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This is the first part in Meetings 101 - Perfecting Business Interaction

Prospecting, in and of itself, is the 900 pound gorilla that sits in the corner of most every business in the world. You feed him and feed him, but he just sits. He doesn’t do much, except give out an occasional grunt or scare the interns into a frenzy.

I am sure some of you are thinking, “How could prospecting be part of meetings and business interaction?”

Well, in order to have a meeting with clients and partners, you need to schedule it! If there is no one to schedule a meeting with, how are you going to interact with them? Like I said, 90 percent of the people I get in front of, I close. The trick sometimes is getting in front of them!

The beauty of prospecting is it opens up a lot of possibilities as to who your client base will be. We are going to explore target markets, connectors, referrals, and return business. Books have been written about each topic, but I hope to summarize each while not losing my main point… Oftentimes, easier said than done in my case.

Target Market

Your target market is really where you live in terms of clientèle. If you are looking to market to males, ages 26-39 with a college degree and a salary of $70,000 to $110,000 - you are ahead of most businesses. Often, businesses have this idea that mass marketing will get people in their doors. But mass marketing is dying and the budgets which accompanied those programs quickly dwindling.

Instead, you have blog reviews and pay per click advertising which allow you to really target one specific group of individuals. No longer are you marketing to a group of people on the other side of a TV - you are marketing to each and every individual, personally.

Information Hubs and Connectors

I love connectors. I try to be one whenever I can. Connectors are people who know everyone. If you have a problem, you go to him/her and they hook you up with whoever they think can help. If you are launching a new service - you put a bug in the connector’s ear and they put you in contact with the right people.

Oftentimes, these connectors are consultants, marketers, solutions providers and high ranking professionals. Usually, they have a Rolodex that isn’t just deep, but diverse. Keeping a connector or two in your back pocket is a BIG win. If your business is a little slow, you can usually call these people up and ask if they have heard of anyone looking for what you do.

PS. Don’t skip social engagements that these people put on. That is a big prospecting no-no.

Referrals

Referrals and connectors go hand in hand, but I thought they should be handled differently. Anyone in the online world knows about referrals. You put a banner ad on your site, you make commission on everything that is sold through that banner. Yadda, yadda.

Referrals are very powerful in business, too. There are people who make a lot of money off of ‘finder’s fees’ (fees that you could pay to the referring party.’ Oftentimes, how I handle referrals is by giving them a piece of the action. I might pay the person who hooked me up with a client 10%. Sometimes I take them to lunch or out for a beer. But I always make sure that they know I appreciate it.

What does following up do? Reward the referrer. It let’s him know that you will continue to reward them each time they hook you up with business.

Repeat Business

Those clients that you have done work for in the past; keep them close. Shoot them and email every so often and ask them if they need any more work done. Also, ask them if they know anyone who needs work done! Oftentimes, they will be happy to give you warm leads as long as you have a good relationship with them!

Then, take the referral route and take them out for a beer.

In Summary

Business is about people and relationships. If all you do is direct marketing piece after direct marketing piece, you will get nowhere. Oftentimes, the best way to meet a prospect is through someone else. This includes connectors like consultants, marketers and heads of business.

But don’t forget to follow up. Reward the people who showed you the way to new business. If nothing else, take them out the dinner or send them a book from Amazon. Take that extra step showing that you care about them. I guarantee, you will be on their short list of people to contact when the need arises.