1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 This live recording of Sales Today: Procurement Special goes back to fundamentals as Fred Copestake breaks down the anatomy of a great sales conversation so procurement professionals can spot the good ones, steer the wobbly ones, and borrow the best bits for their own internal selling. &amp;nbsp; With 25+ years in the field, three books (including Ethical Selling), and over 10,000 salespeople trained across 38 countries, Fred shares a practical, step-by-step structure you can use immediately - whether you’re evaluating a supplier’s approach or building support for your own initiatives. In this episode, you’ll discover:&amp;nbsp; • Why objectives matter: set a primary and secondary outcome before the meeting, then signal preparedness with a short agenda. • “Ask before tell”: why prescription without diagnosis is malpractice and how great sellers make it about you before talking about themselves. • Reading the room: tailoring style to personalities (analytical, amiable, driver, expressive) and how tools like DISC profiling can help you prepare. • AIDA done right: Attention → Interest → Desire → Action as a clean flow that mirrors how people think. • Strong openings: craft an attention-grabber (value proposition) that hooks into your world—industry issues, goals, and likely friction points. • High-gain questioning: use open, probing, and TED prompts (“Tell me… Explain… Describe…”), thoughtful hypotheticals, strategic summaries, and silence. &amp;nbsp;• Consultative depth: map current state vs desired state, then explore impact and consequences to build a compelling case for change. • From ask to tell: when to pivot from questions to a tailored response - not a boilerplate pitch - linked to the problems uncovered. • Progress checks: small “trial closes” to confirm fit and keep momentum without pressure. &amp;nbsp;• The Perfect Close (James Muir): “Does it make sense for us to… [next step]?”- an elegant, ethical way to agree the action or surface the right alternative. &amp;nbsp;• Internal use: how procurement can repurpose the same structure to win support for projects and decisions inside the business. &amp;nbsp; Expect straight-talking guidance, usable language patterns, and a simple framework you can run tomorrow- whether you’re buying, selling, or building alignment across stakeholders. &amp;nbsp; Join the Alchemie Network for FREE to connect with other forward-thinking professionals and get access to more events like this. &amp;nbsp; Connect with Fred on Linkedin https://linktr.ee/fredcopestake Sales Today http://throughpartnering.libsyn.com/website <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/38979885/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/195304750