If you’ve not got much experience in the business world, you’ll have a steep hill to climb when starting a new company in the current financial climate. While consumer confidence is on the rise at the moment, things are still nowhere near as good as they were five years ago. That means you have to work hard to make a name for yourself, and you’ll need to use lots of different techniques to succeed. Your approach to business meetings with clients is very important. You’ll want to win as many contracts as possible, and that is going to require some forethought. At the end of the day, you need to present yourself as someone with expert knowledge who understands everything about your brand. When potential clients ask questions, you need to provide them with authoritative answers that help to promote your business.
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Considering all that, now is the best time to start making plans. While you might not have any big meetings on the horizon at the moment, you need to be ready to partake whenever the opportunity arises. It is entirely possible that you might receive a meeting request tomorrow for the following day. Twenty-four hours simply isn’t long enough to prepare, so you need to have all this done in advance. When all is said and done, potential clients will only part with their hard earned cash if you know your stuff.
Write a sales script
Not everyone is gifted with the ability to think on their feet. If you’re one of those people who tend to crumble under pressure, it’s probably not a good idea to wing your sales pitch. To help you with that issue, it might be sensible to spend some time writing the perfect sales script. While you won’t want to take it along to meetings, you can memorise the wording and repeat it when the opportunity presents itself. You should try to include lots of emotive language and as many reasons people should use your company as possible.
Create a PowerPoint presentation
While some of the business meetings you attend might be in informal surroundings like pubs and bars, most will be in offices. For that reason, it’s always a good idea to have a decent PowerPoint presentation at hand. You should also keep a projector in your vehicle so it can be used whenever possible. Your presentation should contain lots of information about your products and services. It should also contain an interesting history of your company. Research shows that clients are almost 20% more likely to do business with you if you provide them with a backstory. Try to include how you got started, and where you plan to take the business.
Buy an expensive suit
There is little need for you to wear and expensive suit every day at the office. However, you might benefit from getting one for important meetings. Like it or not, the human race tends to judge on first impressions. While you don’t want to seem flashy and over the top, a nice suit will help to tip the scales of balance in your favour. For the best possible results, you should get in touch with a reputable tailor and have one custom made. If you don’t have the money for that, you should consider buying from a high street designer store. Just don’t get anything you see in your local supermarket. While they might be cheap to buy, they also look inferior.
Make travel arrangements
The chances of every meeting you hold being close to where your business is located are slim. Considering that, you’ll need to make travel arrangements the second you find out about each meeting with clients. If you have to travel outside of your home country, you might like get in touch with a specialist company like Executive Accommodation Services. Firms of that nature specialise in dealing with every aspect of your trip. That means they will take the weight off your shoulders and allow you to concentrate on more important things. The last thing you want is a five-hour drive on the morning of your meeting. You’ll get better results if you book a hotel nearby and travel the previous day. You want to be fresh and wide awake when dealing with potential clients.
Know laws and regulations concerning your products or services
Depending on the nature of your business, there may be lots of different laws and regulations surrounding your products or services. Corporation laws can be complicated, and so you must know everything about any relevant ones before meeting with clients. The chances are; you will be asked to provide information. If you can’t do that, your clients may start to lose confidence in your abilities. They need to know their money is safe with you, and so you must give them authoritative answers backed up by evidence. For that reason, it will also make sense for you to keep lots of relevant paperwork in your vehicle. At least you can then show them the facts, even if you forget a couple of points.
Learn about your clients
Showing clients you have done a lot of research can help to increase their confidence in your brand. It will also let them know they are important to you. Thankfully, most businesses have websites these days will lots of information. You should spend some time reading through everything on your client’s site before meeting with them. If you can comment on something they haven’t told you in person, it will help to make you seem more professional. If you don’t have time for that, why not ask your secretary to do the reading and provide you with some bullet points. At the end of the day, you just need to sound like you know what you’re talking about. Offering them some friendly advice about how they can increase profits usually goes down well.
You should now be ready to prepare for big business meetings. As we said at the start of this post, they can sometimes take you by surprise. For that reason, you need to start work immediately.
Featured image credit: unrecognized businessmen on the background/ShutterStock
