One of the more important strategies in life is to match personally as well as professionally. This becomes the key differentiator for building business. For even better results, try putting yourself in the mindset of the other person.
Strive to understand all of the motivating factors for being granted the client meeting. Ask for the most desired outcome if you are to potentially work together.
During your initial meeting, ask questions such as:
* How long have you been in your position?
* What was your prior experience?
* What motivated you to take on this role?
* What is your vision for ultimate achievement?
Asking these types of questions demonstrate that you are interested in the people involved and helping them to achieve their set goals. You aren’t there just to make a quick sale.
Compare Notes
Assuming the answers are intriguing and you begin to admire the person, you will have conversations of greater depth. Allow the prospective client to speak first to tell their story. As you see a fit with your personal story, share those insights albeit briefly for the prospective client to get to know you, too.
Demonstrate Honesty
Prospective clients appreciate your admitting what you don’t know in order to learn more. They also like hearing tough questions about their problems and their competition. In particular, clients like to witness you digging to learn how they see the solution if it were solely up to them. The reason for this is they want to know you are willing to work in order to earn their business.
The experience of this type of conversation allows trust to be built to your favor. By getting to know one another on a personal level, you differentiate yourself from everyone else and build the case for your unique personal brand. The importance of this is you are then positioned to develop a stronger connection built with confidence and trust.
Your Clientele
When it comes time to decide who you wish your clients to be, you will want to qualify the possibilities. Doing so will help you to find the better matched clients and improve your odds for success. Create a top priority list for those industries and companies that interest you the most. Next, create a second tier list.
Practice, practice, practice will get you moving toward being highly competent in securing sales. For this reason, begin with the second tier list first. It’s natural to make errors. But those who learn from their mistakes are the ones who advance more quickly. Work on becoming very comfortable and adept with your second tier.
Practice makes perfect and prepares you for approaching your priority list. And now you will be in far better shape for securing those sales.
Success
When the conversation flows easily and you find it enjoyable, usually proves to be the start of a very good relationship. Uncovering common interests adds to the success factor. This is when you know you have connected well personally and have found the the Smooth Sale!
