| How To Win More Sales By Running Better Meetings |
| Invention Development Advice - Marketing | |||
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How many meetings have you been to that were poorly planned and unstructured - and didn't result in any progress being made?
How many meetings have you been to that were poorly planned and unstructured - and didn't result in any progress being made? If you're like most professionals, probably quite a few. The problem is even worse when it comes to sales meetings: the first few meetings you have with a prospective client trying to see out whether you should work together. A mistake here can kill off the relationship before it's started. Yet so many professionals try to "wing it" with little preparation and only vague objectives for the meeting such as "get to know each other" or "find out their issues". Set up your meetings like this and you'll find that time after time your opportunities progress as far as the first or second meeting - but no further. From the client's perspective they simply can't afford to invest time in meetings with professionals which don't seem to be going anywhere and where they don't get value from the event itself. A More Structured Approach If your goal is to win more clients, then you need to take planning and structuring your sales meetings seriously. We can borrow a useful model from UK copywriter Andy Maslen. He recommends a simple acronym to help writers write more compelling sales copy. And we can use the same model for our sales meetings too. The acronym for the model is KFC: K - Know F - Feel C - Commit Start at the end with Commit. At the end of the meeting (or after reading the sales copy in the case of a copywriter) what is it we want the client to commit to - to do differently? It could be to agree to a joint meeting to agree a proposal, or an introduction to the finance director who must approve the budget, for example. Then, you think through what the potential client must Know and Feel for them to be comfortable making that commitment. Start with a Realistic Objective You need a clear and realistic objective for every meeting you have with a client or prospect. An you must especially focus on what action you want them to take as a result of the meeting - the Commitment. Far too many meetings end with the professional agreeing to actions like writing a proposal or finding out some more details with no reciprocal commitment from the client. In reality, your sale hasn't progressed unless the client is willing to do something to make progress themselves. Even if your goal is primarily to progress the relationship in some way - that progression needs to manifest itself in meaningful action. It may be something simple like providing more information, or making an introduction, or agreeing to a joint follow-up - but it needs to be something or the relationship really hasn't progressed. And the objective must be achievable for the phase of the sale you're at. Your final goal, of course, is for them to buy your services. But in the first meeting - and often the second or third - it's too early to push for this. It's rather like proposing marriage on the first date. A more achievable objective for the first meeting is perhaps to reach joint agreement on the problems the client faces and may need help with, and to agree a follow-up session to discuss them in more detail. In this case it's important for the client to take action too - like preparing some more detailed information for you, bringing along answers to some questions you send, or bringing one of their colleagues to the meeting. Defining the Critical Success Factors Having a clear meeting objective is important (and it's surprising how many professionals don't actually do it) - but on it's own it's not enough. To do this you need to clarify what the client must Know and Feel to achieve your objective. If you have set an objective of getting a follow-up meeting, you need to identify what the client will need to Know and Feel before they are comfortable agreeing to this. Know is about facts. Perhaps they need to know the areas you work in, the types of clients you've worked with before, or that you're a real expert in your field. That will begin to give them the confidence that you have the skills to work on their problem. The Feel side is more about emotions - whether they feel comfortable working with you. Do you really listen to them? Do you have good rapport with them? Do you really understand their problems and unique situation? Getting this across is more a matter of how you interact with them than what you say. So how do you get the Know and the Feel across? That's the tricky part. Using Smart Questions Well, the way not to get your message across is to use a long presentation or monologue going through all your credentials and experience. That may tell them you're an expert - but they won't necessarily believe it. And you certainly won't give them the impression that you listen to them and understand their issues. Using anecdotes and stories about the challenges you've addressed with your clients will get your expertise across much better. The best route, however, is to ask smart questions to establish your credibility and establish the right atmosphere in your relationship. Smart questions will home in on the key issues the client faces - and so establish that you know what you're talking about. And by empathising with the client's answers, and occasionally referring to similar examples from your previous clients you'll establish the right tone and they'll feel you're listening and understanding them. So your preparation for the meeting should mostly focus on what questions to ask. What will guide them to self-discovery of their challenges? Close by Asking for Commitment And finally, of course, you must close by asking for that follow-up meeting, or the introduction you were looking for, or at the end of a series of meetings - actually asking for the business. Sounds obvious: but so many professionals fail to do it. Fear of rejection kicks in and they close weakly without making a clear request for the action they're looking for. And so it doesn't happen. But by planning and preparing correctly, you've set yourself up for success. You've asked the right questions to allow the client to Know and Feel what they need to to be comfortable making the commitment you're looking for. More information: Want to find out more about Marketing Professional Services?, then visit Ian Brodie's site and read more about how to Get More Clients.
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