Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

The fourth mistake, attending the meeting unprepared, may very well be the
root cause for the other three mistakes. If you are well-prepared, you may not use
80 percent of the information you gathered. You may ask only half of the questions
you chose. But you were prepared. Don’t allow one meeting to fool you into
thinking you can get by with less preparation next time.
Track Client Contacts
Once you begin to contact clients, you will want to track more of the detail: what
they said, what you sent them, and when they have asked you to call again. The
client contact log that was presented in the last chapter will keep this information
organized for you.
Enter the information from your meeting on the client contact log. Sometimes
I do this as soon as I get back to my car. I add a few words to the client contact log
to help me remember critical information and next steps. I also add action items
to my to-do list and sometimes even call my office and ask my staff to pull information,
find something on the web, or print a label so I am ready to write my
thank-you note as soon as I return. I generally keep a file for each prospect so that
all my notes can be kept in one place.
OTHER MEETING PLACES
Meet at Your Place
Although most busy clients will prefer that you meet them in their offices, it is possible
that the meeting may be held at your office. It may make the most sense if
you have a demonstration such as software that will be important to the project.
It really depends on your office. Do you have a real office or are you operating out
of the den? If you are, you may want to meet at the client’s office.
You might also consider meeting at a neutral location, a restaurant, or a gourmet
coffeehouse. The location allows you to get away from the office turf. In my
experience, however, I accomplish less in a social setting like this. Restaurants are
noisy, it’s difficult to take notes while juggling your soup and salad, and food always
adds a disaster dimension.
Out-of-Town Clients
What if the client lives out of town—three thousand miles out of town? You will
need to consider the benefits and compare them to the cost of going that far. How
Selling Services: How Do You Sell You? 179