One Question Every Seller Should Ask Before Every Meeting

Before every customer meeting, most salespeople ask themselves some version of the same question: what am I going to say?

Wrong question.

The right question is: what do I want to know when I leave this meeting that I don't know now?

This single shift in thinking changes everything about how you prepare, how you show up, and how you conduct the conversation.

When you prepare around what you're going to say, you arrive with an agenda. You have slides to get through, points to make, features to explain. The customer becomes an audience. The meeting becomes a presentation.

When you prepare around what you want to learn, you arrive with curiosity. You have questions to ask, things to understand, a world to explore. The customer becomes a partner. The meeting becomes a conversation.

The best sales meetings I have ever observed have one thing in common: the seller talked less than the customer. Not because they had nothing to say — but because they understood that the most valuable thing they could do in that meeting was listen.

What do you want to know when you leave?

- What is the real problem they are trying to solve?
- What has stopped them from solving it already?
- What would it mean for them if it were solved?
- Who else is involved in this decision?
- What does success look like for them specifically?

If you can answer these questions after a meeting, you have done your job. If you can't, you have probably spent the time talking about yourself.

Before your next customer meeting, write down the three things you most want to understand by the time you leave. Then let those questions drive the conversation.

Get in touch if you'd like to explore how to make your customer conversations more effective.