The Approach: Here’s How To Open New Client Meetings
When you begin a fact finder interview with a new prospective client, you want to open the meeting by describing what you do, how you do it and why you do it. This is known as the approach.
Over the course of my career, I’ve conducted several thousand fact finder interviews personally and taught hundreds of other reps how to do them. Needless to say, over time, I was able to master my approach to the point where I could give it in my sleep. You can click the video above to see and hear exactly how I gave my approach, or read on for more detail.
The purpose of the approach is to be able to flip the client’s negative mindset to positive in the first 3 - 5 minutes. Not all of your new prospective clients are coming in skeptical or distrustful, but I think you will be better served if you just assume that 100% of them are.
They're currently thinking to themselves, “How quickly can I get out of this? This person’s just going to try to sell me something. This person isn’t honest…”
Unfair or not, that’s the negative mindset. By the end of your approach, they should be sitting on the edge of their chair wondering, “Where has this person been all my life? I wish we would have met a long time ago. This is exactly what I need. This is the type of person that I could see myself working with.”
This is achieved partially through your language. More importantly, it’s done in how you deliver the approach and make the person feel. Just like anything I teach, this cannot be acting, it must be genuine.
While my language can serve as a starting point, you should put some real time and energy into crafting a version that feels authentic to you.
When you deliver your approach, the message must be clearly reflected in your voice, tone, body language, posture, the smile on your face and the eye contact you make with them. This displays your passion, purpose and genuineness in the deepest part of your heart.
You’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure you take the time to master your approach. Practice it with other reps in your office until it feels natural, so that you can focus on delivering it with energy and you're not just trying to remember the words.
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