyer. In this way, both the seller and the buyer are in alignment, looking for ways to create a solution that satisfies a recognized need within a system. Learn How to Run A Productive Sales Meeting and your ability to clarify and align goals will improve dramatically.

This type of alignment of goals brings the buyer and the seller into a mutually collaborative experience during the meeting. However, this won’t happen by accident. Creating a message in advance that is tailored to clarifying the focus of the meeting (to solve the problem/gap/want/challenge of the company) needs to be an important part of your preparation. It should also be a clear intent in your opening message and outlined in your agenda; clarifying for the buyer what your true objectives are for the meeting.

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This will prevent that defensive, disinterested and often dismissive attitude that can be difficult to break through when talking to decision makers in any business. Being well prepared and offering a valuable solution diminishes this natural dynamic in the room. So, make sure that you stop pitching & start solving client business problems.

Additionally, by structuring the sales presentation to be interactive, informative and not a hard-core sales pitch further aligns the goals, allowing you to test possibilities along the way and then move into the close at the opportune time.

Have a structured process for getting your prospects to take the next steps towards closing the sale. Here is an article that outlines 3 Steps to Help Prospects Commit. Don’t leave such an important meeting and process to your memory alone, always have an agenda and structured process. This agenda should even include a process to overcoming sales objections.