8.5 tips for better meetings‏

Meetings. Do you love or loathe them? 

Whatever your answer, you know that sooner or later you’ll be attending one! According to a survey, 45% of us are blighted by “having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting”.

 

Ring any bells? I’ve attended a few meetings in my time. Some excellent. Some not so! 

  

I thought I’d jot down some random thoughts on how to have better meetings!   

And I’d love to know what you think too!  

 

Here goes... =

Is the meeting necessary? 

If you’re thinking of calling a meeting, ask yourself if the meeting is absolutely necessary. Common sense? Of course it is but...well you probably know the rest of that sentence.

Is it essential that YOU attend?

 

The meeting might be justified, but is it really essential for you to be there? I spoke to someone a few days ago from a very sizeable corporate brand who told me of internal meetings he'd attended where he didn’t know several people around the table. Even by the end of the meeting, he still wasn’t sure why they were there! If your attendance is crucial, then maybe you could leave as soon as ‘your bit’ has been concluded? 

But...

 

A quick meeting can be much more appropriate than hiding behind a stream of emails. Sometimes there’s no substitute for face to face communication, so calling a colleague or two for a quick group chat can be the very best way to exchange views - and make decisions.  

 

Preparation

 

How well prepared will you be? Do you need to check a website? Linkedin profiles? Read a report? Read some previous email threads? Avoid ‘winging it’ – never a good plan!  

 

Your mindset

 

To get the best from any meeting, anywhere, you must ensure you’re in the right mindset. Firstly, know 100% what you want to get out of the meeting. Then, visualise having a great meeting! Run through it in your mind. Visualise where you will be sitting, what you will be saying – and the positive responses from others. Visualise a fabulous outcome. You’ll be training your brain to make it happen.  

 

Secondly, think about your demeanour before and during the meeting. As my industry colleague Simon Buzza commented recently, cynics and pessimists suck the energy out of situations and people. They can drag down group morale and make a challenging situation lots worse. Optimists on the other hand can raise morale and lift spirits. How will you act at your next meeting?  

Get there early

 

I’m not one for those late ‘power entrances’ that used to be suggested by some gurus a few years back. My view is to get there early, sit where you’re most comfortable, build rapport as others arrive - and notice...

 

Notice the others

 

Remember how you know the exact mood of your partner, child or best friend when they walk into the room, before they've uttered a word? Their expression tells all. So it is in business. You’ll get useful clues by noticing the demeanour of others as they join the meeting. Enthusiastic? Lethargic? Remember you'll give clues too.  

 

Get things done

 

This tip is particularly dependent on the type of meeting, but in general a good meeting should be around 60% -70% forward looking and only 30%-40% ‘rear view’. This might mean circulating information beforehand to cut down the time spent ‘rear viewing’ at the meeting itself. The overall tone of the meeting should be “OK, that’s what’s happened, now what actions can we take...”  

At ease

 

Do you manage a team? How comfortable are they in giving you their input at meetings? Are they at ease? Are they saying what they’re really thinking? That’s the aim. If you think you’re not getting the full story and they’re NOT at ease, you’ll need to ask the reasons behind that, individually later perhaps rather than at the meeting itself!  

 

I’d be delighted to hear your additional thoughts and tips around meetings and whether your sales success, has been impacted by meetings.

Until then

 

Leigh

PS: Check out my recent article for O2's "The Business" - Click Here to access "Losing Sales? Here's Why"

 

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426  

www.sales-consultancy.com

 

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

What Manchester City can teach you about selling‏

Did Manchester City win the English Premier League because they made the least  excuses? 

As the football season progressed I definitely detected less regular excuses from the manager of Manchester City than I heard from the managers of the other major contenders.  

 

“The referee cost us the match” “We can’t play our football if they won’t let us” “we’ve had too many injuries” “The fixture list is unfair”. That's what the others said.  

 

But whilst others made excuses, Manchester City took the initiative.

 

What excuses are you making?

Excuses can be very easy to find when it comes to explaining away disappointing sales performance - and especially when we allow ourselves to go and search for them. In 30 years in selling I’ve heard them all...  

 

“The economy is against us” 

“The competition is much cheaper”  

 

“Our stuff just doesn’t appeal to old/young people, or men/women, or rich/poor people”  

“Their budgets are frozen for three months”

 

“He’s leaving, I’ll have to wait for the new person to settle in”

 

“The leads we are being given are rubbish”  

 

“Nothing but timewasters today”

And so on...

The problem is...   

if you focus on searching for reasons and excuses for under-par results, sure enough you'll end up with a world class list of reasons why you don't have to reach your sales targets!

You’re in what I call ‘The Valley of Reasons and Excuses’.   

Being in ‘The Valley’ is when you're letting things happen to you and then using these circumstances as an excuse for a lack of action and lack of results. You're being affected by stuff, letting it influence your thinking and stifling any actions you could take.

Take 100% responsibility for your sales results

Let's be clear here - you are not responsible for the recession. You are not responsible for your customers being made redundant, or for their spending budgets being frozen. You are not in charge of every challenge that gets thrown at you as you set about trying to reach your sales targets.

But...you ARE ALWAYS responsible for how you respond! This is Sales psychology 101!

We can all find an excuse to shift the blame and place it on something or someone else when it comes to sales - but finding that reason doesn't bring you any closer to your sales target. In fact it hinders you.

SO STOP LISTENING TO YOUR EXCUSES

 

Before you start believing them! Instead, just keep asking yourself one magical question...  

"OK, so if all that is true...what action can I take to get me closer to where I want to be?"   

Everyone goes into The Valley at some stage, but the most successful people get out of The Valley the quickest and restore 'normal service'.

Instead of languishing in The Valley, take control of your thinking - and your actions. Instead of thinking about reasons for a lack of performance, think about what options you have. It is this subtle change in thinking that can change your whole outlook - and results.  

When you feel yourself going into The Valley - all you need to do is ask yourself that one question... I repeat it here 

"OK, so if all that is true...what action can I take to get me closer to where I want to be?"   

And repeat that question to yourself every time you spot yourself entering The Valley of Reasons and Excuses. Instead of scouring for excuses, your brain will search for solutions.

Take back the responsibility for your sales results.

It’s all about the psychology of selling
 
Until next time.

 

Leigh

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

If you don’t get enough sales this year; What will happen to your business in 2015?

What will happen to your business in 2015 if you don’t get enough sales?

What comes up for you when you think about selling your services or products?

Do you feel upbeat, positive and ready to share the wonders of what you do? Or do you feel dread, doubt, fear or a combination of negative emotions?

You may have an armoury of selling skills but if you have negative emotions going on inside, this will get in the way of your sales success.

The signs that negativity is working against you are:
• You are busy doing stuff that has little or no impact on increasing sales
• You avoid activities that you know would have a positive impact on your sales success
• You experience negative emotions when you think about sales
• You use the doom and gloom news as an excuse for your lack of sales
• Your inner voice keeps reminding you of your weaknesses
• You’re working really hard, putting in the hours…and still not getting the sales results you want

So what do you do?

The first thing you need to do is to become aware that the strategy you currently have IS NOT WORKING FOR YOU! If you continue doing what you’re doing, you will not achieve the sales success you want. Once you acknowledge that things need to change, you’ll find it much easier to incorporate changes. It’s so easy to continue with the habits you’ve created…it takes conscious thought and effort to create new habits.

So how ready are you to let go off what you’ve been doing…or not doing…to increase your sales?
Here are some easy steps you can take to get you on the path to sales success:

1. Get rid of the negative language you use about you, the economy, the people you come into contact with and anything else that saps your positive energy. Instead of “Things are really hard at the moment” use “Things may not be easy but the more people I speak to the easier it will get”.

2. Start noticing the positive reasons for the situations you find yourself in. When you lose a sales ask yourself “What can I learn from this that will give me a greater chance of getting future sales?”

3. You don’t get what you want in life, you get what you expect. So start expecting great things to happen! Henry Ford said “If you believe you can or believe you can’t…you’re right” Go into every sales interaction knowing that if you can give this person exactly what they want or need you have a great chance of doing the deal.

4. Use more ‘YOU’ language when talking with your prospective customers. Focus on finding out about their issues, pains and desires by asking well crafted open questions. Only then can you weave your product or service into the conversation as an ideal solution.

5. Focus on IPA…Income Producing Activity. This is the stuff you do before closing a sale. Once you’ve done the deal it’s not IPA – it’s customer service. The more IPA you do…the more sales success you will achieve. Typical IPA activities are networking…in person and social media, following up enquiries, meetings with prospective customers, proposals and increasing your profile as the ‘go to’ person.

6. Prioritising the important stuff. When you have established all the IPA you could be doing, focus on the FBI…Fastest Business Impact. What IPA is going to have the fastest impact on increasing sales? That’s what you do first. It’s so easy to get that little job out of the way…then that other little task…and before you know it the day has gone and the most important activity remains undone!

7. Make sales FUN. How can you think about sales that would cause you to be more relaxed about the whole thing? It may be that you give activities different labels. I was delivering a workshop recently when one of the business owners said she felt like she was choking when she thought about closing a sale so I suggested that she think of that activity more about the other person realising that she could give them exactly what they needed. I could see a sense of relief as she nodded and said she was much more comfortable with that! How can you reframe the activity to suit you?

Incorporating these 7 easy steps will change your selling experience. You’ll be more relaxed and less stressed. You’ll be focusing on the activity that increases sales and wasting less time on the activities you used to avoid sales.

Not only will you be having more fun…you’ll be having more sales success!

Until next time

Leigh 


www.sales-consultancy.com
020 7903 5426
results@sales-consultancy.com
For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here

Why customer relationships fail‏

Have you ever asked anyone a question that can be answered in a sentence or two - and yet they're still talking 10 minutes later?  

Or maybe asked for more detail on a subject - and been given a one line answer?

Are you the person that is only interested in the big picture? That is you tend to give very brief responses regardless of the question? Or do you prefer to give a very detailed response to questions?  

What about others?  

Have you ever noticed that some people in your team or company complain that they're never given enough information about what's going on – whilst others feel that they get too much information to digest? 

The level of detail we like to deal with in any given context is another example of the beautiful diversity that is the human race!  

 

And it’s this diversity that will be at play when you interact with your customers, your potential customers, your colleagues, your team and yes, all of your personal relationship too. When you speak; When you write; When you present; When you promote.  

 

Which one are you?  

So do you personally prefer THE BIG PICTURE? Or maybe you simply can’t survive without THE DETAIL? Whatever your personal preference, there’s a very good chance that somewhere in your life, whether at work or at play, you’re prone to irritating someone whose preference is at the opposite end to yours.  

 

I suggest that for those colleagues and others near and dear to you that you deal with regularly, tell them! Don't expect them to have automatically worked it out. Where you can, indicate the level of detail you prefer when they communicate with you, so they know how to structure reports, suggestions, presentations and so on.  

And your customers?  

The customer with the General (big picture) preference will go into shutdown when given too much information. Those with the Specific (detail) preference will often be dissatisfied because as far as they are concerned they haven’t received the level of detail they need!  

 

Communicating with your clients and prospects  

It’s fairly straightforward to identify whether who you are dealing with is a Specific or General person. Just by talking to them or reflecting on past conversations or emails will give you the best clues. Do they communicate using lots of detail, or are they a person of few words? Beware though that the Specific or General trait is context dependant – meaning for example that someone could be very specific and into their detail at home, yet come to work and be very general. And vice versa.  

Your ultimate aim if you wish to generate better relationships and ultimately better results, is to vacate your own personal preference - and match the preference of the person you’re relating with. That way you’ll generate rapport, or stay in rapport, improve the connection and achieve a more fruitful relationship.  

 

Remember, too many details will confuse and irritate a General person and too much vagueness will upset the Specific person. So give them the precise level of detail they need - and check for understanding.

 

Back to you  

So do you have a Specific or General preference? What about your customers and prospects? Learn to quickly clarify whether their communication preference, match it - and you're well on your way to those increasing sales!  

Until next time.

 

Leigh

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426  

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here