Time is Money. Simple Ways to Increase the Value of Face Time.
on Thursday, February 11, 2010Andrew Smith, Business Growth Strategist, Funding Specialist
Now more than ever, coordinating time to meet with clients can be challenging due to changing deadlines and conflicting schedules. When you do finally sit down with the client; be they internal, external or otherwise, it’s critical to make sure you spend your time wisely. Sometimes you do not get another chance, or you have to go through extensive e-mail, phone and fax tag to get information you could have obtained in an easier way. Here are four tips to meaningful and productive conversations:
- Make sure your questions are pertinent to the objective. Time can be wasted by asking questions that may be interesting and lead to fun conversations, but may not be relevant to your objective. Take time before your meeting to write down the three things you need to know to move forward; and make sure you ask those questions. If time allows you can branch out, but don’t waste your time on fluff.
- Effective questions are the best, that is why writing them out first is a good idea. You can hone the questions to a razor sharp edge that gets you where you want to go. How many times I have been asked a question by a client that has three parts, two subsections, a slide-show and paper-waiving routine and at the end all I can ask is “what was that middle thing?” Once you have asked the question, make sure to give enough time to listen.
- If you are going to talk, be brief. Get to the point of the meeting, tell them what you want, or need or are asking. Let the customer, client and business partner know what the meeting is about, set the stage and you will find the meeting will be more productive. Be honest about your objective and ask them to share theirs.
- Be open in your manner, words, body language, approach and facial features. If it’s a tough question you are asking, or a serious moment, be present and listen. You can close yourself off to endless possibilities in just a few seconds if you don’t invest in building a relationship that is mutually beneficial.
The next time you hear yourself say “I just wasted another 90 minutes in a meeting that didn’t move me forward” review your objective. Take personal responsibility for each meeting. Review how it went and plan for the future. Take what you learn and put it into practice. Be pertinent in your questions, make them effective, be brief in your statement of the objective and be focus on a mutually beneficial outcome!
One of my mentors favorite mantra is “I don’t want to waste your time or mine”. Make your meetings count.
------------------To your success!
Andrew Smith
http://www.KathieNelson.com