As a sales person we have a lot of meetings with potential prospects, clients, and other industry professionals. The best way to ensure success in a meeting is to write more, talk less, and to follow up.
Write more.
Take lots of notes to ensure you don’t miss the details. Not only does it show the client that you are engaged in what they’re saying it also shows them that you believe it is important and worth remembering.
It’s impressive when you go to a restaurant in a large group and the server memorizes the entire order; steak medium rare with mashed potatoes started soup with extra crackers, bacon cheese burger with no onions with a salad and dressing on the side, caesar salad easy on the dressing with no croutons, and a tall vodka soda with a lime. They get it right, good on them! But all it takes is for them to come back for a reminder, mess something up, or worse yet, forget an entire plate for the experience to go downhill fast.
So take note. Lots of them. Even if you never have to look at them again, they were still worth writing down.
Talk less.
It should be obvious but talk less and listen more. Don’t be the pushy sales person that is just selling themselves or selling their product. People will smell your commission breath from a mile away and go running in the other direction. Instead, ask questions, listen to their answers (while taking notes!), and ask more questions to find out exactly what they need. They have a problem that needs solved. Ask open ended questions to find out what they need and then be their problem solver and not a salesman. The sale will come when you provide them with a valuable solution.
Follow up.
When you’re done your meeting always follow up. It doesn’t need to be long, it is to again show them you’re listening and to keep the connection from dying once they leave the room. A simple recap message, here is what you said, here is how I can help, and these are our next steps. This strengthens the relationship and also ensures that they don’t forget what you discussed.
Follow these three simple steps to close more leads and for a better outcome after every meeting.
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