How to Structure a Stellar First Meeting in B2B Sales
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A salesperson recently came up to me after a training session and asked, “What does a perfect first sales meeting look like?”
While the word perfect is both subjective and elusive, this is the basic framework I gave her to ensure a great first meeting.
Now of course there are some caveats here. This post will be most helpful if:
You work at a B2B creative services agency
The prospect you’re speaking to is an inbound lead (when the lead originates from outbound prospecting there is much more onus on you to provide value to them during the first meeting)
This said, let’s jump in.
Your North Star
When meeting with a new prospect for the first time, your ultimate goal is to build a stronger relationship with them (than your competitors) and provide them value at every step of the sales process.
By following this framework, you'll be able to have an effective first call that will help you stay on process and win more new clients.
Build Rapport
Building rapport is crucial in a first meeting with someone you've never met before. Take the time to get to know the person on a personal level and determine if they're a good cultural fit and of course if they’re someone you want to invest time with.
Always make time upfront to build rapport and never jump right into business.
To do this effectively, do a little research on their website, read their bio, and take a quick look through their LinkedIn profile.
Identify what stands out to you about their information, what makes you curious, and how you can relate to them on a human level.
To kick off the meeting, say something like, "Hey, I checked out your LinkedIn profile. I see that we both went to the same school (or grew up in the same area, etc.)." Then, ask a few follow-up questions to show curiosity and relate to her/him.
Set Expectations
After you've built rapport, it's time to segue into your business conversation. The very next thing you want to do is set expectations around your sales process and how you approach helping clients in general.
The best way to set expectations is to say something like, "Hey, I'm excited to chat with you and learn more about what you're trying to accomplish and how I might be able to help. If after chatting you think we’re a good fit, we'll schedule a follow-up meeting where I can present you with a solution and give you some insights that will help you."
The most important thing here is to ask it as a question and ask for permission to proceed using a question like, "Does that sound OK with you?"
Once you lay out the expectations of what you're doing in this conversation and what you'd like to do in the next conversation if it's a mutual fit, you'll have better control of the sales process, and you've gotten their permission to proceed under the approach that works best for you.
Find Their Hot Button
From here, you want to jump into asking great questions. The rule for the first meeting is always “ask, don’t sell.”
There are two different types of discovery questions: business discovery and technical discovery.
Most people are good at technical discovery, which means asking the prospect or client questions in order to execute on an engagement. This includes questions about their users, technologies, and any design specifications they need. All of these types of questions fall under technical discovery.
However, to elevate your approach from a transactional order-taker to a more strategic, consultative approach, you want to ask good business questions and figure out your prospects' and clients' "why."
Said another way: what are they really trying to accomplish, and how can you help them?
Your 7 Key Business Discovery Questions
1. What recently changed to make this a priority now?
This question is crucial for gauging the urgency behind the client's initiative. If it's a company-wide priority tied to key objectives, there will be significant momentum and need for rapid action. Conversely, if it's one stakeholder's pet project, the urgency may be lower. By understanding the impetus for change, you can better anticipate the client's expectations and timeline.
2. What does success look like? How do we measure success?
Uncovering the client's definition of success is paramount. You need a crystal-clear picture of their objectives/goals, which could include:
Gaining insights that answer critical business questions and drive strategic decisions
Achieving a specific lift in revenue or market share, or internal cost savings, especially for larger clients
Improving key metrics like customer acquisition cost, average order value, or customer lifetime value
By agreeing on how success will be measured, you can ensure that your agency is aligned with the client's goals and can deliver the desired outcomes.
3. How did you come up with a budget?
Note that this question is not "What is your budget?" but rather "How did you come up with a budget?" The budget question naturally flows from the success question. Once you understand the client's objectives, you need to gauge whether they have allocated sufficient resources to achieve them. If there's a disconnect, you can:
Help them find additional internal funding by building a business case
Educate them on the likely business impact of the engagement to arrive at the right investment level
Determine if your agency is truly the right fit for their current budget constraints
This question allows you to be a responsible steward of the client's resources and your own.
Watch this 3-minute video to dive deeper into the importance of these first three questions to understand buyer intent.
4. What do you think the right solution is?
Sometimes prospects or clients have a preconceived notion of how to achieve their objectives. It's critical that you uncover any assumptions or expectations early in the discovery process. If their suggested approach doesn't align with your agency’s methodology, you have a few options:
Recognize that the client may not be an ideal fit for you
Reset client expectations early to ensure smooth sailing later in the engagement
Educate the client on the advantages of your agency’s approach by highlighting the risks and limitations of the client's suggested tactics – focusing on how your methodology better serves their ultimate objectives/goals.
By surfacing any disconnects early, you can save countless headaches for your execution team.
5. What's driving timelines on your end?
Speed is often a key decision criterion, so you need to uncover the client's ideal timeline early. But beyond knowing when they need insights or design in hand, you need to understand what they plan to do with your deliverables.
By stress-testing the client's timeline against their objectives, you can determine if it's realistic and adjust accordingly. This question helps you plan backward to complete the sales process, assemble the right team, execute the research, and deliver ion time.
6. Who helps you make this decision? In addition to yourself, who are all the decision-makers?
Enterprise buying is complex, with multiple stakeholders influencing the decision. Your odds of success are higher when you understand the full buying committee and what each member cares about. Different personas have different decision-making styles:
Some are data-driven and need to see hard numbers
Some are influenced by social proof like case studies and testimonials
Some are swayed by emotionally resonant stories
Some make decisions based on trust and relationships
By understanding each stakeholder's role, priorities, and preferences, you can tailor your approach to build consensus and make your agency the clear choice.
7. What other options are you considering? Who else are you talking to?
Clients always have alternatives, even if that alternative is the status quo. By understanding what the client perceives as their options, you can become a trusted advisor who helps them evaluate the trade-offs. For example:
If they're considering in-housing, you can highlight the advantages of working with an agency that specializes
If they're talking to your competitors, you can provide thought-provoking questions to ask that highlight your unique strengths
Once you have the answers to these questions, you'll be able to go back and create a proposal that not only helps the client achieve their desired business outcomes and value but also includes all the information needed to create an engaging and compelling proposal.
Schedule the Next Interaction
The last thing you want to do before you end the meeting is, if you both feel like it's a fit, schedule the next interaction, even if it's one to two weeks out.
Because you set the expectations upfront, you can now say something like, "Hey, I know we're coming up on our time together. You gave me some great information here. When is a good time to reconnect so I can present you with some move-forward options and strategies to help get you what you need? Does next Tuesday at the same time work for you?"
And of course, if more discovery needs to happen before you can create a proposal, you need to call this out. Or maybe you want to invite additional decision-makers from their end or subject matter experts from your end to learn more before you can create an effective pitch. Either way, still schedule the next meeting, communicating the agenda that Amplify needs to gather more info. Then offer options like, "Does next Tuesday or Wednesday at the same time work for you?"
By scheduling the next interaction, you maintain momentum and keep the sales process moving forward, ensuring that you stay top-of-mind with the client and have a clear next step to work towards.
Your Key Takeaways
✅ Build rapport by finding common ground and relating to the prospect on a personal level.
✅ Set expectations around your sales process and agenda for the call, asking for permission to proceed.
✅ Conduct both business and technical discovery to understand the client's needs, goals, and "why."
✅ Ask the 7 key business discovery questions to uncover critical information about urgency, success metrics, budget, solution preferences, timelines, decision-makers, and alternatives.
✅ Schedule the next interaction before ending the call to maintain momentum and keep the sales process moving forward to the pitch.
