Prospecting Methods: Face to Face Meetings
Prospecting is the process of reaching out to create opportunities for sales. This can involve cold calling leads or reaching out to leads that did not materialize in the past.
Even in this day of phone calls, e-mails, video calls etc, the most important prospecting tool is the face to face meeting. Meeting face to face, in person, provides opportunities that are not available to you over the phone or over the e-mail.
For one, you can interact with the prospect in real time and not only hear their responses but also observe their body language, their facial expressions. You can judge when the prospect is being responsive or if they have lost interest in what you are presenting.
In a phone call you lose the visual cues therefore you are unable to make a complete judgement on the readiness of the prospect. In an e-mail you are not certain whether the prospect paid any attention to your e-mail so you have no guarantee that your message went across.
Getting to a face to face meeting requires confidence and persistence though. People are pressed for time. Remember that your prospect is there to run their business and you are cutting into their time. To make it fruitful for them:
Be prepared (with your product, your services, your offer)
Be punctual (value the prospect’s time)
Be polite (courtesy cannot be ignored, ever)
Be honest and open (present what you can offer; don’t oversell your product or your capabilities)
Document the offer, issues discussed and call to action (this can be done via e-mail after the meeting but summarize it at the end of the meeting so both parties are clear on what has been discussed)
In the end remember to follow up with the customer (e-mail, call, set up another meeting; but don’t be pushy)
Sales is a continuous process and you need to keep touching base with the prospect/customer from time to time. Therefore, you must ensure open lines of communication and use the opportunity to establish a relationship with the prospect/customer.