Dday

Account Executive

Should I do introductions when there's a large group size?

I've got a demo with a prospective customer tomorrow. There's going to be about 15 people from the customers side in attendance and two on our side. I've only met two of the contacts from the customers side, and it will be the first time I've interacted with the other 13.

Due to the large number of attendees, should I still ask everyone to do a quick introduction of who they are and what they do?

📣 Demos

26 comments

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UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

I wouldnt waste the first 15 mins doing intros. Have your champion give you the rundown on who is joining and then have the dept head give some context for each group at the beginning of the call.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

You need to know before the call who will be joining so you can research. Also the main point of contact will be able to coach you too.

FeedTheKids

Politicker

Solutions Consultant

I ask what departments are on the call - and pitch this as "I want to make sure I am showing tools that are relevant for everyone on the call's daily tasks"..... Then I make sure to touch on thing relevant for each department.

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

If you're going in blind about who is who it could be easy to ask for a show of hands who is with which department and who the leader is for the department. Then have the leader share a bit about their department's role and what their department is hoping to get out of the presentation.

I do the above for anyone new on a call I am on, but with a huge group this can be helpful to put people in smaller chunks. Then you can also send follow up emails tailored to each department afterwords!

FromaBlankPerspective

Politicker

District Manager

This is a great idea!

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

Call each person before the meeting individually. And ask these two questions.

1) "I've worked with your title many times, but everyone has slightly different responsibilities. Can you explain the 3 things you are more responsible for withing your org?"

2) "Whats your goal with our meeting? I want to make sure I am speaking to what matters to you, so why did you take time from your busy schedule to meet with me?"

It's assanine to ask right before a meeting to tell.me about you and some how magically use that 15 seconds worth of info to personalize the meeting. TBH its flat disrespectful and impossible

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

I'll add if its 3 departments with 3 differ needs. Break it into 3 meetings.

Don't wast IT security time talking about sales growth

barney2021

Tycoon

Account Executive

I ask my champions to tell me beforehand who’s the people are and what they are interested in. I also get them to introduce me and the concept.

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

I always schedule a prep call with the champion to discuss who will be on the call, which departments will be represented, and what they care about. If it’s a larger group, I’ll summarize key points of the conversations with my champion (IE. My understanding of what they are looking for) and then ask if anyone is hoping to get something else out of the call. Typically the highest level in the room will answer first

WomenWantMeFishFearMe

Politicker

I would try and find out who everyone is before the demo

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

100% there's no plausible way to adjust a meeting if objectives aren't aligned if you do this on the fly

EmptyCupOfTea

Valued Contributor

Growth Marketing Manager

You need to know who's attending before the demo, wasting 10-15mins at the start of the demo isn't ideal and not knowing who's attending your own demo will leave a bad impression. people can be judgy like that.

I recommend doing your research beforehand, and also they don't need to know who the other attendees are since it's your demo and not theirs.

sugardaddy

Politicker

🍬

If the 13 person is from the same team, then i think it's idiotic that every single of one them is telling what they are doing, and who they are 😊

But if some of them are from diffrent teams, other locations ect. Then i think it's fine.

I have never made a demo for more than 6 person at the same time... so maybe some other savages in here have a better solution than mine.

Otherwise! NAIL IT @Dday

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

I’d ask if they’d like to give introductions or just get straight into it.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

How much time have you booked them for. Intro will take your 10 mins so you are the best to figure out.

whathaveyousoldtomorrow

Opinionated

sales

Oh yeah I do em!! When I open the meeting I give the instructions 'share your name/location/role/what you are hoping to get out of today' - hopefully your tech guy can pivot on a dime and make sure to cover all the different peoples interests in the demo.
I believe in confirming expectations and making other people say them.

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

I have to ask. You strategy is "hopefully your tech guy can pivot" so what if he/she can't?

whathaveyousoldtomorrow

Opinionated

sales

get a different tech person.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Get a list of the people and what they care about. Your team should still introduce yourselves.

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

Definitely want to avoid the "going around the room and saying who you are and where you're from" for 10 minutes of the call.

I would make sure the key stakeholders are introduced and that you know which departments are on the call

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I would confirm with my contacts what their expectations are. If you don't have the time to spend on 10 minutes of intros, I would set that expectation with the demo organizers up front: "In the interest of time, I'm going to skip intros for your team..." or similar. Regarding their titles, you can grab those in advance off LI, but if you can get their role as it pertains to the product or solution you're selling and in the evaluation/buying process in advance from your contacts, that's great too. I try to be as prepared as possible entering a demo.

techsales

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Ask for the attendee list beforehand, keep everyones name, title, and linkedin in a google doc or wherever you keep notes. Then ask your champion or main contact to provide a high level intro of the group. For example, they could say "we have representation from marketing, sales, etc, and we are interested in specifically learning about XYZ." This way you get an "introduction" but you dont waste 15 minutes having everyone awkwardly come off mute to tell you who they are.

dwightyouignorantsale

Politicker

Account Executive

In this case, I generally will have my champion introduce his/her team on the teams behalf. It really depends who is on the call, but from my experience there tends to be a lot of people that sit in because it slightly impacts their role, so it’s important to know what we do. And we all know how someone in a lower, non decision making role thinks their position is the most important in the company and will talk for 10 minutes. However, if you have the CFO and CEO on the call, it can be beneficial to have them intro themselves. That way you can understand what’s actually on their agenda and what’s realistic from their perspective in terms of budget, does the product match their executive initiatives, etc.

mitts2

Politicker

Account Executive

Don't do a full around-the-room intros. Kills valuable time. If needed, ask your champion to introduce everyone for you. Much more efficient and gets you what you need. Ideally, you could have a colleague on the call with you (i.e. SDR) to take names and look up people on LI on the call, assuming you don't have the names beforehand.

justatopproducer

Politicker

VP OF SALES -US

I would introduce everyone to everyone. I think its weird and a bit corny/old school to “lets go around the room and tell a little about each other and get warmed up, welcome to the first day of high school!”

TheMatador19

Member

Head of Sales

Definitely not. Intro yourself and your partner, do research ahead of time about who (titles) is attending on their side. 15 people will take too long to go through and it will be awkward

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Dday

Should I do introductions when there's a large group size?

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