Your timing of delivering your story makes all the difference of whether or not a meeting is successful or not. A story or pitch is only effective once you’ve fully engaged the other person.
WHY THEY WANT TO BE THERE
“Interested, but need to be engaged” is what I call people who have agreed to network with you. They agreed to network because of a mutual connection or desire to help, so they are interested.
You want them engaged from the start; therefore you must begin the meeting by showing them why they want to be there. We all have self-interest and desire to be appreciated. We also know when those two elements are fulfilled; we are far more likely to engage in whatever activity lies ahead of us.
While not scientific, the chart below will illustrate where to put your attention to get the most of a meeting.
Let’s slice up the meeting into four sections and
Initial Impression: It starts with simple professional courtesy, being on time, etc., but it continues with setting the stage by establishing why you wanted to meet, expected outcome and that you are looking to network with them.
Selling Phase: The initial impression you want to set is that there is a good meeting ahead, which gets their interest. Now you want to stoke that interest, by beginning with them and using the 80% rule by offering help from your network via connections or information and understanding if there are other areas you can help. During this time you do not focus on yourself at all.
Telling Phase: The connections and help you offer have opened the door for you to make a very simple pitch. The pitch should be the 2-3 important messages that want your connection to remember after the meeting. To make a message about a skill or experience memorable is to accompany it with an outcome or important lesson. If someone would like to learn more about any of the 2-3 message, they will ask.
Remember to always watch your networking contact’s eyes and body language. Take a tip from my experience, just because I thought a point was compelling it does not mean everyone does. I’ve tried using a different way to explain my message. At the first sign of a loss of interest, it’s time to move to the close.
Close: To send your contact with motivation to help, close the meeting with your follow-up actions. Most people will respond with their own actions, if they do not, it’s not a cause for worry. Once a meeting starts to finish most people begin to think about the rest of their day.
Changing your contact from ‘interested’ to ‘engaged’ will make the world of difference.
Hope this helps.
Mark
http://TwitJobs.net The Career Community
