First meetings can be a real problem, however, they are also vital as you only get "one chance to make a good first impression" This simple presentation suggests an over all framework for a first meeting and suggests some simple ways of pulling the information together to maximize your chances of a great first meeting. This is by no means exhaustive and if anyone has any good ideas, please let me know so i can add them

1. Some practical things you can do to prepare.
Richard Masters

2. Objective
 First meetings are diffucult!
 This slide set presents some ideas on how you can
prepare to ensure that the meeting is a success.
 By the end you should have a good methodology to
tackle a first meeting and get follow up meetings.
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3. First calls are not easy!
 Don’t know the person
 The lead may have been passed to you!
 Effectively it is a cold call
 Most clients have had bad first meeting experiences
 The client does not know what to expect and will react
instinctively not logically
But....
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5. Why is it so hard?
•The skills involved
are actually very
complex
•Mixture of business
skills and sales skills
and sales
methodologies
•Need to
understand SME’s
•Really are building
blocks
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6. No pressure then!
Fortunately, there are some well tried and tested
techniques which can help you both through the first
meeting and on the way to a successful business
relationship!
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7. Three key topic areas
Preparation
2. The meeting
3. Post meeting
1.
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8. Get this wrong and it is hard to recover- however good your
meeting and interpersonal skills are!
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9. Important to plan thoroughly
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10. Need to allocate sufficient time
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11. What P***es off clients!
People who have not researched the basics before the
meeting
2. Reading from, and filling in, a questionnaire during
the meeting!
1.
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12. Areas to Prepare
 Need to get as many insights as possible into the
Company, the Competition and their Market.
 Vital to establish your personal credibility
 Three key Areas of research:
A. The company
B. The competitors
C. The Industry/Market
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13. A. Company Research
 1. Website
 2. Search
 3. Marketing Grader
 4. Social Media
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14. 1.Website
 Start point is the Company Website. Thoroughly search
and analyse it:
 Organisation: Size, Structure, legal status, key
people, locations, main products and
services, operations, partnerships, memberships etc.
 Sales & Marketing: Overall approach to S&M, Channels to
market, key marketing tactics, key messages and key
words, benefit statements (value propositions), USP’s, social
media connectors , brochures, white papers ,in house or
outsourced, channel partners etc.
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15. Keywords
•Tag cloud- good start
point for finding
search terms.
•This one is for a
business consultancy.
•http://www.tagcrow
d.com
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16. 2. Search
 Search Analysis. Using the keyword/phrases
identified. Run a Google SERPs listing for the main
ones. This should establish:
 Is the business primarily local or not? Does it have a
Google Places listing?
 Where does it rank in organic search?
 Does it use PPC and who is using PPC for these
keywords?
 Who appear to be it’s main competitors?
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17. Example of a SERPS listing
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18. SERPS Cont....
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19. Google Alerts
Set up Google Alerts
to monitor all web
activity for the
company on a
periodic basis
Company Blogs.
Subscribe and follow
these.
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20. 3.Marketing Grader
•Brilliant free tool:www.marketing.grader.com
•looks at key features of
a website as a marketing
tool
•Composite score out of
1oo
•Allows comparison
with competition
•Use with care!
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21. Key MG metrics
Top of funnel
Blog
SEO
Nos pages
Page title
Page description
MOZ Rank
Nos Links
Mobile
Social
Twitter
Facebook Business Page
Middle of Funnel
Landing pages
Marketing Automation
Analytics
Google Analytics
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22. 4. Social Media
 Can be a very useful source of information on your
prospects/customers.
Main Ones:
1.LinkedIn
2.Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Others
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23. LinkedIn
Research Individuals and Companies:
Individuals Profiles
 Find by people search (drop down box)
 Profile info
 Background & Summary (Personal Value Proposition!)
 Jobs history
 Academic and qualifications
 References
People know you have viewed their profile!
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24. Connections
Browse all and common
connections
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Shared Groups Companies
and Locations
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25. Companies on LinkedIn
 Displays Products and Services
 Insights into their marketing strategy
 Displays all employees and how you are connected to
them
 Display followers ( click on followers tab)
 Shows recent updates (offers, staff changes etc) and
blogs
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27. Twitter
 Google “company name twitter” to find accounts
 Try key individuals as well.
 Profile page: useful background information
 Can see Companies own tweets: Good clue to their
marketing strategy. Number of followers a good proxy
for effectiveness!
 See incoming Tweets “@companyname”
 See their follower lists= list of customers/prospects. Or
use a tool like Tweepi.
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28. Facebook
 Google search to get facebook accounts if not on




website
Profile and timeline give you lots of background info
May need to “like” them to get at detailed information
on their marketing strategy: prospecting, online
orders, customer service etc.
See customer responses directly beneath on their
Wall!!
Gives you good discussion points in a meeting!
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29. Example of Facebook entry
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30. Other Social Networks
 Visual ones:
 Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr
 You Tube
 Directories:
 Yelp, Yell, or
 Specialist ones
 Location Based
 Foursquare
 Google + Local (ex Google Places)
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31. B. Competitive Research
 Don’t go over board on this but need to show an
awareness of competitive environment.
 It will be at the top of your prospects interest list!
 This is their “Mastermind” topic so be careful.
 Compile a top level assessment of the main
competitors as follows:
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32. Information
Required
•Identify who the main
competitors are
•Assess their relative
market strength
•Understand their key
strategies
•Talk about the
implications of this for
the prospect
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33. Who are the competition?
 The SERPs listings should be a good start point!
 Explore the websites of the top listing sites and those
that advertise on PPC.
 Go to Alexa.com and type in the prospects website
URL, then review the listing of " People who visit
this page also visit".
 If business is basically local then Directories ( Yell or
Yelp) or G+local are good sources
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34. Competitor Strategies
 Glean as much information from their company
website (size, locations, products, marketing strategy
etc)
 Google them individually and see what turns up
 Use Marketing Grader by inserting the competitors
URL’s.
 Search their Social Media profiles/Blogs just as you
would a prospect
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37. Word of warning!
 Handle this carefully as many clients are very sensitive
about this!
 Always ask the prospect who he sees as his major
competitors and why, first.
 If he doesn’t mention a competitor you have identified
ask him/her what he thinks of them.
 Many companies take an overly historical view of
competition and cannot see the new threats on the
horizon.
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38. C. Industry/Market Research
 Useful to be able to talk about wider trends in the
prospects industry sector
 The holy grail is market research which can cost
money but, articles, whitepapers and industry reports
do tend to exist. Find them using Google search.
 Google Trends is a very useful tool.....
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41. Summary: Preparation
 Preparation: is the single most important thing you
can do to ensure a successful outcome to a first
meeting. Give it sufficient time.
 Having researched someone and their company
beforehand pays them a compliment.
 Use the information wisely, be informed. Test your
understanding rather than stating it.
 Remember: The person opposite you has a history
and an agenda- which you currently don’t know!
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42. Three key topic areas
Preparation
2. The meeting
3. Post meeting
1.
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43. There are four key elements to the meeting:
A. The meeting plan
B. Opening The Call
C. The questioning strategy
D. Closing
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44. A. The Meeting Plan
 Vital element in any successful meeting
 I prefer to do it about an hour before the meeting.
 Involve the whole team even if you are going alone
 If more than one person-agree roles!
 Lots of pro-formas exist- choose one that suits you
 Three examples below (downloads available)...
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47. http://www.plan2winsoftw
are.com/applications/prec
allplanning
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48. B. Opening The Call
 You only get one chance to create a professional
impression
 Standard 4 stage process:
 1. Who? (Introduction)
 2. Why? (WIIFM)
 3. What? (Objectives)
 4. How? (Agenda)
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50. C. Questioning Strategy
 In the case of your first meeting you are essentially
undertaking a fact find
 Subsequent meetings will be at different stages of the
sales cycle and require different approaches.
 Three key basics:
1. Use a list of key topic areas to structure the questioning
(pre-populated).
2.Use the “Inverted Triangle” or “T Bar” questioning
methodology
3. Variety of questioning types
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51. Overall Questioning Structure
 Define the areas you wish to find out about. Different




for different groups of people (see next slide)
Pre-populate with information you have discovered
during preparation. Check this during the meeting by
questions to test your understanding.
Have prompts/ queues for areas you need to probe
Conduct the interview in a conversational manner and
follow the lead of the questionee. It should not seem
like an interrogation!
Resist the temptation to offer views/advice or
conclusions at this stage!
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52. Topic lists
Simple list (template)
Pro forma approach
 Company Details
 Include:
 Company structure
 Company strategy and

competition
Financials
People
Operations
Sales and Marketing
Personal






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

questions/facts/prompts
Bones of an Account Plan
Shareable with client!
See next slide for example
(downloadable)
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54. Questioning Methodology:
Funnel, T Bar, Inverted Triangle
Broad Discussion
Drill Down
Isolate the key issues
Confirm the issues
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55. Question Types
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56. Cont.....
 More detailed document on the question types and
how to use them in the supporting Docs (download)
 Active listening is just as important as questioning!
 Check your pre research by asking confirmatory and
probing questions
 Don’t be tempted to offer opinions or conclusions at
this stage - even if pressed- this meeting is a fact find!
(Questioning Exercise if Time)
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57. D. The Close
 Most important phase: your prospect is at his most







receptive!
This is when you go for your stretch objectives!!
Formally draw the meeting to an end with an appropriate
statement.
Say what you are going to do next in terms of pulling the
material together and drawing some conclusions
Offer to send the material to him/her
Ask for a meeting to discuss it and set a date and time
Go for your stretch objective
Leave quickly and decisively
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58. Three key topic areas
Preparation
2. The meeting
3. Post meeting
1.
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59. If the first two phase have been executed well, then this is the real added value phase where
you prepare the ground for the sales campaign:
a. Diagnostic
b. Analytics
c. Report back
d. Solution design
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60. a. Diagnostic
 The background information should be written up as a
diagnostic or in a business plan format
 It is useful to document as much as possible because if
the prospect becomes a customer you will need an
Account Plan
 The Account Plan will be a key document for sharing
knowledge and communicating with other resources
in the future. (it is vital piece of IPR)
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61. b. Analytics
 It can prove useful to try and put together some
analytics from the information collected.
 This demonstrates understanding and added value to
prospects.
 Potential Diagnostics:
 SWOT
 PEST :Environmental Analysis
 Force Field Analysis ( bridge to action)
 Examples and downloads follow.
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62. Environmental Analysis (PEST)
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63. SWOT
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64. Force Field Analysis


What is Force Field Analysis
What is Force Field Analysis and how do we use one of the great change
management tools for managing change in the workplace and for achieving
successful organizational change management strategies?
Well just about anyone who knows what is force field analysis will say that it
works as one of the effective change management tools used as part of the
organizational change process and business improvement initiatives.
Of the many possible change management methodologies available, as a change
management consultant we train clients to use the force field analysis tool to
bring the project enablers and restraining forces out into the open.
When managing change in the workplace we use force field analysis to
assign actions to required activities and to get important things done. It is
also one of the great change management tools for achieving effective
communication in the workplace and effective business meetings.
So let's begin looking at force field analysis, 'a great change management tool!'
How do we identify, sort through and deal with the forces that are working
for and against us when we are trying to implement any type of change in
the workplace?
Imagine now we are doing a project implementation. What are the aspects of the
business, people of influence, the decision makers, and the systems and
processes which are driving and enabling the project to be successful? And who
and what are the aspects that are restraining or disabling the project?
Generally, regardless of what it is, improved infrastructure, new
processes, people, or systems, strategies, and so on, there will be those who want
things to remain the same (keep the status quo) and those who are pushing for
change. Generally we find ourselves in a negative situation for the business, with
these two forces working against each other.
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65. Issues & actions
 In many ways this should come before FFA, because
FFA is about how you address issues and instigate
change.
 Need to produce a list of the potential issues you have
identified and their implications for the business.
 Include all issues- even ones ultimately you cannot
help with.
 See next for example.
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66. Issues/Solutions Summary
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67. c. Report back
 How you do this is very much a matter of personal
preference, and the rapport you have established with
the prospect.
 You can share your analysis and your ideas for
solutions before the meeting or you can hold them
back.
 My personal preference is to share as much as possible
to demonstrate the potential value you can add.
Delicate balance.
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68. d. Solution Design
 Now the hard bit starts.......
 Between now and the meeting you have to develop
your solution to the issues identified along with the
costs and benefits etc!
 But that’s another set of skills.....
 Defining the costs and benefits
 Articulating the case
 Gaining commitment
 Closing the sale
 Etc.
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70.  First meeting are difficult for both parties involved!
 There are techniques that can help
 Preparation is the key. This gives you the key





advantage!
A first meeting should take half a day in preparation.
Use the information and tools available.
Spend time planning the meeting.
Conduct the fact find effectively- avoid speculation.
Follow up and demonstrate you can add value and are
a valuable business partner.
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71. Presentation and Downloads
 Copy of presentation and downloads:
https://www.box.com/s/dcafiui298zyz4il65w1
 Contact
email: richard@rjmasters.co.uk
Twitter: @mastersassoc
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardmastersj
G+: google.com/+RichardMasters
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