Does the following sound familiar regarding a potential client…
- Got the first meeting
- Had good conversation
- Time flies by during the conversation
- End of the meeting arrives and the client has to depart
- You are chasing the client to schedule a follow up meeting
Two things you can do to help schedule follow up meetings…
#1 – Send and leverage an agenda
This may sound way too obvious, however, I can tell you I have become caught up in excitement for a meeting and forgotten to do this. Several days before your meeting send a suggested agenda (ask the client for feedback) that specifically mentions “Next Steps”, for example:
- Introductions
- Client’s goals, challenges
- Overview of your company, solutions
- Next Steps
Keep the agenda handy and visible during the meeting so you have a visual cue to discuss next steps before the meeting is over.
#2 – Pause before the meeting is over!
Depending on the length of your meeting, pause about 5 -10 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to end to:
- See how you are doing regarding achieving the client’s goals for the meeting
- Check if they still have a hard stop at scheduled time or have more time
- Discuss potential next steps
- Agree on date, time for next discussion
Write a note to yourself (you can see during the meeting) to do this!
Frequently you will get valuable feedback, have success in getting agreement on next steps and scheduling the next discussion.
Feel free to contact me directly for ideas and/or help on this or other topics!
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