If You Want the Meeting, YOU Set the Meeting
A recent Your Q&A on Ignites (subscription) focuses on ensuring accountability within a sales team, in part by having clear role expectations. As an illustration, the piece says, “For example, some teams require the internal wholesaler to call the advisor in advance of a meeting with the field wholesaler.”
The example leapt off the page for me. Why? Because I believe the external wholesaler should always be the point-person when it comes to initiating, confirming, and communicating an agenda for his/her own appointments.
The reason is perception. By having an internal wholesaler handle these tasks, the importance of the client is undermined. A signal is sent that the external’s time is too valuable to be successfully setting the table for an important prospect/client conversation.
Recently I was in an advisor’s office when a hot-selling fund family came up in conversation. The advisor said he’d never met with the wholesaler from the firm:
He’s always having his assistant call and try to schedule time with me. I don’t work that way. I want to deal direct.
The advisor felt slighted by the lack of genuine interest shown by the wholesaler. He views the wholesaler’s approach as saying “my time is more important than yours.” A harsh interpretation? Sure. An uncommon one? I don’t think so.
Salespeople, of course, want to send the exact opposite message. It’s the nature of being a product/service provider. The wholesaler who wants the meeting (and the client), should make sure his commitment is clear to the client. Direct communication is a simple and important way to do that.