As a business owner for almost 30 years, I have learned the value of a recap email after every sales meeting with a client. I used to think that after a meeting, everyone left with the same opinion of how the meeting went and what each party agreed to do next. I now know better.
Most salespeople think their prospect remembers everything that occurred in a sales meeting as well as they do. They don’t take into account that their prospects often have many meetings with other vendors. It is hard for them to remember what happened from one meeting to another. Therefore, I advise my clients to always take the time, after each meeting with a prospect, to send them a recap email.
What exactly is a recap email? A recap email lists the topics discussed and all the actions agreed to by each party. While a recap email can act as a cover-your-ass email to document key points and agreements made during a meeting, that’s not the main reason I recommend them. My main reason for creating a recap email is that few salespeople take the time to draft one, which helps you stand out from the rest.
I also recommend that you draft your recap email on the same day of the meeting when the information is still fresh in your head. If you can send the recap email on the same day as the meeting, that would be best. If not, send it first thing the following morning.
Business to Business (B2B) sales are what I consider complex sales. They often involve separate meetings with several different stakeholders, including technical, financial, and purchasing staff. Since not all stakeholders are present in all meetings, it is wise to write the recap email so that it can easily be forwarded to other team members.
Rather than make the recap email a long narrative, use bullet points to summarize key points.
I like to capture the keywords the prospect used during the meeting so that my recap email includes as many of the prospect’s words as possible and proves to them that I listened.
I recommend that your recap email address five basic things:
Objectives and challenges
How will your solution help them
Your action items
Their action items
Next steps
The following is a sample recap email.
John,
Good afternoon. Thanks for meeting with me earlier today. I appreciate you sharing the objectives and challenges you are currently facing. I put together this email to summarize our discussion.
1. Your Objectives and Challenges – To update your old office phone system designed when it was only necessary for your receptionist/operator to transfer incoming calls to an employee’s office extension. Today, you support a hybrid workforce model in which many of your employees work from home full-time or several days per week and have cell phones and no landlines. You are looking for a fully automated communication system to handle incoming calls to your business and direct the caller to the appropriate resource for immediate assistance.
2. How We Can Help – Our solution has been proven. We view the training of your staff in the use of our solution’s features as critical to a successful implementation. Our 13-Step onboarding process ensures that we are on the same page throughout the implementation process, so there are no surprises. When we meet again, I’ll explain our onboarding process.
3. My To-do List – I will gather… and send you an email by… and also send you samples of similar projects we have done.
4. Your To-do List – Email me… by … and invite… to the next meeting.
5. Next Steps – We will meet in your office on … the meeting will include… the goal is to review… I will invite… to discuss our client onboarding process.
I think this covers the highlights of our meeting. If I missed anything, let me know. Looking forward to our meeting with… on …
Sincerely, Steve Imke
Nine reasons why a recap email matters to the prospect:
It shows that you care.
It is a great way to show prospects that you are the right company to help them.
The prospect knows that writing a recap email takes time, and I have found that the prospect really appreciates it.
It documents actions and decisions taken.
It makes the prospect feel special.
You will be perceived as more professional since most salespeople will not bother sending one.
Your proposal will stand out from the rest.
It demonstrates how you pursue an account and sets the exception of how your company will handle the account if it is awarded to you.
