Effective Vendor Meeting Preparation

We spend so much time just trying to get a meeting. 160+ hours a month. Outbound cadences. Events. Ads. Personas. ICP mapping. The works. All of that, just to get maybe 10 or 15 people to give us 30 minutes of their time. That’s not just a meeting - it’s an investment. Behind every booked call is: → Hours of campaign work from marketing → Strategic outbound from sales → A whole lot of budget and brainpower Yet once we get that meeting on the calendar… We often show up underprepared. No agenda. No real research. No hypotheses. No game plan. It’s wild how little effort we put into maximising something we worked so hard to create. Here’s the mindset shift....The meeting isn’t the finish line, it’s the starting line. So act like it. Want to make that 30 minutes count? Here’s a simple checklist that’ll instantly level-up your team’s approach: ✅ Agenda: Why are we meeting? Who else should be there? ✅ Calendar title: Make it clear, relevant, and mutually valuable. What did they say “yes” to? ✅ Research: →Industry. →Company. →Team. →Role. →How do they make money and how does this person contribute to that? ✅ Hypothesis: What do we think we can help with? Why now? ✅ Anticipated next steps: Based on what we know, what might come next? ✅ No fit? No problem: Leave them with a feeling of increase. Value doesn’t always mean a proposal. If you're not preparing this way, you’re wasting the most expensive part of your funnel. How does your team prep for discovery or intro calls? Side note: Thinking about turning this checklist into a 1-pager for teams to use before every meeting. Want a copy? Comment “Checklist” and I’ll finalise it and then send it over.

I’m often asked how I prep for customer calls. Here’s the 5-point, 15-minute checklist I’ve been using over the last decade before every customer meeting: 1/ Look up all attendees on LinkedIn Goal here is to know who you’re talking to and where they’ve worked. Pro-tip is to find 1 commonality with each person to quickly build rapport (ie college, living location, previous employer, etc.) 2/ Browse their website This is the most obvious thing that is not done enough. Go to their website and learn about their products and value prop. Jot down a few of their key customers to reference. See if they have any unique channels like a partner program. This one is a no-brainer that is skipped way too much! 3/ Study their LinkedIn company page I’ve found that LinkedIn company pages are full of unique insights you can’t find elsewhere. They have the most accurate employee counts, can give you a pulse on recent posts, and provide an up-to-date company mission in a few short lines. 4/ Find the latest news via Google News Do a Google News search for the company. Heading into a meeting, I’ve found huge nuggets here like a CEO change, a recent acquisition, or even controversies to steer clear of. 5/ Understand their market via a competitor search Do a simple search for [company name] competitors. This will give you a good sense of the landscape and who they are competing against. And 2 bonus points if you're meeting with a public company: 6/ Look up their stock ticker on Google Finance This will give you a real-time view into the company financials. I like to zoom out to 1 or 5 year performance, and do a quick glance into the “news” section for insight on recent earnings. 7/ Understand the company history via Wikipedia This one is not used enough, but there are tons of juicy details you can find on Wikipedia pages. Almost a mini-history lesson on a company. What else do you do to prep for your customer meetings? #sales #salesenablement #learning 

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟? 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞. During my stint as Group Medical Director with Dr Lal Path Labs, I was introduced to the concept of a pre-read. Anyone scheduled to speak should share the slide deck with relevant information as a pre-read with all the attendees. This allows for everyone to know the context in advance, giving time to review the details and build their point of view, allowing for a healthy discussion, rather than understanding the contents during the presentation. Taking into account this simple philosophy, here's how I suggest 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭. 1. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞: Arriving 5 minutes before the start of the meeting allows the meeting to start on time and also time to address any tech glitches that could come up in making the presentation. 2. 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥: Consider sharing pre-read materials or literature related to the agenda which ensures that all participants have the chance to do their homework, and come prepared with thoughts, notes, & ideas, making the meeting more focused & effective. 3. 𝐁𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞: Interactive meetings where all participants contribute makes for a healthier discussion. 𝐈 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 "𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬!" 4. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: It's not about scribbling down every word like a court stenographer. It's about capturing the non-negotiables, action points, and responsibilities in the moment. Consider them as not just records; they're your treasure map to the 'Aha!' moments that will help you think better and collaborate effectively post the discussion. 5. 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Meeting minutes aren't meant to gather dust in your inbox; they're strategic tools. Break down minutes into bite-sized, achievable steps to ensure that discussions lead to tangible results. 6. 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 & 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭: How often do we jump from one meeting to another in a day? It's crucial to pause and reflect. Take a few minutes after the meeting to ponder on the discussed topics. Immediate reflection eliminates confusion and clutter, providing clarity when circling back to the key points. How do you approach meetings to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency? I would love to hear and learn from your insights. #preread #productivemeetings #DrSanjayArora

Summer is right around the corner. In technology procurement land its time for RFPs for replatform. As someone who's done this a fair few times, here's what I look for. 1. Thesis: Does the company have a thesis about why they want to replace the current platform? A simplistic "because its old" is not a great answer. Find their why. Build a hypothesis of what must be different in the business with the new platform for the buyer and the business. This will lead to the right business case. 2. Vendors: Typical RFPs ask about specific features or functions. There is a very limited cursory set of questions about the actual vendor. RFP is a great time to learn about the vendor in depth. Use this as an opportunity to learn about the business model, operating principles, ways of working and its competitors as well as its customers similar to the buying company. 3. Details: Don't ask for company revenue or years in business. What will the buyer learn about a vendor from those? That they have paying customers and have continually employed some people for a bunch of years? That's not valuable intel. Instead, ask about - Trailing 12-month and next-year's projected revenues. - Customers won in the past 12 months. - Customers that exited in the past 12 months. These bits of info will say more about the vendor health, both financially and as a viable product. If the vendor is a large, publicly traded company, ask for these metrics as it relates to the platform under consideration. Most such large and/or public companies operate internally as several business units, each with its own P&L. For larger vendors under consideration, its also useful to find out how many customers in your direct-competitor set are in their customer base. 4. Roadmap: This is the least interesting piece of information a buyer can ask for. A roadmap is nice slideware; I've seen or built my fair share of them. For the most part, not only are these roadmaps useless for the buyer's actual planning purposes, but they're also usually overstating what will actually be delivered. I ask that a future 12-month roadmap be paired with the past 12 months' actual features and capabilities that went GA. A smart buyer will put them side-by-side to understand whether the future will actually come to fruition. Unless a vendor has significantly increased their product team size in the past year, it is unlikely to deliver more net new features and capabilities into GA in the next year than in the past year. 5. References: Ask for references within your direct competitor set. One will be surprised how often companies talk to their peers in the same industry. Yet most tech buying explicitly turns away from references within the industry. When buying technology, it was helpful for me to talk to others that our business routinely was up against; it allowed us to quickly learn from our peers about fit, and pitfalls with any vendor they used. Good luck RFP teams!

3 days before every sales call, I do this one thing. It's doubled my close rate. Most salespeople prep 10 minutes before the call. I prep 72 hours before. Here's why: Last month I had 8 discovery calls scheduled in one day. Monday morning I checked my calendar. 4 of them hadn't accepted the meeting invite. Red flag. I immediately sent this message: "Noticed our call for Thursday at 2pm hasn't been confirmed yet, [Name]. Still good on your end? If timing doesn't work, happy to find something better." 3 responded within hours. 1 rescheduled for the following week. 1 admitted they'd forgotten and weren't prepared. 1 said they were no longer interested. Without this check? I would've wasted 4 hours on no-shows and unqualified calls. Instead, I spent those 4 hours on qualified prospects who actually closed. But I don't stop there. My 3-Day Sales Prep System: Day 3 Before: Check if calendar invite is accepted Follow up if not confirmed Research company size and recent news Day 1 Before: Review each attendee's LinkedIn profile Note their role, tenure, previous companies Identify the source (website, referral, LinkedIn, etc.) Prepare personalized talking points 10 Minutes Before: Open my "free notes" template List attendees, company size, call reason Review my discovery call pillars Get in the right headspace Most reps show up cold and wing it. I show up knowing: → Who I'm talking to → Why they booked the call → What questions to ask → How to personalize the conversation The difference is night and day. Prospects say things like: "Wow, you really did your homework" "I can tell you understand our business" "This feels different from other sales calls" When someone feels understood, they buy. When they feel like another number, they ghost. Your competition is showing up unprepared. They're checking LinkedIn during the call. They're asking generic questions. They're winging the close. You have a massive advantage if you just do the work. 3 days of prep beats 3 hours of pitch. Every. Single. Time. If you're not prepping at least 24 hours in advance, you're leaving money on the table. Agree?

Here's how I teach clients to make their meetings shorter, sharper, and more effective: 1. Preparation Before the meeting, set a clear agenda, share it in advance, and make sure everyone knows what they’re expected to bring or decide on. This sets the stage for productive conversations from the start. 2. Execution During the meeting, keep discussions focused on the agenda, avoid rabbit holes, and clarify who is responsible for each action item. Respect everyone’s time by starting and ending on schedule. 3. Follow-Up After the meeting, send a clear recap of decisions made, next steps, and deadlines. This ensures nothing falls through the cracks and momentum keeps going. Productive meetings don’t happen by accident. It comes down to being intentional and disciplined about meetings before, during, and after.