“The effort you put to meet your client in person is one of priorities you should do with heavy workloads and little time.”
– HRinAsia
Face-to-face meeting is a valuable and effective way of communicating with prospective clients. Kier Thomas-Bryant, small business and accountant expert at Sage, said there are so much you can achieve from a non-virtual meeting such as small signs of body language, deeper insights of client’s mindset, as well as client’s insid e story that will help you know them better. These are a few keys to develop transparency and trust with your client.
If you look from recruitment perspective, client meeting could be a good way to gain more insights from candidates. Carolyn Kirkwood, a deputy managing director at JFL Search and Selection, said that “client meeting is an essential part of process as it allows us to engage with company culture, understanding who our candidates will be meeting and working with, what kind of working environment they offer, what roles entails, what types of candidates would be a good fit, and what company privileges in terms of values and experience.”
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Therefore, the power of face-to-face client meeting should not be underestimated. They are one of invaluable resources that give you opportunity to build a long-lasting rapport as well as develop understanding of both parties. As a result, your client and you can work well together for a long period of time in the future.
Further, according to Greg Savage, time you spend with prospect client will give you irreplaceable knowledge of either personal or professional life of the client. However, Greg mentions that there must be one outcome at you should achieve at every meeting with client. This outcome is non-negotiable as it will determine how successful your meeting is. The one outcome you should achieve is Credibility. You are not going to move forward with those people, commit to them, and give them your business, unless you believe they are ‘credible’.
According to Greg, credibility in client meeting is made up of a complex cocktail of your personal presentation, your interpersonal style, your questioning skills, your market knowledge, your track-record of success, your ability to articulate your offer, your differentiators, and the confidence you instil in prospect that you can deliver what you promise.
There are some signs that can tell you whether you have achieve that credibility or yet in your meeting. These are the sign:
Essentially, every time you are about to leave a meeting, ask yourself “was I credible?” This might be a subjective question. However, if you are honest to yourself, you will get the right answer. Additionally, at some point, if clients ask for business, it might be an affirmative sign that the clients believe you are credible. On the contrary, if they do not express that they want to meet you again, it means you have no chance of being credible enough for them.
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