Get a Meeting

Week of October 20, 2014
This week is about getting a meeting with your clients. How do you get that next "touch point" so you stay Top of Mind? Here are my 10 quick tips.

1) At the end of your project-focused discussion, ask the client what else they have on their plate OR how else you can be of help to them. Be sincere, and this one question can uncover a wealth of opportunities.

2) Arrange a site visit to a current project, a project-of-interest to the client that you are doing, or an open tour that you know about.

3) Introduce your client to a colleague, trusted subconsultant, industry expert, or teaming partner.

4) At a project milestone, thank them for their business and support on the project; congratulate them on meeting the important milestone (on schedule or ahead of schedule or under budget).

5) Offer to collaborate with the client on an article, a presentation, an award submittal, etc. Do your homework and find an appropriate venue/audience for what you propose.

6) Ask for feedback - how are you doing on the job? how can you improve?

7) Reality check - ask the client "What is going well?" Not everything is a problem to be solved. Help them (re)gain some perspective with this game-changing question.

8) Share industry news, an economic forecast, and/or technology advancement. They probably do not have time to keep up-to-speed on the latest/greatest, so help them out by bringing something you found interesting or helpful to their attention. Be sure to discuss with them WHY you found it interesting/helpful.

9) Take your marketer to meet your client. We need to know about them, too, and what better way than to meet them and help generate conversation? We can ask them the "big picture" questions that might not come up naturally in your usual conversations, such as trends, economic outlook, or organizational news.

10) Still need ideas? Check out these two items from the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce: What does your client want (a synopsis from a keynote speaker at the Society of Marketing Professional Services Pacific Regional Conference) and What does the client want? (an article I wrote for the Journal with information straight from the clients' mouths).