Before the pitch, understand who is in the room
It is easy to spend a first meeting demonstrating the product and finish without knowing what happens next. Ask who will use the solution, who owns the budget and who must approve a purchase. The person interested in your demo may need to bring security, procurement or a business lead into the next conversation.
Prepare a one-page brief: the intended customer, the problem, how the product fits the workflow and what you need from the buyer to get started. Adapt it to the organisation and your contact’s role. A long deck is not a substitute for answering their actual question.
Prepare information your contact can share internally
Your contact needs to explain the proposal to colleagues. Help with concise information about the product, deployment, support and pricing. Separate existing capabilities from custom work and future plans.
AI and cybersecurity companies should also prepare basic answers about the information used, access, security and human oversight. If a question needs a specialist or further investigation, assign someone to follow up. Procurement requirements and documents vary by organisation and product.
- Need: which problem does the buyer want to solve now?
- Implementation: what must be connected, configured or changed?
- Team: who will support the sale and use of the product?
- Commercial terms: what is included, what does it cost and what needs a separate proposal?
- Next step: who joins the next conversation and what must be decided?
Propose a test with a decision at the end
If the buyer wants a pilot, agree on one workflow, the users, a success measure and an owner on each side. Ask who will review the result and how a decision on further work will be made. Check the resources your team must contribute and what happens when the pilot ends.
Fictional example: an AI company offers a task-planning tool. Instead of demonstrating ten use cases, it chooses one team and one workflow with the buyer. They agree on permitted data, measurement and who approves the next stage. Targets are set with the buyer; this is not an actual client result.
Leave with an agreed next step
Send a short summary distinguishing agreements from questions still to investigate. Give each follow-up an owner and date. If there is no clear need, budget or person leading the decision, clarify that before assigning a team to custom development.
Rimón Europe can help define the target buyer, adapt outreach materials and prepare meetings and procurement questions. This is commercial research and preparation. Product assessment, security approvals and contracts involve the appropriate specialists.
What should you check next?
- Who uses the product, owns the budget and approves the purchase?
- What information does your contact need to move the proposal forward internally?
- What must your team contribute to a pilot?
- What next step was agreed, and who owns it?
Sources & further reading
Read more on the official websites below. Conditions can change; check what applies to your company and activities before making a decision.
