Written by Alexandre Fleury
On Friday morning, the 5th of June, a small audience gathered around hot coffee and warm buns to glean some valuable insights into become more effective at preparing, running, and closing sales meetings.
Born and raised in Mexico in 1968, Ib Ringby attended Swedish school in his early years, becoming acquainted with Swedish engineers through his parents—which fueled his misconception of Sweden as a country full of engineers. Ib would eventually move to Sweden in 1982, where he today runs IB RINGBY AB, training engineers to conduct complex technical sales.
We were lucky to benefit from Ib’s passion for helping people become more confident in sales as he took us step by step through the entire sales process, offering an abundance of valuable tips along the way.
Sales Process Overview
Before diving into details, Ib refreshed our memory with an overview of the typical sales process:

1. Building the relationship
2. Performing a thorough needs analysis
3. Presenting the product/service
4. Closing

4 Steps for Sales Success
Now, here’s how to make the sales process work for you with the best possible outcome.
 Step 1: Set the Mood with the Right Attitude
According to Ib, building the relationship early on in the process is crucial for setting up the mood of the sales meeting, and opening up the prospect’s attitude. This is done by smiling, taking an open stance, and getting to know your prospect through conversation— the subject of which can be taken from any clue available. Perhaps you see a golf bag in a corner of their office, or a picture of their family, etc. As the person running the show, your objective in the first part of a sale meeting is to sell yourself, and this solely relies on your social skills.
 Step 2: Understand your Prospect
Ib strongly emphasized the importance of analyzing your prospect’s needs thoroughly in order to understand her/his decision criteria. The purpose of this second step is to discover the “pain points” to be addressed during the presentation phase. It also helps with building contact and developing trust.
“When you are in this understanding phase you are like an elephant, with big ears and a small mouth.” Ib says.
Investigating your prospect needs first requires asking questions, and then asking some more. This is crucial to understanding how your product or service can help your future client— for example, by reducing costs, expanding the business, etc. Based on the needs analysis, a good salesperson will derive 3-5 decision criteria, the highly individual factors that drive the prospect’s decision making process.
 Step 3: Keep the Presentation Short and Focused
The sales presentation needs to be focused and address, first and foremost, the prospect’s emotions (before the logic). Years of studying customer behavior have taught Ib that once a person is sold on emotional grounds, logic will be used to justify the decision.
In the preparation of the presentation, you should: Anticipate the prospect’s potential decision criteria, list relevant questions to ask the prospect during the meeting, and build a value tree by deriving client values from facts about the product/service, and listing benefits of using them.
Your presentation should thus: Repeat the needs formulated previously by your prospect, prove that your product or service addresses these needs, and strengthen that perception by going through the value tree. Don’t forget to conclude with a close (even if its a partial one).
“This chair has a soft cushioning (fact) which will help you stay more comfortable and remain productive for a longer time (benefit) and thus be more efficient at work (value).”
 Step 4: Always Get the Commitment
A meeting should always end with a close. Even if a contract isn’t signed yet, any kind of deal should at least be made with the prospect, preferably materialized with a hand shake. Getting commitment for the ground covered will strengthen your position as the negotiation continues, potentially with additional decision makers.
Introducing the price is a necessary, and critical part of the presentation. It has the potential to lower interest and raise objections. One strategy is to start with a high price, and then take away features to reduce it. Another tip is to avoid over-promising, as it will be better in the long run to over-deliver. “There is always a sale when perceived value exceeds price perception,” says Ib.
End the discussion with a conditional close: “If your boss agrees do we have a deal?”
A Note on Handling Objections
While very specific objections may arise that need to be handled individually, there does exist some general guidelines which can be applied.
When an objection first appears, adopt a quiet, listening attitude. It’s important to understand the reason for the objection, and show that you are surprised that it is being raised.
“Sometimes I remain silent for a few minutes. Yes, it gets awkward…” Ib says.
Then you should get to the core of the objection. What is the real reason behind this objection? This is done again by asking questions, as when pealing an onion one layer at a time.
Finally, a number of techniques can be used to actually handle the objection. For example, referring to 3^rd party stories with a similar situation, initiating a dialog to explore solutions, etc.
How do You Book a Meeting in the First Place?
Ib got into the specifics of booking a meeting, by pointing out the similarities and differences between the sales and the meeting booking processes.

According to Ib, no questions about the product or service should be addressed over the phone. The only objective of the call is to book a meeting. Questions will be answered during the meeting.
It’s important to allocate time every week for picking up the phone and booking meetings. Booking meetings requires a strong mind set, and the time allocated to the task should be entirely dedicated to it. “If the building next to you is burning, you should still be booking meetings,” Ib says.
In order to increase the charisma and authority of your voice, Ib recommends standing up and following a script that you’ve prepared in advance. In the script you write an introduction, 1-3 USPs to present, and 1-3 qualifying questions, such as the names of additional decision makers, specific issues to address during the meeting, etc.
The final tip Ib gave us was to allocate weekly time slots for meeting with clients, and sticking to them when booking meetings. This will reduce wasting time in your weekly schedule.
Put all together, these pieces of advice should ensure you are spending more of your time having fun working with clients. Listen to Ib, “Don’t over prepare, get out there and take action!”
Additional Resources for Sales Inspiration
Grant Cardone (website, YouTube channel)
Tony Robbins (website, YouTube channel)
Zig Ziglar (website, YouTube channel)
Robin Sharma (website, YouTube channel)
Michael Neill (website, YouTube channel)
Steven Covey (website, YouTube channel)