Ian Titchener of Telemarketing Matters Ltd writes:
All of us over the years have probably attended plenty meetings that have not turned into business, or worse still, meetings where business has been promised but never happened. In fact it was this very experience that actually led me to start Telemarketing Matters some nine years ago. Having seen this from both sides of the desk I thought that I would put down on paper (or screen) my top tops for avoiding pointless meetings, because as I have said on countless occasions, pointless meetings at any cost are an expensive waste of time.
1.Qualify, qualify and qualify again.
When a pointless meeting is arranged the most common reason for their pointlessness is laziness during the qualification process or poor qualification. Properly qualifying a prospect comes down tothree things. Questioning, listening and then the most important factor experience. When asking questions you need to ascertain if you are speaking to the right person, if the product would bring real value to their company, if they have a budget, if they are willing to spend it and when.
When we carry out this process we use a call structure. This is not a script, but a list of boxes you want ticked before you would go to a meeting. If all of the boxes above are not ticked, then the meeting will generally be a waste of time. Never use a script as they make you sound disinterested, disengaged and distract you from listening and responding. The experience factor will tell you an awful lot. As you gain more experience you will recognise ownership questions and buying signals.
2.Always email to confirm a meeting as soon as it is arranged and call the day before.
Despite having carried out all of the processes above, you sometimes cannot account for situations where somebody is poorly organised, forgetful or even off sick. Emailing directly following a meeting being arranged means the prospect is more likely to put the date in their diary or on Outlook, and the phone call reminds them the day before that you are coming. It also gives them a get out of jail card and an opportunity to tell you “they have a lot on” before you drive 200 miles for no reason.
3 Lack of commitment, wobbly conversations or doesn’t feel right.
This is again where experience comes in. When you initially had a conversation with a prospect have you ever heard them say all of the correct things but sound totally disinterested? Have they asked lots of wobbly questions regarding payment terms, if you could do things for a fraction of the usual price or worse still for free? Has the prospect postponed meetings or continually rearranged the time? Does your gut instinct tell you that something is amiss? If so just walk away. Spend your time on the stuff that is going to work, because in my experience, in 9/10 of these situations you’re onto a loser. It’s important to be selective about who you do business with, and avoid wasting your time. Your time is precious too!
Try and understand why clients buy from you, use these top tips, and you will be in a far stronger position to avoid pointless meetings. Or of course you could outsource to a professional telemarketing company.
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