Through the years, The Green Sheet has published numerous articles on why preparing for sales meetings is essential and how to do it effectively. Here are a few excerpts from our archives:
"Every opportunity is different. Before even speaking to a merchant, you must have a plan based on what you know of the opportunity. This plan must be reasonably detailed in that you understand what direction you want to go with the conversation. And it must begin with the prospect doing most of the talking, not you talking to them." – Jeff Fortney, "Signing isn't the be all, end all," May 28, 2018, issue 18:05:02.
"What's stopping us from having a customized demo that shows prospects how the solution would work in their distinct retail or restaurant environments? After all, chances are excellent that their products or menu items are all online (at least they should be). So we have access to that information long before the presentation." – Rick Berry, "How to propel merchants to shed comfortable habits," Nov. 26, 2012, issue 12:11:02
"ISOs and MLSs need to take time to digest as much information about leads as possible; that knowledge can be used to great effect in meetings with merchants. It may make all the difference in closing deals. At the least, what you learn about companies will help you formulate business-specific questions that show merchants you have taken the time to learn as much as you can about them.'" – Christian Murray, "Sweet-spot MLS training," Sept. 8, 2008, issue 08:09:01.
Throughout his career, our founder, Paul H. Green, gave a helping hand to professionals seeking to build a career in the payments industry. And he knew how much difference preparation can make both in landing and keeping merchant accounts. In Good Selling!TM: The Basics, first published Aug., 1, 2004, he stressed the importance of preparation when pursuing large merchants, noting that MLSs tend to forget basic actions that may be critical to prospects. "For example, most of us are lazy when it comes to research," Green wrote, adding that for large accounts, you need to have, at minimum, a basic profile of the company, annual revenue figures and the names of the corporate officers before you meet with them.
In the same book, Green wrote, "Before you arrive at the meeting, know exactly how you will target your service to each prospect. What will you stress? What will you offer? How will you negotiate? If you sit down and figure out the answers to these questions before every meeting, you will realize that each selling situation is truly unique."
Increasingly, we provide technology to help solve payment acceptance and other challenges merchants face. But without the service we provide, those solutions would be far less useful to those who use them. Sure, there are turnkey, out-of-the-box solutions. But even in those cases, payments professionals are best suited to help troubleshoot when problems arise or when a merchant has outgrown a beginning POS setup and needs something more sophisticated. So follow the evergreen advice to always prepare well so you can prosper long into the future. 
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Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
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