How often do you have a great meeting with a client where you leave feeling really positive and have lots of things you can follow up on? Actions like producing quotes for new bits of work, and things you can go away and research for the client.
I've recently been trying out a new method of running meetings. The goal is to leave the meeting with no actions at all for you, unless they're things that the client is specifically paying you for. At the same time, you have to give the client as much value as possible for free during the meeting, and provide them with useful actions that they can go away and work on.
It's counter-intuitive because conventional wisdom says that the supplier should go away and do the leg-work, and it makes us feel like we're being helpful if we promise to go away and do stuff after the meeting. But you can give the client more value and get better results (like closing a sale for some more work), and save yourself time back in the office if you try it this way. You just have to be prepared to think differently and give it a go.
The trick is to pause in the meeting whenever you sense that you're about to take on an action. Instead, decide if the issue or task is really important enough to warrant spending time on, and if it is, see how far you can take it there any then. For example, if the client's interested in some further services from you, don't promise to go away and write them a proposal. See if you can sketch out a scope or budget there and then. You can even try to close the deal on the spot, or if it's not possible then just get the conversation up to a point where the client can take it on as an action and then come back to you when they're ready to move it along. This empowers the client; frees up your todo list; and allows you to qualify the sales opportunity (because the client will only come back to you about it if they think it's worthwhile.)
It's an amazing feeling when you leave a meeting having achieved lots, but not having any 'homework' to do (especially if you are naturally lazy like me and could never get your homework done at school.) Then with the extra time you'll have available to you now that you don't have loads of promises to keep, you can spend some time thinking about what would be really useful to that client, do it, and surprise them with it. They'll love you for it, but there's no pressure on you because you haven't made any promises.
I dare you to try it at your next client meeting.
Note: I'd like to say this is my own original thinking, but a big thanks to Pete Burden for the idea and inspiration.
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