Today I had a first meeting with a senior manager for an existing customer. 

Over the past few weeks I had been socialising a novel approach to solve one of their ongoing challenges. The reaction so far had been warm. However when I described it to this senior manager, she got excited and asked for a full description of the solution.  

If you are the technical founder of a startup, it is very tempting at this stage to dive into a technical briefing. But don’t do it! 

If you elaborate the solution too early you risk missing aspects that will enable you to win the sale. It is far better to work collaboratively with the customer, with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) from both sides, to develop the solution. 

 You cannot always collaborate. But when you do, it can be very powerful.  

I know this is really simple stuff but even experienced sales people can fall into the trap!

A great tactic to implement this approach is offering to run a workshop with SMEs on both sides. Your proposal will then be designed for acceptance! 😀