1. Watch the How-to-Video “Doing your Homework”.
  2. Make sure that you do your homework well before you make initial contact with a new prospect and that you do this with every prospect from now on.
  3. If it was a referral, perform your research by contacting the person that referred the prospective client and get as much information about the prospect as you possibly can. What they like or don’t like, what is most important to them, how they like to do business etc. Everything you can think of would be important to know before speaking with the new prospect.
  4. Go on their company website and find out all you can about the company and everything you can about that particular client. Do a search for that person’s name and find as much relevant business information as you.
  5. Find common connections between you and the prospect if any exist, through social media (for example Linkedin), common vendors or clients and other possible contacts.
  6. From your research, build a profile of the client so that you are prepared for the meeting and ready to be asked questions from the prospect on what you know about their company, products or services. By knowing about the prospect’s company you show that you actually care and grant them importance.
  7. After talking or meeting with the client, note down what happened when you showed the ability to answer their questions and how it helped move the sales process forward. If you failed to answer questions about the client, the company, products or services, note down what you were missing and be better prepared for your next initial contact.