- The Best Sales Newsletter
- Posts
- New Stakeholders
New Stakeholders
How to nail your first call with someone new
Mike Gallardo
August 18, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
New Stakeholders — How to nail your first call with someone new.
Song of the week: Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
This song gets me fired up for H2.
Hey friends,
Recently, I’ve been working with an AE on a great opportunity with an awesome company.
They hired an important stakeholder mid-way through the sales cycle and we we’re able to secure a call with them.
Here’s how we ran that call:
What We Learned Slide
We started with a single slide with three things:
Their most important priority.
Their second most important priority.
How we differentiate as a company.
Click the image for a template you can use!
Initial Discovery Questions
Next, we asked discovery questions focused on the person’s specific priorities and challenges.
Example 1:
Would love to get your perspective on the priorities we’ve listed here.
Would you mind walking me through your priorities and what you’d add as being most important to you in this evaluation?
Example 2:
Have you used a platform to accomplish X before?
If so, did you run into any challenges or things you want to make sure we focus on during today’s call?
Example 3:
Another thing I talk to VPs of X a lot about is Y.
Usually they’re looking to accomplish Z.
Is that on your radar at all?
Demo
The demo was focused on a couple of key features directly aligned to their priorities and challenges.
This took about 15 minutes only.
Just show the most impactful features so you build as much interest as possible.
Step | Time |
|---|---|
Initial chit chat, introductions, etc. | 5 minutes |
What we heard slide + initial discovery focused on priorities | 10 minutes |
Demo focused on a couple features aligned with priorities and challenges. | 15 minutes |
Discovery focused on business, timelines, etc. | 10 minutes |
Setting next steps while live on the call. | 5 minutes |
Later Discovery
This is where a lot of AEs mess up.
Only asking discovery questions at the start of the call.
Instead, focus initial discovery on your prospect’s priorities and challenges.
And then save time at the end to ask questions focused on confirming value, timelines, etc — map these questions out ahead of time.
Example 1:
We talked to [other stakeholder] about a go live date of X.
Curious, does that align with what you were envisioning or did you have a different timeline in mind?
Example 2:
Wondering if you had a chance to connect with [other stakeholder].
If so, what would you say is most important to them in this evaluation?
Example 3:
Here’s our pricing that we shared with [other stakeholder].
Would love to get your perspective on how this aligns with what you were expecting.
Do you have any feedback or questions?
Example 4:
Given you priority of X.
On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate the demo we just ran through?
Next Steps
Set next steps while live on the call.
Whatever you do, don’t send a calendly link and hope they schedule time with you.
Always have a plan, know the next steps ahead of time, and schedule them live on the call — anything else is suboptimal.
Example:
Looking at the clock we have about 5 minutes left.
Do you mind if I recommend some next steps for us?
Here’s what I’d suggest:
A 45 minute call where we’d:
1. Insert next step and why it’s valuable
2. Insert next step and why it’s valuable
Do you have your calendar open?
What questions do you have on the above?
Reply to this email and let me know!
— Mike G
When you’re ready…
Over 250 pages of frameworks, tactics, strategy and tips to help you source more pipeline, close more deals and earn the income you deserve.
These are the exact sales systems I’ve used at three of the fastest growing startups of all time: Zenefits, Flexport and Deel.