According to the academic researchers who study these topics, managers spend approximately 2/3 of their work day in meetings. Considering the fact that every year, decision makers spend even MORE time in meetings (many of them useless), is it a wonder that customers don't want to see us in yet, another, meeting?

So, what are you doing about that? If you are convinced that you must personally schedule meetings with your decision makers to build relationships and establish a trusting, long term relationship, leading of course, to sales, than you are dead wrong. Consider the fact that if, and when you DO get a meeting, chances are  that you are boring your decision makers with a plethora of dull slides, created by your marketing department. These slides include photos of your key executives, aerial shots of your corporate headquarters, and worse yet, testimonials that are 376 words long!

 

So, what do you do? Your boss insists that you schedule a minimum of 47 meetings per week. You scramble to put these together, despite the fact that some of these events can be handled over the telephone in either a conference call, Web-X, or even in a short conversation.

 

Please don't misunderstand me. I love to meet with clients face to face. However, unless you are establishing a real need to meet together, probably at their location, the chances of getting your decision makers to TAKE another meeting (when most of the meetings they already have scheduled are mandatory at their companies), and yours is "optional", why should they "allow" you to come in and potentially bore them with perceived hype?

 

Here's a perfect example. Just the other day, a client we haven't worked with in 2 years called with a need for additional training for his new inside salespeople. We discussed his needs, his goals, and determined that he would have to consider our recommended options. The proposal included sales assessments, telephone training (which they prefer since their salespeople are remote), copies of my book, one-on-one consulting, and a site license for our online video series.

 

When I followed up with him a few days later,and considering that he wasn't prepared to make a decision yet, I asked him if he'd rather meet face to face and discuss the final decision, or plan the solutions over the phone. He said, "You know Renee, I believe we can handle this just as easily over the phone." I said, "Great. When is the best time for you later this week?"

 

When I followed up, our phone call was 15 minutes long, I closed a nice size piece of business in that time frame, and everyone was happy. Now, had I driven to his office, which is just 20 minutes from our office in Atlanta, I would have needed to wait for him in the lobby, conduct the sales call in his office, and then drive back. That would have taken about 1.5-2 hours in all.

 

Did he know I would have rather invested 15 minutes on the phone to close the deal, rather than meet with him in his office? No, because I gave him a choice and didn't push the on-site meeting. The result was the same, a closed account. And saving myself 1.5 hours of time, ended up as a gift, because it gave me time to make more calls and finish up a project.

 

Incidental, getting back to using too many slides, if we had met in person, I would have left my computer at the office, and focused on his needs and what we can do for the growth of their firm. There would have been no need to run through a series of Power Points.

 

So the next time you have an in-person sales call, remember that...

1. Your customer is providing you with the gift of his/her time and you'd best not waste it with too many slides.

2. You may have been able to advance the sale by using the telephone more effectively in the first place. and

 3. Your customer will appreciate the courtesy you've extended by offering a choice and the likelihood of your securing the business will be increased because you are respecting the customer's time and attention.

Happy Selling!