5 MINUTES OR YOU ARE OUT THE DOOR
A
Have You Practiced Lunch?
Before going to a pitch meeting have you practiced lunch, a proposal, the questions to ask, anticipated answers and setting the next step? Picture yourself at the table with a prospect that you have targeted in the right industry and the right organization. Your research has given you a clear sense of how this “buyer of services” thinks, what their business is about, what the company or agency wants and needs and what your opportunities are vis-a-vis your competitors.
Do not talk about your firm! Instead, start with a value proposition, “here is what we can do for you, and here’s a general sense of how we’re going to get there. And then get them talking. Put your research to work by practicing the questions you will ask that show you have actively studies their problems, needs and opportunities. Anticipate answers and plan responses. And pay attention to their answers rather than thinking about your next question.
Practice, practice, practice before you start eating the salad.
One of my clients was an in-house labor counsel for a Fortune-500 company. She had been with a law firm for 10 years prior to her current job. Having made numerous pitches before starting her in-house position, she knew the type of research and approaches that would resonate.
Now, wearing a different hat, she found herself frustrated with how many outside vendors approached her, knowing nothing about their company’s products or competitors. She enforced a five-minute rule: If the salesperson did not demonstrate knowledge of their needs, challenges, and opportunities within the first five minutes of the meeting, out they went.
I asked her to tell me more about her rule. She was proud to say that the vendors who met with her learned the message quickly , and they “got right to it.” She found a similar rule was a useful tool among her own team as well.
Their meetings:
· Got right to the point
· Did not waste anyone’s time, and
· Resulted in clear and concise decisions.