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A lot of businessmen pass through different trials during the period they are dealing with the launch and development of their company. Even if you are used to daily meetings, you will discover that for business meetings with clients and for signing contracts you need lots of strategies and abilities.

You have to collect supplementary information. A simple phone call can anticipate the needs of your client. You have to learn more about them and prepare yourself for that face-to-face meeting learning more about the client’s company. Then create a list that has on it all the benefits your services will bring him.

The objective has to be realistic. The experts calculated that a business meeting with your clients can cost you up to several hundred dollars, depending on the domain of the business and on location. So it is important for every meeting to be convincing for the client. If you are a public relations consigliore, for instance, a realistic objective for a first meeting would be the detailed presentation of the offer.

You must present quality products. Prepare your documents printed well on quality paper. You have to bring all needed, business cards, estimative graphs, brochures, presentation materials.

You must carefully analyze your client. All through the meeting, watch closely his behavior. It’s good to notice if he is approving of your ideas or if he isn’t. Pay attention to signals your client is sending and make sure to answer accordingly.

Any questions put must be well thought. A business meeting is an opportunity to discover your client’s needs and to present him with the solutions. If the discussion between you two isn’t equilibrated and you are the one that is doing all the talking, it means the meeting is a failure. It is important for you to put the right questions, but also to know how to listen carefully to answers.
You must always go for real cases and examples. True stories can demonstrate the fact that you kept in mind your client’s needs. Prepare for every quality and ability a demonstrative story. It’s preferable to tell a story that talks to the client about the benefits the rest of your clients and consumers have.

Provide efficient solution and act on time! Assuming you prepared very well and you used the observations efficiently, now you have reached the moment when you can ask directly the things you are interested in. This is important and it must not be missed. Some people organize great meeting but when it comes to closing the deal they leave home bear handed. When getting to this, you must have the strength to act and go on with it.

Related Tags: presentation materials, quality paper, business meeting, business meetings, business cards

Like it or not, the first impression people get from you is your appearance.  When engaged in an interview or you are already hired, you always want to look best.  Clean cut, professional looking people get treated like a professional.  How you dress sends specific signals to people.  Let’s start from head to toe for women.  First of all, never wear too much jewelry or makeup.  One item of jewelry is enough.  A small ring on one finger, or small earrings is plenty.  No big loops ladies.  Makeup should be conservative, just plain powder or concealer and barely any eye makeup.  No lipstick is appropriate at an interview.  It is just not professional.  The woman’s suit should be wool, linen, or cotton/polyester. Stick with navy, gray, and medium blues, at least for the first interview.  As for blouses, solid colors and natural fabrics, such as cotton or silk look clean and professional.  A scarf says a lot about a business woman; it is a powerful status symbol.  Shoes should never be open toed and stay within 2 inch heels, nothing faddish or multicolored.  The color of your shoe should be the same or darker than your skirt.  Pantyhose should always be neutral skin tones, nothing outlandish, unless you are interviewing in the fashion industry.  A briefcase is an excellent choice for a business woman, but don’t bring along your purse too.  It looks awkward trying to juggle them around.  You should choose either brown or burgundy, black or navy, either one is fine.  You do not want to ever distract the interviewer with your outfit, makeup or accessories.  Last but definitely not least is your personal hygiene.  Bad breath, dandruff, body odor, and dirty unmanicured nails do not give a good impression.  When it comes to body odor, you are what you eat.  If you consume a lot of garlic, onions, cilantro, and junk food, not only will it show in your skin, but it will seep through your pores.  Gross.  Make sure you eat a natural healthy diet so you always smell pleasant.

Related Tags: burgundy black, natural fabrics, medium blues, eye makeup, cotton polyester

Your Business Checkup

Whether you’re thinking it’s Spring Cleaning Time or time for an annual checkup, your business needs to undergo a checkup each year.  No matter how large or small your business is, you cannot gauge the effectiveness of any changes you’ve made without analyzing the benefits and bottom line.

Here are 10 questions to get you started:

• How do your year-to-date sales compare to the last couple of years? Don’t be satisfied if you managed to match them because if sales stayed the same then you’ve achieved zero growth.  With inflation, this flat growth line is a warning sign for more trouble down the road.

• What percentage of your business is from repeat customers? This is important to know because if it’s too low, then it needs to be improved.  The estimated cost of getting a new customer versus retaining an existing one can be as much as five to one in terms of dollars spent.  Keeping customers is more cost-effective than constantly seeking new ones.

• How long has it been since you offered a new product or service?  Loyal customers like to see you changing and progressing with the times.  If you’re stuck for an idea, ask your customers what they need.

• Do you consider marketing and advertising expenses or investments?  How you look at the money spent in these areas affects your willingness to spend money at all.  Would you look at prescriptions as a waste of money?  Marketing is really investing in you, your vision, and your company.  The old adage that you must spend money to make money is true, but you must spend it wisely.  Spend it on ads that are pulling responses and orders, and if they’re not maybe you need to change publications.

• Do you know what PR is and how to use it to positively position your business in the media?  I’ll bet that at least one of your competitors does.  Nearly every mention of a company or business in the newspapers and magazines is a direct result of publicity efforts.  Being quoted or featured in an article speaks volumes to your clients and readers who are your potential prospects.  A good PR consultant can do that for you and show you ways to extend the shelf life of that article beyond its publication.

• Are you listed in the yellow pages?  If you only have a line listing, consider including a small ad in the yellow pages.  If you can afford it, it will pay dividends throughout the year.

• Do you teat your regular customers better than your drop-ins?  You should.  If your customers don’t feel special when coming to you for products of services, why should they remain loyal to you?  Have a customer appreciation day or a special invitation only sale for your regulars.  Create a mailing list of your regulars.  Send occasional post cards or greeting cards for special events or just to keep in touch.  Learn to recognize them on sight and greet them by name when they visit you.

• How long has it been since you really talked to one of your customers?  Just as you appreciate when your Doctor takes time to talk to you, your customers will appreciate you if you take an interest in their needs.  If you have a service business, have lunch or coffee periodically with some regulars – even if they only contact you once or twice a year.  The personal touch in an impersonal world will be remembered.

• How is your business doing compared to your competition?  Every company, no matter what the size, has competition – even home-based businesses.  Is their business growing or downsizing? Is their pricing or service better than yours?  If so, what can you tell potential customers about the price difference?  Think about how you can improve your service to meet or exceed your customer’s expectations.

• Are your employees happy?  Don’t ask them directly, but observe them throughout the day.  Watch, listen and learn.  Employees who like their jobs don’t watch the clock for quitting time, aren’t habitually late, don’t have poor body language, don’t spend time on personal phone calls, and don’t look like they never smiled.  Observe how they interact with customers.  Not everyone is a match for direct contact with the public, so make sure you don’t have an employee who is driving business away.

I can remember when I was working at my very first job out of school.  It was a service business with just the owner and me at work.  There was direct contact with the clients, and there was never a problem with smiling when talking face to face with them.  I was given the best business tip of my life by that employer, when he pointed out to me that when talking to clients on the telephone I should smile too.  For some unexplainable reason, when you smile as you talk on the phone, the exchange with the client becomes more pleasant and more productive.  It’s as if that smile went right through the phone wires to the person to whom you’re talking.

Related Tags: spring cleaning time, business checkup, old adage, publicity efforts, money marketing