Sales 101: Get a Face-to-Face

The investor call ended, and on cue, my partner called me to discuss.

“Sales 101, get a face to face meeting with them.” He forcefully said. “They have expertise in the industry, understand the problem, and have experience in startups. They check all the boxes.”

He continued to talk about how the first step with an interested “value-add” investor who lives just a 2-hour drive from you, is to get a face to face meeting. On the call, after my partner heard where the investor lived and his background, he immediately jumped to let’s meet in person. Then throughout the call, every time they hit on one of those boxes, my partner pushed again, saying, “let’s meet in person, when can we meet in person?”

My head wasn’t thinking that way; I was trying to figure out what they wanted from me. I was on the defensive during the investor call and not the offensive. My partner, though (good to have a partner to balance you out), was entirely on the offensive sales side.

The call with the investor ended with my partner doing 90% of the talking. When my partner called me afterward, we discussed why getting a face-to-face meeting is essential, as well as the reasoning behind having a value-add investor instead of a simple cash partner.

Startups are all about learning, and today was a learning experience.