Building Your Relationships - Client Meeting Preparation

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“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” ~ Abraham Lincoln        

Clients’ meetings are very important tools to grow your practice.

They can be used as a tool for training and development.

They help track and report on progress.

They provide feedback on current strategies or outline what needs work before moving forward and engaging your services.

And most important -

Meetings with clients are also great opportunities to?build deeper relationships - for the long term!

So you should not waste any more of this valuable time!

This edition features bites of advice on what you really need to do to prepare a meeting with a client and win their business. We discuss it in more detail in one of the episodes of SWITCH ON! my weekly show with THE SWITCH (see here link to this respective session).

And if you’ve missed?more than a week or two, we always archive the shows to my?YouTube page. If you’d like to be notified when the newest episode is available, subscribe to my channel and you’ll receive a notification. You can learn even more when you watch the episode?here.

Here are some initial thoughts on how you can prepare for a meeting with a client and win their business:

Setting The Stage

Some professionals still believe that client meetings start when you walk in the door and greet your client.

WRONG!

It actually should begin much earlier, as you mentally prepare and reflect on how to make that meeting a success for both of you.

Step 1: Research Every Attendee

Here is something I am sure you agree:

When you know your audience you can tailor the message and better steer the meeting. Correct?

And we’re talking about a lot more info than the details on your primary contact.

Many times the decision of a client to hire your services is done by several people from the client organization So, there’s a good chance that everyone in the room will have a vote in the final decision to engage in your services.

So here is what I warmly suggest you will do -

First, ask for the meeting attendees in advance, then do a quick web search.

Check out their social media profile - LinkedIn profiles, make note of titles, and check to see if they have any common connections, groups, or interests.

A quick check of the company website is also a good idea.

*[To those of you who work with me to implement the strategies - Or went through my Turn Connections to Clients - cohort, you know that you can streamline this effort by using business intelligence tools and strategies. Send me an email if you want to know more details]

Step 2: Set a Main Goal and Objectives for the Meeting

Once you do secure a face-to-face meeting, you certainly don’t want to waste the opportunity by being unprepared – right?

So get your goal and objectives prepared ahead of time. After all - it’s unlikely that the client’s primary need is to buy something.

So your aim cannot be to sell your services!

That means your first goal should be to understand what your client's needs are.

If you succeed, you’ll be ahead of the game, too. I promise!

Step 3: Work on Your Personal Approach

When you’re at the stage of a face-to-face meeting, you know you’re dealing with someone who is interested. They’ve heard about you, weighed up their options, and are now spending their time to come and see you.

Therefore, your personal approach is a make-or-break part of your client meeting preparation.

So work on yourself and adopt the right mindset and attitude.

Here are some tips you should always do your best to achieve:

• A relaxed smile at the beginning
• A cool, confident pitch
• Good posture and hand movements
• Not to forget - Active listening

Step 4: Plan the Agenda to Support Your Goals

Your agenda should reflect a logical progression of content designed to keep your potential clients engaged

After all the idea to focus on them and their needs.

Allocate a few minutes near the end for questions and next-step discussions.

Needless to mention your agenda will help you to measure the success of the meeting.

Step 5: Give Your Client Your Attention

It is obvious - but ultimately, your clients are only interested in what you have to offer if it can help them.

Therefore, you need to actively listen to what they have to say before you begin your sharing.

As you’re listening, show that you’re paying them your full attention. This includes occasional nods of the head, other gestures to continue, and reiteration of points for support.

You can take notes too, as well as write down any questions to address later.

Step 6: Have a Plan B

Of course, meetings—like life—don’t always go as planned.

The meeting could start late or get cut short or maybe it got sidetracked due to valuable discussion.

So I want you to be prepared for the unexpected

How are you asking? with a contingency plan. Building your Plan B.

How?

Think and consider what content could be taken out of the meeting or what content can be included as part of the follow-up. That will help you keep your goal in mind.

An important step - that unfortunately many professionals take for granted

Step 7: Plan Your Follow-Up Activities

Many researches done show that About 40 percent of prospects become new clients during a face-to-face meeting but of course, there’s no guarantee it’ll happen during the first get-together.

So a big step in your prep should be coordinating follow-up activities, like a call, zoom call, or note.

And don’t forget that meeting follow-up isn’t a matter of “one and done.” Far from it. It requires many follow-up actions on a consistent basis.

So stick with it! Only then your efforts will pay with results.

Step 8: Analyze and Evaluate Your Performance

Despite the relief (and hopefully joy) of ending a meeting, your job is not done yet.

While everything is fresh in your mind, take 10 minutes to reflect on how it went.

Things you can take note of include: Difficult questions, stumbling blocks in your presentation, overrunning your meeting time, topics of conversation to avoid and more.

This is the moment when your client meeting preparation starts for future events.

If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you’re doomed to repeat them, so start writing up a list of dos and don’ts that you can refer to before future meetings.

Be That Professional!

As you go through each of the steps of running an engaging client meeting, You will find it becomes easier and they turn to be a habit for you.

These will help you become more organized, and ultimately reap better results out of your client meetings:

And let me add another important point - always and I mean always - be candid: For many of us as professionals, the relationships and the human side of the work are our favorite aspects of it.

So - Keep a strong balance of professionalism and social connection during your meeting, and don’t be afraid to be yourself and make your clients laugh.

In many cases, the client isn’t choosing the firm, but the professional they have the best interactions with. And I want YOU to be that professional!

How will you change the way you prepare for a meeting after reading this edition?

Please share your comments and input with me, I read every comment personally.

Thank you as always for taking the time to read this week’s newsletter! On a final note, if you are looking to set aside some time to work on growth strategies for your own personal goals and career aspirations, check out and join our global community of professionals THE SWITCH??here.

?? *****CLOSING A FEW HOURS *****

My free, three-part video series, "Switch & Grow Your Practice", will help you create momentum for your practice growth with the help of your relationship capital — whether you’re just getting started or you already have established practice but want to grow it further to make it future-proof practice. Register via this link to find out more and get instant access to the video series as soon as we launch them.

Until the next edition, SWITCH ON and keep STANDING OUT!

Warmly,

If you have any specific questions about building internal authentic relationships with your colleagues, employees, or partners, please send us an e-mail and I will be happy to help (or even give internal training on the subject??).

Itzik is considered the global leading authority on business development, business networking, client relationships, and personal branding for professionals. He is a highly sought-after international speaker, trainer, business mentor, & attorney-at-law. He is also the bestselling author of “The Attention Switch” & Founder of THE SWITCH?? , the leading online training, and education platform for professionals globally. Itzik teaches, trains, and mentors lawyers, other professionals, and professional firms to attract and win their ideal clients by becoming seen as authorities in their field, creating and maintaining successful and strategic relationships, and learning to SWITCH their relationships to referrals+revenue+results.

See more information: itzikamiel.com | THE SWITCH???or connect with Itzik via: [email protected]

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