Compelling Openings

By Dennis Grieco

Opening a client meeting can be a very stressful few minutes, both for the salesperson and the clients. At the same time, it sets the tone for the entire meeting so it is crucial that those first few minutes are compelling and allow the salesperson to establish credibility. Some quick DOs and DON’Ts to think about:

• DON’T immediately begin each meeting with a round of introductions—it is both predictable and boring.


• DO begin with a relevant story or question that will not only resonate with the client, but get them involved.


• DON’T give your life and work history when introducing yourself—no one really cares and few clients are truly listening.


• DO keep your introductions short and focused. Highlight key facts about your life and/or work history that reflect the clients’ situation, company or industry.


• DON’T read the agenda to client. This often wastes several minutes and adds no real value to the opening.


• DO highlight the key topics that will be covered during the meeting, pointing out the benefits of focusing on these topics. Check in with the client to ensure the agenda is on track and to see if anything needs to be added or changed.
  
  A strong, memorable opening tells clients that the meeting is not going to be your typical, run-of-the-mill meeting, but rather a valuable and interesting experience for all.
  
  

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Making Pre-Work Impactful

By Dennis Grieco

Pre-work can be a critical component of a training program when done well. There are a few key things to ensure its successful use in the classroom:

• Internal communication to all participants as to what the pre-work is and how it will be used in class. It is also important to give participants sufficient time to complete the pre-work—at least a week would be ideal.
  
• Having managers check in with participants prior to the training session to ensure the pre-work was completed and to answer any questions about the pre-work or the program.
  
• Ensuring the agenda for the training day incorporates the pre-work into critical components of the program. History shows that not using pre-work in prior training sessions is the leading cause of why participants don’t fill it out in the first place.
  
• Since a lot of pre-work asks participants to focus on one of their own, real sales situations, it is important to ensure that the completed pre-work reflects that and not situations that are either already done or made up for practice purposes.
  
• Having managers follow up with the participants after the training has been completed. This not only shows interest in the participants’ experience, but can provide a developmental opportunity for the manager to coach the participant and help him/her implement the action plan that derived from completing the pre-work in the first place.

 

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