How Do I Earn a Meeting — Without Sounding Salesy?
Getting a meeting with a prospect can feel like a huge hurdle. You don’t want to come across as “salesy” or pushy, but you also don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to connect. So, how do you earn a meeting without making it feel like a hard sell?
The Key Shift: Let Them Discover
People are more likely to be persuaded by reasons they discover, not the ones you offer. Instead of focusing on persuading your prospects, start by changing how you approach the situation.
The real question is: How can you spark curiosity and initiate a conversation in a way that doesn’t feel sales-driven?
The Common Mistake: Automation and Scaling Messaging
In today’s world, automation and “scaling” messaging are seen as ways to reach more prospects, but they can often fall flat. The result? Increased outreach with almost no responses.
Sales is often seen as a "numbers game," it's really a behavior game. Simply pushing more emails doesn’t necessarily lead to more responses. In fact, it can even drive them away.
The Shift: From "Huh?" to "Hmm..."
Kevin Casey, a sales expert, describes this shift as going from a “huh?” moment to a “hmm…” moment. It's that point when your outreach moves from being a cold, uninvited interaction to a meaningful conversation.
This is when selling becomes a conversation, not a pitch. At this stage, you're no longer trying to convince your prospect; you’re inviting them to convince you.
The Mindset Shift: "Selling Without Selling"
This isn’t about giving away value for free or trying to be deceptive. It’s about adopting a mindset that acknowledges a few truths about your prospects:
Buying is typically the last option on their mind.
The decision-making process is sacred, and you’re not automatically invited into it.
Facilitating change isn’t about forcing solutions; it’s about allowing the prospect to discover them themselves.
When you internalize these truths, you’ll realize that selling isn’t about convincing the prospect. It’s about creating the space for them to discover why your solution is a fit.
Why Conventional Wisdom Fails
It’s easy to fall into the trap of sending more emails or offering more value, but conventional wisdom often fails because it doesn’t account for the psychological concepts that drive human behavior. For instance, Transactional Analysis explains why tactics like “educating” or “adding value” can sometimes feel like an insincere ploy to prospects.
To learn more about how human behavior shapes sales success, dive into Transactional Analysis—it will shift the way you view sales interactions.
The Next Step
So, how do you earn a meeting without sounding salesy? The secret is provoking curiosity and creating space for your prospects to discover the value themselves. Sales isn’t about convincing—it’s about inviting your prospects into a conversation where they can convince you that your solution is the one they need.
Next time you’re preparing for outreach, think about how you can approach your prospects with this mindset: It’s not about you selling to them; it’s about them discovering the right solution on their own.
Have you tried this approach? What shifts have you made in your outreach strategy?
Yours,
—D
