Interview: Stories of defining moments during sales meetings

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From the course by HEC Paris

Entrepreneurship Strategy: From Ideation to Exit

90 ratings

HEC Paris

Entrepreneurship Strategy: From Ideation to Exit

90 ratings

This course covers in the chronological order each defining step of an entrepreneurial project. It begins with very personal considerations related to getting to better know yourself better so as to decide if you are ready for the multiple challenges of entrepreneurship. It then deals with creativity in order to provide the right set of tools to find an idea with the right potential to disrupt an existing business. We then discuss how to gather a founding team, how to raise money to initiate the project, and how to deal with day to day cash management. Later in the course, we discuss the art of selling, focusing on business to business sales, and how to measure the product launch phase using cohort analysis. Later on, we discuss the challenges of HR in an entrepreneurial environment, and of recruiting at a point where nobody knows your company. We then describe very practical techniques to initiate the international development of a small company. Last, we cover the exit strategy topic.

From the lesson

Igniting your project

In this module, you will learn the basics of day to day cash management as well as selecting and monitoring the right financial indicators. In the second part of this module, you will learn the importance of Selling: the great art of creating. We will also discuss about how to maintain rapport and how to launch a product by using the cohort analysis.

Getting your First Meeting with your Prospect: Part 15:22

Getting your First Meeting with your Prospect: Part 24:03

Interview: Stories of first sales meetings6:22

The Sales Meeting and the Art of Creating Rapport: Part 16:29

The Sales Meeting and the Art of Creating Rapport: Part 22:15

Interview: Stories of defining moments during sales meetings7:10

Meet the Instructors

Ambroise Huret
Partner at Eleven Strategy & Management
strategy and management

It's hard to pick one. I have two in mind.

I guess the most memorable one

is the one we had with EDF, which is the power utility in France.

We got into the room and we noticed

that they had two competitors' devices in the room,

and they were really dirty.

They were obviously not using them.

So we set up our device,

they plugged in a USB key with the software.

It worked immediately and they were just amazed at the result.

Seeing their faces, like it was a miracle.

It was awesome.

We actually closed the deal within 10 days.

We didn't discuss the price, didn't discuss anything.

The only question they had was "when can we get one?"

The worst one was when a tall marketing guy,

wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a Disney tie,

told us that our device was ugly.

Although when I think about it, that's really funny.

I don't know if I'd still call it the worst one.

In a way it was the funniest one.

The worst meeting was when we couldn't close the deal with SpaceX,

who told us that they liked it, but not enough to buy it.

We've had a lot of interactions with people

who think they know what they want.

For instance,

it's getting better now, but a lot of people come to us and say,

"I want a flat multi-touch table."

They're totally set on it

until we show them that actually working on a flat surface

as if you were putting the screen flat like this, is not efficient.

It's not really comfortable.

It kills your eyes, the angle of vision is not good.

But you know that you have to get them gradually,

because if you tell them that they're wrong, obviously they won't like it.

We've had that a lot,

and we've moved to convince people and take time to convince them.

I would say that is the main example of something

we've seen over and over and how we've adjusted to it.

For instance, we have manufactured about 100 of the initial product

and we've sold 99 with an angled panel and one flat.

I hope I did.

But I remember one specific case,

where I had bugged the CEO of the company to get a meeting,

and I think he had given me like 15 minutes out of pity.

He put me in a room together with his CTO who got the same thing,

a piece of software on a USB key,

he plugged the key in, launched it, and it worked.

And the CTO was just surprised that it worked,

and called the CEO and they spoke together

for I don't know, it seemed like an eternity to me,

but it was probably a few minutes.

The CEO just entered the room and said,

"We need to talk."

My first big meeting was with Carrefour,

and I arrived with only my cookies,

no contract, not really a big idea of pricing, logistics, or anything.

It's actually the buyer who helped us

over six months to build up our strategy regarding sales.

The number of sales you're doing in the stores and for example in the US,

we're looking at whether or not we are going to adapt

our recipe and packaging to the American people.

We're observing what's going on in stores.

It was about four years ago.

I went to Clermont-Ferrand to see a potential big customer,

it took me five hours.

It was snowing, a terrible trip,

and I was kicked out of the meeting two minutes after entering the room.

It was a terrible day.

Today he's one of my biggest customers.

So you have to learn that sometimes it takes time

to sign customers and you must forget about bad experiences.

That's a very good question.

And it's very hard, because you always face people with different histories,

different experience, and so on.

I would try and ask as many questions as you can,

and provide them with examples that fit into their passion.

For example, if the guy loves picking mushrooms,

as in one of my last meetings,

find examples about how your service is like picking mushrooms.

It may sound bizarre,

but try and find the passions of the people you're facing,

try and show examples of why your service is useful to them.

Yeah it happened once.

The guy said: "go away" after two minutes,

and I said, "No, no, no. I want to explain."

I was really passionate,

and I came out with a check.

Even if it starts very badly,

you can make it work.

Well, our biggest client is Serena Williams.

Of course, everyone knows her.

We look after her in Europe and Asia Pacific,

we are part of her management team.

I met with her four years ago because I knew her French tennis coach.

He introduced her to us,

and yes, it was a fit straight away.

It's a wonderful story.

When you asked before,

"do you believe in chance?"

I think if you work hard,

you get your chance one day or another.

I think it was a wonderful chance to meet with her,

and today we're very happy to work with her.

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