Meeting a prospect
When going to any type of business event, there should always be some level of excitement upon your arrival. Everyone in the event is your prospective customer. Something that I always do is to surround myself around my existing clientele at the event even if they are already engaged in a conversation. A simple shake of the hand “with eye contact”, or a hello wave with a smile from close proximity usually turns into an introduction to the other party. What a better way to have a warm lead than an introduction from an existing client?
Experts claim that you should always wait for your prospect to ask for your business card, something that I like to follow. This is a tricky area. Nobody likes a pushy sales person, so proceed with caution. Developing a solid personal rapport with the prospect in the initial meeting is key. Here are some simple steps for your initial encounter:
- Don’t ask for a business card. Let them ask first.
- Make the initial meeting more of a social, personal one. Get to know them first.
- Don’t sell anything in your initial meeting.
- When asked “What do you do?”, make it short and simple, don’t go for the kill. Give them the “I can remove your pain” method, which is not necessarily a direct sell.
- Your next question to him should also be “And what do you do”? This is your determining factor to see if there is a compatible and possible business venture. If you see a future, proceed to the following steps.
- Follow up the same day with a hand written note, specifying anything that you learned about them during your meeting. When they receive this via snail mail in a couple of days, they will be wow’ed!
- Chances are, 3 days later you will receive an email or call from your prospect. This is no longer a warm lead, but you just turned it into a hot one.
- Three to four days later, or a week prior to the next event, invite them. If you feel that he is a hot prospect, (refer to the 4th point) not only invite them, but pay for their entrance. Sit next to them, and show them around. By this time, your prospect will feel very comfortable with you, to the point where you can talk business.
mmend is for half of the networking time, to be surrounded by your clients. Engage in their conversations, and introduce yourself to your client’s contacts. Chances are, you will be referred to that person from your client.
- Meeting someone
- Pre-plan the meeting with the prospect (if applicable) (if pre-planned, pay for his entrance)
- Greet the individual
- Exchange Business Cards
- Add to Outlook, and categorize accordingly
- Follow up
- A hand written note, small, with a detail about the meeting.
- 3 days later, call just to follow up on the event. Don’t ask about the hand written note, they may had not received it yet.
- Always start the conversation based on family, i.e., how’s the family, (baseball games, ballet, etc.) This develops a deeper connection with the individual which will eventually help in conducting business together.