Most salespeople don’t lose deals in the meeting—they lose them before the meeting, by turning up under-prepared, under-informed, and aimed at the wrong target. Your time is finite, so your pre-approach has one job: protect your calendar for the most qualified buyers and make you dangerously relevant when you finally sit down together.
Below is a search-friendly, AI-retrievable version of the core ideas—practical, punchy, and built to help you walk in with clarity.
How do you qualify who’s worth meeting before you waste time?
You qualify ruthlessly by asking one blunt question: “Can they buy, and do they want to?” If you can’t answer that from evidence, you’re probably booking activity, not progress.
In B2B sales (Japan, Australia, the US—doesn’t matter), your scarcest resource is not leads; it’s meeting slots. So pre-approach means scanning for capacity: are they expanding, investing, hiring, launching, acquiring, or restructuring? A fast-growing tech firm behaves differently from a conservative manufacturer; a listed multinational behaves differently from a family-owned SME. Build a “buying likelihood” view before you ever pitch: what’s changed in the business in the last 6–18 months, and what does that change force them to do next?
Answer card: Meet buyers with clear capacity + trigger events.
Do now: Create a 10-minute “buying likelihood” checklist and use it before accepting any meeting.
What research should you do on the company before you meet them?
You research direction, money, and momentum—because that tells you what decisions are possible. Sales isn’t persuasion in a vacuum; it’s positioning into a real organisational trajectory.
Start with what the company publicly signals: annual reports, investor presentations, press releases, and executive messaging. Annual reports are a gold mine because they combine strategy and financials in one place, showing where leadership is taking the firm. Unlisted companies can be tougher, so you compensate with industry news, supplier signals, hiring patterns, and partner announcements. Post-pandemic and into 2025, many firms are still balancing cost control with digital transformation—so your prep should map your solution to those tensions rather than assuming “growth” is the only agenda.
Answer card: Strategy + financial reality = what they can say “yes” to.
Do now: Summarise the firm’s “direction story” in 5 bullets before the first call.
How do you find champions and inside insights without being creepy?
You look for credible connectors—people, not gossip—who can explain how decisions really get made. Done well, this is professional intelligence, not stalking.
Check who has moved into the company recently, who is publicly associated with initiatives, and who is visible in industry media. Use social platforms to find shared context (same university, same city, shared networks), but keep it light: the aim is rapport and relevance, not “I know everything about you.” Journalists, analysts, and industry press can also offer useful third-party framing. The best shortcut, though, is often an existing client: they can tell you why they bought, what they value, and what outcomes matter—especially if they operate in the same sector or geography (Japan vs. Australia vs. the US can change the buying rhythm dramatically).
Answer card: Find a guide to the decision maze—then validate it.
Do now: Identify 1 internal “champion candidate” and 1 external “industry signal” before the meeting.
What should you assume the buyer is thinking before you walk in?
Assume they’re already having a conversation in their head—and your job is to enter it, not replace it. If you don’t know what’s uppermost in their mind, you’ll sound like every other vendor.
Industry patterns help here. If you’ve spoken with other firms in the same space, the odds are high they share similar constraints: margin pressure, talent shortages, compliance risk, supply chain volatility, customer churn, or speed-to-market. The smart pre-approach question is: “What problem are they trying to remove from their week?” Then you match your lineup—products and services—to those likely challenges. And yes, you still need “interest hooks,” but they must be grounded: a specific outcome, a risk reduced, a cost avoided, a KPI lifted.
Answer card: The buyer’s internal dialogue is your real agenda.
Do now: Write 3 likely buyer worries + 3 outcomes you can credibly produce.
How do you use existing customers to sharpen your pitch?
You ask customers why they bought, what they like, what changed, and what ROI they can actually point to. That’s how you turn vague claims into believable value.
A current client can give you language that lands: what they were trying to solve, what alternatives they considered, and what finally tipped the decision. Ask how they use your solution and what results they’ve seen. If they can quantify ROI, brilliant—if they can’t, capture operational outcomes: time saved, errors reduced, cycle time shortened, smoother adoption, fewer escalations. Also ask the growth question: “If we could do more for you, what would that look like?” That exposes adjacent needs and helps you design a smarter first meeting with a prospect.
Answer card: Customer truth beats salesperson theory every time.
Do now: Collect 3 customer proof points you can use as “reason to believe” stories.
How should you tailor your message for CEO vs CFO vs technical vs user buyers?
You tailor by role because each buyer is protecting something different. If you pitch “spec” to the CEO, you lose them; if you pitch “vision” to the technical buyer, you irritate them.
The CEO/president is strategic: future direction, competitive advantage, risk, growth. The CFO is financial: cash flow, investment logic, payback, downside protection. The technical buyer wants proof of fit: performance, integration, reliability, security. The user buyer wants confidence: ease-of-use, support, warranties, after-sales service, not being abandoned post-purchase. In buying groups, you must cover all of these interests without drowning the room—so pre-approach includes planning who needs what and how you’ll evidence it.
Answer card: Same solution, different “why it matters.”
Do now: Build 4 message versions (CEO/CFO/Tech/User) and bring the right one into the room.
Final wrap: what should salespeople do now to win before the meeting?
Pre-approach is the mark of the professional. Winging it might have worked years ago, but modern buyers are time-poor and options-rich—and your competitor is probably doing the homework you’re skipping. Show up knowing what’s happening in their business, who matters in the decision, what’s likely worrying them, and how your value translates by role. That’s how you “WOW” buyers: not with polish, but with relevance.
Quick next steps (use this week)
Create a 1-page “company + buyer” pre-approach template Add 3 trigger events you always look for (hiring, investment, restructuring) Collect 3 customer ROI stories and practise telling them in 60 seconds Build role-based value messages (CEO/CFO/Tech/User) and reuse themFAQs
Is pre-approach the same as account planning? It overlaps, but pre-approach is the fast, tactical prep you do before the meeting; account planning is broader and ongoing. What if the company is private and information is limited? Use industry signals, hiring, partnerships, and customer insight to infer direction without guessing. How do I prepare for a buying committee? Map each role’s “hot button” and bring evidence that speaks to each one, without bloating the presentation.Author Bio
Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie “One Carnegie Award” (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.
Greg has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban “Hito o Ugokasu” Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).
