| Intentional Meeting = Walk in with an objective(s) – Leave with clarity If you cancel an appointment with an advisor will they be upset? Will they call you to get back on the books? The point I am making is advisors usually don’t have a pressing need or problem they expect you to assist with. Most of the time, they don’t think about the meeting until you walk in. So if you go in without a clear purpose, the conversation might be “good”, they might say the right things, but the net business may be zero. Even worse, you may go back and do it again. Your goal is to have “effective” meetings, not “good” ones. To do this, you must start with the end in mind. If you are meeting with an advisor to get business, then you must plan on effectively placing your product and asking for the business. This means knowing ahead of time how you will ask for the business and how you will react to potential answers (your clarifying conversation). The goal of an intentional meeting is to get a result. Sometimes the result is finding out they won’t be doing business in the near future. (despite what they say). For example, an advisor may be vague about their interest. They will use phrases like “that seems like a possibility, let me review the info” or “sounds good, I think there might be a place in the future”. If you are conducting an intentional meeting, you can’t leave it there. Instead you might follow up with “I appreciate that, let me ask you a question. What is your process and timeline for reviewing and using a product? If they start talking in circles and planting future excuses then at least you know where they stand and the meeting was effective. This is just an example. Not every meeting requires asking for the business. Users of the VAR Strategy may have very specific sorting or value add goals. Some meetings may be to discuss very specific products or cases. The takeaway is this. If you are meeting with an advisor, you should have a pre-determined reason. And your meeting should be structured intentionally to get that result. Fishing expeditions are for vacation. |
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