I’ve Got a Customer Meeting, Now What?

1. Imagine you are that client. This will help you anticipate what your customer needs to hear and what he or she might say.

• What problems are you trying to solve?
• What makes you want to do something now?
• If someone gave you an answer, what would make you comfortable that you can trust this person and you can take a chance and buy what s being offered?
• What questions or “objections” will have to be answered to help you decide to buy?

2. Now, imagine yourself in the meeting. This will give you greater confidence and will make you look prepared and professional in your meeting.

• See yourself as relaxed and smiling — you are here to make your client successful. Who could resist that?
• Imagine yourself greeting your client. Take a few moments just to get to know the other person. Make a personal connection. Imagine the two of you making a quick connection — you like this person!
• Now let your client know what you would like to do in this meeting. People will relax and listen when they know you have something important to talk about, the meeting will be reasonably short, and there will be no obligation or high pressure involved.

Think about yourself saying something like, “I asked to meet with you today to talk about __________________ (fill in with the problem your product or service will solve). Your time is valuable, so I’d like to take the next half hour (or however much time you have agreed on) to talk about how __________ (your product or service) helps people. I’d like to get your comments and see if this is something that works for you. Is that okay with you? Imagine your client smiling and relaxing, ready to hear what you have to say!

Go through your presentation as a conversation. Imagine yourself:

Explaining the problem your product or service solves

• Showing how your product or service solves the problem and why it is the best choice
• Giving examples of how your product or service has helped others with pictures (if you have them), testimonials from other people, or by drawing a picture of what it could do for your client.
• At each step of your presentation, you are having a conversation with your customer. Ask things like, “Is this problem something you have experienced?” “What do you think of ________________ (your product or service)? Would it help you _________________ (solve a problem or make their business better or whatever they are trying to do)?
• Imagine your conversation going really well. Your client continues to relax and smile, but now he or she is leaning forward slightly. He/she may be asking more specific questions. He/she may also be raising objections, maybe “I’d like to do this but I’m not ready.” or “I don’t have any money right now.” — The objections don’t bother you because you know your customer wants you to answer them so he or she can buy. You ask more questions to find out what is really going on. For example, “What would need to happen for you to be ready to do this?”
• Now imagine that you have come to the end of your presentation. You have had a great conversation. You know what is really important to your customer and you know how your product or service will help them with what they want to do.
• It’s time to ask or the sale. This is the scariest part of the presentation — for you and for your customer. You are going to do it very will so that both of you get past the scary part and back to the fun stuff very quickly. There are many kinds of questions you can use to close the sale, depending on what works best for you. In each case, you want to ask the question and then keep quiet, even if it gets a little uncomfortable. Your customer needs some time to make a decision, so you are not going to interrupt. Here are some questions you might use to “close the sale.”

Here are the 3 things your customer might say and what to do about it:

• “I’m ready to go. Let’s do this!” – Take the order: collect money, do the paperwork, hand over the product, whatever you need to do. Remember to ask for referrals: “Who do you know that might benefit from ________________ (your product or service)?” Get names and phone numbers then ask if you can use your customer’s name. Call these people right away.
• “I’d like to do this, but I’m not ready.” – Find out exactly what is stopping your customer from buying now. (Hopefully you already know this from the discussion during your sales presentation.) Get agreement to call the customer back at a particular time (for example, in a week or a month) to follow up. Ask for referrals.
• “I don’t want to do this.” Or “I’m going to go with someone else to do this.” Thank the customer politely for his or her time. Ask a no-pressure question, like “I would like to improve what I am doing. Can you help me understand why you don’t want to do this – or who you are going with and why?” If you feel comfortable, ask for referrals. Follow up with this client in a week or so to see how things are going. He or she will appreciate your interest – and you’ll be surprised how many times you may actually make a sale from this follow up.
• When you are doing your imagining, picture your customer saying, “Yes!” You’ll walk away with money in your pocket, a great feeling, and a long list of people to call for sales appointments. Your customer will walk away with what you offer – something that will make him or her feel great and be more successful!

Imagining your entire client meeting in advance may seem a bit silly at first, and it may seem like a lot of work. But give it a try! You will soon see that you are having great success and enjoying what you are doing.

With this approach, YOU CANNOT LOSE! Every meeting will end with something important for you. At best, you will have made a sale and will have a list of people who will want to talk to you. At worst, you will have an interesting question and a good time – and will be ready to move on to people who will buy from you!