The first conversation

The first conversation is usually spent explaining what you do. That is the wrong use of it. The purpose is to find out whether there is a problem worth solving and what it costs, and almost none of that comes from talking.

The shape that works

1. 01Two minutes saying who you are, for context. Not a pitch. Enough that they know why they are talking to you.
2. 02Twenty minutes asking about their situation, mostly about what has already happened rather than about what they want.
3. 03Five minutes saying whether you think you can help, honestly, including when the answer is no or not yet.
4. 04Two minutes agreeing what happens next, with a date and a named action.

Most of the value is in the twenty minutes, and most people compress it to five so they can get to the part where they describe their service.

Ask about the last time, not about the future

The single most useful habit in a sales conversation, and it comes from the same principle as customer research: what somebody says they will do is a prediction, and what they did is a fact.

So not would you use something like this. Instead: tell me about the last time this went wrong. What did you do. How long did it take. Who else got involved. What did it end up costing. Did you look for a solution then, and what stopped you.

That last question is the most valuable one in sales and almost nobody asks it. If they looked before and did not buy, the reason they did not buy is the reason they will not buy from you either, unless something has changed.

What to do with silence

Leave it. The most common failure in a first conversation is filling every pause, which trains the other person to stop talking and listen instead.

After a question, wait. After an answer that seems finished, wait a beat longer than is comfortable. The second half of an answer is usually the useful half, and it only arrives if nobody speaks first.

Saying no in the first conversation

If it becomes clear during the twenty minutes that you are not the right answer, say so then. It is a better use of both afternoons, and it is the single thing most likely to produce a referral from somebody who never became a client.

People remember being told honestly that they did not need something far longer than they remember a competent pitch. That is not a tactic, and it works like one.

Ending with something specific

A conversation that ends with let me think about it has not ended, it has been suspended, and it will consume follow-ups for a month.

1. 01Say what you will do and by when. I will send a one-page outline on Thursday.
2. 02Say what you need from them to do it, if anything.
3. 03Agree the next conversation then, in the call, while you are both present. Arranging a meeting by email afterwards costs five messages and often fails.
4. 04If they are not ready to agree anything, ask what would need to happen first. The answer is either a real condition or an indication that there is nothing here.

When they ask you to pitch

Sometimes the other person opens with so, tell us what you do, which puts you straight into the performance you were trying to avoid. Refusing is awkward and giving in wastes the conversation.

The workable answer is to give a short version and immediately convert it into a question. Two sentences about what you do, then: that is the general version, but it will be more useful if I know which part is relevant to you. Can I ask what prompted the call.

That respects the request, takes thirty seconds, and hands the conversation back. It works because it is true: a description of your service is more useful once you know which part matters, and most people accept that readily.

What does not work is launching into the full presentation because it was requested. You will have used the hour saying things that may be irrelevant, and the questions you needed to ask will not fit at the end.