Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we attend an event and someone says, “You’re just the company we need; where do I sign?”
Oh, what a lovely dream.
In any conversation when we ask perceptive and insightful questions and listen carefully we should nearly always gain something useful from the interaction. I call it the “Ahaa” moment. It is that point in time when we have a sudden insight or realisation when the other person tells you something. It could be just one sentence so listen carefully!
When you have built rapport, you may get into discussions about their business or their existing advisors or suppliers and you may hear something like this
- Yes, our present advisers are brilliant but…
- We have a problem with…’
- We’re struggling with….
- They’re okay
- They don’t look after us like they used to
- They’re fine but our present contact is leaving/ retiring
- Our biggest issue is….
- I might be interested in that
- I could do with some help/ advice on
- We didn’t know that
Ask a few more probing questions, suggest you exchange business cards and ask to call them after the event to continue the conversation. We attend events as a platform to create business after and not during the event
What would you like someone to say and what sort of person would you like to hear it from? When you come away with 2 or 3 cards and an agreement to a call you know it’s been a great use of your time.
Blog by Will…