FOUR ACTIONABLE LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS

Do not go in blind to an inbound lead meeting. Give your prospect a pre-meeting questionnaire to fill out so you can have a far more productive introductory conversation.

Blind calendar invites work for reschedules as long you add context such as "Know we've been trying to meet. If this time works for you, great! If not, decline the invite and let me know a better time."

Use Taylor's Purpose-Plan-Payoff opener to ensure a strong start to your first call with the buyer. Purpose is "why are we here?" Plan is "how are we going to achieve it?" Payoff is "what's in it for the buyer at the end of the meeting?"

Separate interest from need by quantifying the problem. Questions like "is there a specific business objective this maps back to?" or "How have you currently tried to fix this?" will give you a better idea of interest vs. true need.