What’s Your Step #2?
Would you like to grab a coffee some time to discuss how we might be able to help each other out?
No.
How about we meet up and we can talk about how we might be able to support your business?
No.
Could I schedule a small meeting with you where we can find out more about your business and see if some of our services might be valuable to you?
No.
Would you be open to a small meeting to explore your business challenges and how our solutions could help?
No, no, no.
Maybe I’m getting grumpier in my ancient age, but I just don’t want to meet people for sales meetings any more. Nor do I want to have a coffee with potential partners who might be able to work with me some indeterminate time down the line. Nor do I want to discuss who I know that might be helpful for your business and vice versa, be grateful you very much.
Now I might say yes to some of these out of politeness to someone I know or as a favour.
But I don’t really want to have these meetings.
Maybe you’re a bit like me too. I’m desperately small of time. And my business is doing very well – so I have no desperate issue to solve that will spur me to have a meeting with someone who could help.
I don’t want to have these meetings, because to be frank, I get no immediate value from them.
Telling you about my business so you can craft a solution to a problem I don’t reckon I have doesn’t do it for me. Nor does a plesant coffee where we discuss how we might help each other some time in the future.
I need value now. Instant delight if you will.
If I’m going to give up my most precious and scarce asset, my time, then nowadays I’m only going to do it if I can see immediate benefit for me.
It doesn’t have to be money in my pocket right now. In fact, I’m even willing to pay to go to events where I learn something vital. And I’ll spend an hour or longer on a webinar if I reckon it’s going to lecture me something valuable.
But an “initial meeting” where we just talk about my business in the hope you’ll be able to come up with something that will help me (for a price, of course). No way.
And that’s why I question: “what’s your step #2?”
Step #1 is simple. Step #1 is that initial connection with a potential client or referrer. You go networking and meet people. You send them a letter. You question to connect on Linkedin. You get a referral from a mutual acquaintance. They visit your website.
We know how to do Step #1.
But what do you do next? How do you really engage with them?
What seems like a few small years ago, people were much more willing to have these exploratory initial meetings. If a consultant sounds sensible on the phone and they’ve done excellent work for similar companies to mine, it was value spending an hour with them to see if they had whatever business of value.
I don’t have that hour today. I need to know I’m going to get something of value in the actual meeting.
So Step #2s that work to get me engaged with you today are things like:
- Inviting me to a seminar you’re running on a topic of interest to me
- Offering to share some benchmarking information on what my competitors are doing in a 1-1 meeting
- Sending me a report or video with thoughts I can immediatley apply to increase my business
- Inviting me to a webinar where you show me how to do something I’m struggling with right now
In other words, you need a Step #2 that really adds value to me straight away.
I suspect it’s the same for your clients. You need a Step #2 that adds value to them straight away.
‘cos if all you have as Step #2 is an exploratory or sales meeting – we’re not going to show up.
*** By the way – if you liked this post – do me a favour and tweet it or like it – or better still, add your comment
———-
Image via www.signgenerator.org.
Similar Posts:
- Is the Free Initial Consultation Dead?
- How to Run Effective Client Meetings – The KFC Approach
- A Sales Conundrum: Do We Need a Sales Meeting to Sell Nowadays?
- The Substance of Excellent Follow-Up
- Getting Past First Base
What’s Your Step #2? is a post from: Get More Clients in Less Time: Practical Strategies, Proven Results