So you know when you run into a colleague and they say, "Oh, can't talk,
I'm preparing for a meeting." And you think,
"are you though?" I mean you're preparing your presentation,
you're preparing your proposal or you're preparing your business review.
But are you actually preparing for the meeting? So listen,
sit back because I'm going to run a few meeting tips for you to make sure that
next time you go to a meeting you're prepared for the actual meeting.
Hello,
it's Warwick here from Account Manager Tips and I'm about to share with you a
few things to consider next time you go to any meeting to make sure that you're
completely prepared and you know exactly what your outcomes are. So number one,
what does the client expect from the meeting? Beyond what you're there to do,
have a think about what the client is actually, you know,
potentially looking to from this meeting?
They're not always the same thing as what you're looking to achieve.
So make sure you're aligned and connected to what the client is expecting.
Make sure you have an agenda.
Be clear on what the topic is and what the purpose of it being on the agenda is.
Is it a status update? Is it information sharing? Is it decision making?
Is it problem solving? Is it you know,
innovation like brainstorming idea generation or is it just sort of engagement,
team building stuff? Who's attending the meeting and more importantly,
why are they attending the meeting?
Don't neglect that very simple step of a quick LinkedIn search to see who they
are.
Any similarities in your backgrounds any things that you can mine for sort of
conversation generators or openings and uh,
also to understand what they are there for.
Why are they attending the meeting and what do you think they might be looking
to get out of it? Think about what's your ideal outcome?
What is the best possible next steps or resolution or outcome from the meeting?
And then what's the minimum you would be happy to walk away with in case things
don't go as well as you'd planned?
What are your clients most urgent challenges and opportunities?
What can you help them with? How can you help them move the needle on these?
It's always a good thing to have in the back of your mind.
Even if it's not an agenda topic,
I always like to go to a meeting just having those,
being aware of those because potentially it could be able ro link the
conversation or draw the conversation to those and help connect some dots during
the meeting. So something to be aware of and prepared for. Now,
be really clear on what your client sees as your strengths today. Now,
often in meetings they could, there could be, you could be challenged,
you might be ambushed.
There might be things that don't go according to the agenda and you want to make
sure that you have a very clear point of view around what's working for your
client today because so often I've been unexpectedly called to defend myself in
meetings and those are good things to have at hand and be ready to to introduce
if you need to.
You want to also be clear on what your client sees as you know your weaknesses.
Because if you do have conversations around the challenges you're having in the
business, you don't want to have to be on the back foot.
Forewarned is forearmed as they say.
So if you've got good insights into you know where the potential gaps are in
your solution, how you're trying to achieve them,
the things that you've done to date to resolve them and you're clear on some of
the activities that are going on right now to address them. You know,
you'd be in a much better place in walking in unaware of all those things.
So think about, you know, potential objections,
issues that might come up during the meeting.
Make sure you're clear on how the client measures success and measures value
because if the conversation drifts towards you know how you're going to make an
impact to their business, you want to be talking their language.
So are they motivated by cost reduction, cost avoidance,
improved quality, improved efficiency?
Are there other specific metrics and KPIs that you know,
float their boat that get them excited?
Make sure you're really clear on those and that you can frame your conversation,
your value in a way that kind of makes sense to them.
What about hidden challenges? Now,
just because your client hasn't mentioned anything yet,
doesn't mean they're not thinking about it or they haven't come across certain
problems,
so have a wider view about things that maybe they haven't mentioned that they
haven't discussed. Whether it's in their business or in yours.
Maybe there's things going on in yours that you have challenges with? SLAs,
outages, system problems, resourcing issues, that sort of stuff.
Make sure that you're aware of those and potentially whether or not they might
be brought up during the meeting. Get all your data together.
So when you're talking about managing objections and preparing all of your
insights and you're, um, delivering your contribution to the meeting,
you want to have all that evidence at your fingertips.
Even if you're not going to potentially share them during the meeting,
better to have it ready to go. Put it in a folder on your desktop. You know,
it's a couple of clicks away if you need to bring it up.
Because it's going to be easier to deal with it on the spot than it is to have
to go back later and you know, come back with more, you know,
a counter-argument and things like that.
So it's always good to have all that stuff prepared and at your fingertips.
You know, and finally, maybe even my best tip till last,
is to make a list of all the questions you want to ask during the meeting
because so often it's so easy to get caught up in the whole conversation,
in wherever direction that the meeting may end up going and you forget to ask
the things, the very things that you went in there to find out.
So if you have a long list of everything that you want to ask,
you'll make sure that you leave the meeting,
not missing the opportunity to get those questions answered. All right,
that's it. They're my tips. When you're in a meeting, you know,
prepare for the meeting. That's kind of it. Now, KAM Club members,
you can head on over to the KAM Kit and you'll find the complete meeting planner
guide, including the preparation template. All yours. Download it right now.
If you're not a member of the KAM Club, well what are you waiting for?
The KAM Club is a private learning community for account managers dedicated to
helping you get results. Membership's open now.
So head on over to thekamclub.com and you can learn more.
Until then, let me know what you think in the comments. Subscribe of course,
if you haven't, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.