Small Talk or straight into Discovery/Pitch/Demo ?


Do you find small talk use-full or necessary ?

Are you able to talk about anything other than the following topics:

  • Covid
  • Work situation (in office or WFH)
  • Weather
  • Sports
  • City you live in

Small Talk or straight into Discovery/Pitch/Demo ?

Attached poll
*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.
2
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
4
Account Executive
Ya gotta read the room. Some prospects are straight to the point, some want to vamp a bit.
LordBusiness
Politicker
1
Chief Revenue Officer
"read the room" - perfect description.  I'm not much for small talk (introvert), can't tell you how many sales reps try and talk my ear off beginning the call. 
funcoupons
WR Officer
0
👑
Yup. Some people want ten minutes of small talk, others want none. I don't care for small talk and love when prospects want to just jump into it.
salesnerd
WR Officer
4
Head of Growth
Never be the first one to bring up business. If your client wants to talk about bullshit for 15 minutes, let them talk about bullshit for 15 minutes. 

I've had clients be like "wait we should probably see your tool!" near the end of the demo and won the deal after one call. 
lady_sales_savage
Good Citizen
0
Senior Account Manager
Completely agree! Always talk about what the client wants to talk about for however long. 
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
I can't just start like that common i need the small talk for myself to lubricate the conversation.
Stringer
Arsonist
1
SDR
"Small talk" will heavily dictate the entire deal. For instance, I played college soccer, my prospect coaches his 14-year olds soccer team. THAT IS DEAL WINNING INFORMATION.
CoolBreeze
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Start with small talk but quickly pivot if the person is not responding to it. Don't just keep it going and cause the person to be uncomfortable. Sometimes you just have to jump straight into the meat of the conversation. 
Stringer
Arsonist
1
SDR
Agreed. Also, before any demo, you've likely done your homework via LinkedIn, Facebook, Insta (if they have it), it's very easy to say on a call, "BYU just got knocked out by UCLA, while I'm disappointed you're probably all about it?" I know you went to school there, so engage, if nothing, "Classic BYU though, but on another note, we have 30-minutes, does that still work?" Okay no talk let's get to it.
DwightsEgo
Politicker
0
BDR Manager
Know the audience and try to mirror and match it. If 'small talk' doesnt feel right...hit em with an up front contract and use the first few minutes to set the stage, calm nerves and talk the process. I have found that helps before getting right into the disco or demo for that matter. 
DoneDeal
Good Citizen
0
Inside Account Executive
I'd like to be better at the small talk thing and oftentimes I'll find myself struggling there unless the prospect starts off with the chit chat. My product is great and I'm comfortable talking about it.

That said, I listened to one of the top performing reps on my team have a conversation that spanned from baseball, Lebanon, and the relationship between Ireland and Northern Ireland in about 7 minutes. He grabbed onto whatever they had in common and ran with it and the prospect was more or less disarmed because of the initial connection they were able to make.

I think there's a ton of value in that small talk if you're able to establish some sort of common ground and begin building a relationship right away and to do that I think you've got to get beyond "oh yeah weather's been pretty rainy here lately"
lady_sales_savage
Good Citizen
0
Senior Account Manager
covid/pandemic life has definitely been the topic of choice. I’ve never had a problem with small talk but I have to imagine it made it easier for those that struggle to connect with people. we all went through it last year! other topics usually come from their LinkedIn or what’s happening in their city or state 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
A little small talk at first to help the relationship grow. 
ARRisLife
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Piggy backing on previous comments but read the room and get a feel for the people if their all business. I've found anecdotally that the more personal we can become my deals tend to go better. Do some research and bring something up that's relevant- avoid lame weather convo unless there's actually something significant like they're in Texas and had to deal with outages or something (this was weeks ago) 

7

Pitch decks in demos

Discussion
18
Slides/ pitch decks in demos?
60% Yes
40% No
45 people voted
4

Slides on a discovery call

Discussion
13
Do slides on a discovery call decrease success rates?
44% Yes
29% No
27% Unsure
73 people voted
8

Demo Deck with Overview - or Demo Deck is a conversation killer

Discussion
19