How do you prepare for a first appointment? You have a
laundry list of information to gain, and if you’re unwise, information to
deliver. So what do you do to get ready? What is your pre-appointment readiness
ritual? For many business owners, and sales professionals, the pre-appointment
ritual begins and ends with plugging an address into their GPS or hitting MapQuest
for directions. If this describes you, it is a mistake.
So what is the excuse for failure to prepare? Did the dog eat your homework? Are you lazy? Don't care about your prospect or customer? Sadly, none of these are true for most professionals. The concept of preparing simply never occurs to many people. So start today: prepare in advance for every appointment you schedule from this point forward.
Preparing for your appointment, in advance of the appointment,
is a vital first step in the sales process. Proper pre-appointment preparation
will enable you to establish rapport, ask better questions, and be more engaged
with your prospect or customer. I’m always amazed when a sales professional, or
business owner starts a conversation with me by saying; “So… tell me about your
business. What do you do?” Well, gee… if one were even the least little bit
interested in me or my business, one could easily find a treasure trove of
information about what I do, what I’ve done, and about me in general. This may
seem trivial but it isn’t. If someone cannot take a few moments to learn
something about me, why should I do business with them? Clearly a person that
asks me such a basic question didn’t invest even a moment of their time
considering showing some care, consideration, and knowledge about me as a
prospect or partner. You know… your prospect or client? The most important
person? That guy or gal?
Today it is relatively simple to conduct a pre-appointment
investigation of the person with whom you’re meeting. Check out LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, or just “Google” them (I just love that
Google has branded itself into being not just a company, but a verb). If I search
on Google for “David Kelly Business Coach” I find all of the following (on Page
1). Heck, the person meeting me has a LinkedIn Profile, my blog, some PR stuff,
and my website, and even a video of me delivering a presentation. Might this be
helpful or useful when meeting me for the first time? You Betcha! (Sorry Ms.
Palin)
Armed with such an arsenal of information, I imagine that
any person could strike up a great conversation with me, and fully engage me in
said conversation. Instead of asking “So… tell me about your business”; one might
say he enjoyed my blog and ask some questions around some specific entries. Or
one might reference my professional history and inquire how I enjoy the
transition from my last career to Business & Sales Coaching. E.G. “Tell me
what you learned with company X, and company Y, and how you leverage that today
when working with clients”. Or, “Can you share some lessons from your career
with Company X that influence your work with your clients”? You get the point.
Pre-appointment preparation doesn’t have to take hours. I
did a simple search of myself in under two minutes. When I meet with someone
new, I generally spend about 2-5 minutes researching that person, any articles or
blogs they publish, their career history, awards, and any other information I
can gather to assist me in opening a meaningful dialogue. Meaningful to them.
If, for some reason, a person is not on LinkedIn, Facebook,
Twitter, Google, WordPress, Blogger, or some other internet standard, I call on
my clients and strategic partners to find out if any of them know the person I’m
meeting. What can they tell me? What do they know? What is the person like?
What does the person enjoy? What makes them happy? Angry? Basically, any
information I can get in advance of meeting someone for the first time. Why?
Well because I want to make certain that I have a meaningful conversation, make
a strong first impression, build rapport, and fully engage the other person so
I can learn about their business, and about him/her as a person.
