I've been talking a lot lately about scripts, and first sales conversations, because I think so many sales are lost at this point—before they've even had a chance to get off the ground.
Too many salespeople are so focused on themselves, and what they have to offer, that they are not having meaningful conversations with prospects. The easiest way to fix this is to create a foolproof list of discovery questions that you ask every single person in your first couple of conversations.
I hear a lot of complaints from delivery folks downstream from sales teams who step into a selling relationship when it is time to offer solutions, only to find out that they are missing critical information. One client of mine said that because her sales team wasn't asking the right questions, most of her initial meetings with new customers was spent clearing hurdles she didn't even know existed.
What a waste of time.
In order to set your delivery teams up for success, make sure your salespeople are experts at the art of discovery. Sit down, create a list of non-negotiable questions that every new customer should answer early in the process, and create a script for your sales team to work from. Then, make sure they are capturing that information in your CRM, and you'll be 90% of the way to success. Everyone who touches that customer profile from that point forward will have all the information they need, and your sales and delivery process will be so much smoother.