Before you even arrive at your first IT sales call with a client, make sure you've done your homework. If the prospective client is worth you going out of your way to drive there and spend a half hour or hour or more and then meeting with them for another hour or two, then it's certainly worth your time to spend 10 or 15 minutes researching their business.
Even more importantly, before you get to that level, properly qualify your prospect. This way you'll know whether you're spending your time wisely. Make sure you ask the right questions about size, platform and industry.
IT Sales: Sell Services, Not Products
Do some background research on this prospect ahead of time and start managing their expectations immediately. Make sure that they know that you sell your expertise and solutions and you're not there to sell them a computer. It's really, really hard to build a highly successful, profitable business if you're not focusing on selling the services first and foremost.
If you want to sell white boxes, notebooks, web licenses or peripherals, that's fine, but certainly don't lead with that. Make sure that they know that you're primarily in the services business. Otherwise that prospect may not understand where you're coming from and might decide to look around and price-shop.
Choose Your Clients
Make sure that they know that you're a service provider from the beginning of that relationship. You should be looking to interview them as much as they're interviewing you. Be choosy and find a client you'll enjoy partnering with for the long term.
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