I think a good salesperson can book a meeting regardless of the product or service. In fact, a good salesperson is not selling the product or service when they ask for a meeting. Instead, the meeting is the product that they’re selling. A good salesperson is selling the value of having a meeting with them. To be effective here, you have to believe that it’s valuable for your potential client to have a meeting with you, regardless of the product or service.

The better prepared you are prior to a negotiation, the more likely it is that the outcome of the negotiation will be satisfactory for both parties involved. Preparation requires that you do two things:

1. Get all the information that you can about the upcoming negotiation.

2. Think the negotiation through from beginning to end, and be fully prepared for any eventuality.

The first kind of information you need is about the product or service and the person with whom you will be negotiating via Linkedin. You obtain this information by choosing good questions to ask that are well thought out. In this sense, information becomes a form of power, and the power is always on the side of the person with the best information.