Tactics for negotiating with clients. Minutes of the meeting with the client

You are about to have your first meeting with a customer, and you feel a slight jitters and pleasant excitement. How will the acquaintance go? Will your relationship continue in the future?

Of course, it’s impossible to say for sure. However, you should try to do everything possible to make the meeting successful.

All clients are at your fingertips.
Manage customer relationships, work productively with leads and increase sales!

1. Study all the client data

If you thought that when you graduated from school you got rid of homework, you are deeply mistaken. Now you are required to do the extremely important homework and learn everything related to your potential customer.

This directly determines whether your meeting will go smoothly. What information do you have about him, and what else can you find out interesting about him? It will be useful to search for information in open sources, go to his website on the Internet, read posts on social media. networks, “Google” in the end.

Also take advantage of the help of his colleagues or assistants - they can tell you a lot of useful things about the person you are interested in, without even knowing about your ultimate goals.

2. Think through the meeting down to the last detail

Plan your meeting before it starts. Of course, this is easier said than done, which is why many managers go to a meeting without prior preparation, intending to improvise and easily fend off the customer’s tricky questions.

In practice, such arrogance can lead to disastrous results. It is better to play it safe and provide yourself with a reliable support, with the help of which you can return the conversation to the right track if the interlocutor begins to deviate from the topic and the planned meeting agenda.

3. Find the right place and choose the right time

Probably half the success of a meeting depends on where it takes place. If you do not have a good meeting room, you can arrange a meeting at the customer’s premises, so he will feel more confident and, perhaps, will show greater loyalty to your proposal.

However, if the client does not want to host you, you can get by with a good public place. A comfortable atmosphere conducive to conversation, a convenient location, and, preferably, free Wi-Fi can significantly help you win over your client and set the right tone for the conversation. The timing of the meeting is also of great importance. Use the client information you collected ahead of time for the meeting to determine the ideal time for negotiations.

4. Stock up on everything you need

Take care of every little thing that may be useful to you at a meeting, be it a laptop, a tablet, or even a regular notepad and pen. Prepare a presentation, don’t forget business cards, it might also be worth taking care of a special present for a pleasant impression and an unobtrusive reminder of yourself.

5. Cases

More like 5. Cases of everything, the client will need proof of your “extensive experience” and “unique skills.” Prepare for this in advance, collect and arrange all your successful projects and completed work into a beautiful presentation or brochure. It is better if the customer can take it with him and carefully study it later. Believe me, this will significantly increase your chances of success.

6. Extra stock

Take care of the necessary materials for holding a business meeting with several people. The client can easily bring “help” with him in the form of colleagues and partners, without warning you about this in advance. Be prepared to provide everyone with business cards, notepads and examples of your projects so that no one is left behind!

7. Just listen carefully

You can study the client's details in detail, bring everything you need and even prepare unique souvenirs, but if you don't let the client talk, the meeting is doomed to failure. One of the main and most simple secrets of working with clients is to listen to what they say. This way you can not only get to know your future customer better, but also prepare the most suitable offer for him and reach a deal faster.

8. Ask

If you only listen and silently wait for the meeting to end, the negotiations will also end in failure. It is important to prepare smart questions and not be afraid to ask them. This way, a potential customer will appreciate your professionalism and interest in future cooperation.

9. Be bolder

At the end of the meeting, be sure to re-emphasize your intentions and desire for this project. Do not hesitate to be banal; it is extremely important that the customer understands that you are more than serious.

10. Next steps

Once the meeting is over, never let the client forget about you. In order not to be intrusive, send him a message about what a wonderful time you had and were glad to meet him, and thank him again for the attention he showed you. If the customer has not yet told you his decision, you should ask about the results of the meeting.

That's how just 10 simple tips can help you get the job of your dreams. All that remains is to put them into practice. Take action and share your successes. Maybe you have your own little secrets that can be added to this list?

Meeting with a client is not an easy task, especially for a young sales person. How to act, how not to be stupid, what questions to ask?

We dig deep and persistently - all the details and facts about the client’s company will help. For example, annual turnover, problems with suppliers, successful projects, speeches at conferences of decision makers, new developments, etc. At the meeting, your client should feel you not as a salesperson, but as a partner. A complete analysis of the client before the meeting will help you not to be stupid at the meeting, say relevant things, and offer a suitable solution.

Setting a goal

Before the meeting, we draw up a step-by-step strategy for achieving the maximum goal and the minimum goal, plan retreat maneuvers and switch the client’s attention if he asks tough questions or “rests his horns” on the price. What should be the ideal outcome of the meeting? What alternative outcome of the meeting with the client would suit you? Finally, set a clear goal.

Negotiation plan

You're not going to a meeting with a client to talk about the weather, are you? We are preparing a rough plan for the meeting and negotiations in stages. A clear meeting plan will allow you to guide the client during negotiations and maintain the dynamics of negotiations with the client. A common mistake novice sellers make is chaotic negotiations, jumping from topic to topic, and inappropriate questions. You want to stay on top and show the client what kind of stuff you are made of? Feel free to make an appointment, pick up a pen and draw up a plan for upcoming negotiations with the client right now.

Client meeting script

Establishing contact. Perhaps one of the most important elements in negotiations. If you cannot establish contact, then the meeting will not go in the direction you would like. Create the environment. Talk about abstract topics and find something in common between you and your interlocutor. Give a compliment, gently joke, shake hands, smile and look into the eyes. Be sincere and open. Good contact will reduce tension and create a trusting atmosphere.
Clarification of the company’s goals and the motivation of a particular decision maker. I'll tell you a secret that you may have guessed. Nobody needs you or your product. Everyone in the client's company wants to solve their problems. Only the owner is interested in capitalization, he also makes a profit. Line management is purely mercantile. Decision makers are interested in: financial incentives, career advancement, solving their headaches, gaining recognition and respect, eliminating risks, freeing up time, and so on. You should already know what exactly your decision-maker needs before the meeting, at least in general terms.

Approval of the transaction

Negotiations on the product: what suits you, what doesn’t, we sort out issues on the technical side.
Negotiations on price: target price, options, additional services, bonuses and other goodies. This is also a good place to upsell your other services and products.
Analysis of objections: good, not so good, cheap, expensive, why you are better than your competitors, etc.
Commercial offer in several options: basic cost, medium option and VIP. Be sure to pay attention to the results the client will receive.

If possible, tell the success stories of your clients in this segment: if appropriate, we will tell them. It is advisable to take the most similar company from the client segment.

Consolidating agreements

You shake hands and disagree with a specific plan for the next steps in a specific time frame. This is where novice sales managers often stumble. We sat and talked with the client and the ships went to sea. You must be remembered. The best things to remember are the beginning and the end of the meeting. Take with you a memorable, useful gift for the client. This could be a business book or an inexpensive, nice souvenir.

Prepared "improvisation"

Preparing for a meeting is necessary for quality communication with the client so that you can close the deal. Research the client inside and out. Study the history of the company, try to find out about the company's problems from line employees that relate to your product. Explore the pain and tasks of the specific decision maker who will be at the meeting. Study the company's strategy. If this is a large LE (large enterprise) market player, you can find information in open sources and the company’s social networks.

The protocol of a meeting with a client will help to significantly increase the efficiency of business processes. This document helps to improve the formulation of the main agreements reached, but is not a treaty. Its compilation is a bridge to understanding between the two sides. It has also been observed in practice that the protocol of a meeting with each client can increase the productivity of an individual manager.

FILES

The important point is the time stamp. The principle is simple: if something can be measured, then it can be managed. Filling out this item allows you to correctly allocate time and get rid of unplanned increases in the duration of meetings.

Protocol elements

After the name, located in the center at the top of the document sheet, information about the place and time of the event is filled in. It is recommended that you record both time periods and geographic data as accurately as possible.

The date of signature is also indicated at the top. Ideally, it should be a singular number in all cases. But there are situations when signatures are placed after approval or consultation with the heads of organizations. Therefore, this date may be different from the first.

After the introductory information there is a list of organizations and persons present at the meeting. It is imperative to indicate the official position of employees and their involvement in a particular organization.

If any involved specialist (translator, consultant, technical guru) is present during the meeting, then his presence can be indicated at the end of the document, formatting the text as a footnote, note or appendix.

Formulation

After listing the parties to the meeting, the document briefly lists the main fundamentally important points to be discussed. Both parties must agree to the information. In order for this to become possible, the financial and other capabilities of both parties must be taken into account. The ideal option is to establish long-term and mutually beneficial relationships.

Important! Minutes of a meeting with a client do not constitute a supply agreement or any other type of agreement. The only thing that a well-drafted document claims to be is the possibility of subsequent consultations and meetings no later than a specifically specified date.

Specifics

The minutes must be handed over to the client immediately after the end of the meeting. For agreement, the sooner information about the agreements reached is provided, the better for both parties. Moreover, some companies resort to visual recording immediately during the negotiation process. The reached point of contact between the interests of the parties is immediately recorded with a marker on the board or in another way. Later, the protocol should reach both organizations that negotiated.

It is necessary to distribute meeting roles between participants. For example, speaker, chairman, secretary, ordinary participant, etc. This will help avoid confusion and make the meeting more productive.

What should be recorded

It is more convenient to include each individual topic for discussion in a separate paragraph of the protocol. Opposite the point - immediately record the decision made, preferably mentioning the persons who took responsibility for implementation.

The secretary, chosen from among the meeting participants, should not miss the fundamental points and important thoughts that arose as a result of the meeting.

It is unacceptable to use slang or profanity when drawing up a protocol. The rules of business etiquette require only indirect speech. For example, “Ivanov A.A. a proposal has been made...” It is also necessary to avoid subjective assessments of the individual, excessive concentration on personal issues, etc. The official style of the text must be strictly observed.

What might be the purpose of a meeting with a client?

Based on what kind of meeting is expected, the supplier and the client may be guided by different motives and objectives. The end goal is known to both: completing the sale transaction. But smaller goals can be formulated as follows:

Determining the client’s readiness to cooperate and enter into an agreement in principle.
Determine the range of needs that are being satisfied.
Outline an approximate list of goods or services from the company’s range that fall under your interests.
Show the product in all its glory, allow samples to be used, and make sure of the quality of the product or service offered.
Receive “feedback”, listen to constructive feedback about your product from the client, prepare for a reasoned dialogue.

Other forms

If we talk about what other form the protocol of a meeting with a client can take, we can classify three main ones:

In the form of tables (or one table with many rows and columns).
In free form without observing the column only with date and signature.
In the form of a shortened “resume” for each client (this information is not supplied to the receiving organization itself).

Collection of information

In addition to motivating tasks, the seller may be faced with the task of collecting information about the client. For example, the following questions may be asked:

Field of activity.
Size of the client's organization, annual turnover of assets.
Is there a need for a specific product or service? If so, how strong is it and can it be developed?
Has the client encountered competitors or used their product or service? If so, what exactly did or did not suit him?
What qualities should the optimal supplier for this buyer have?

In short, the minutes of a meeting with a client are an important document for recording preliminary agreements and performing competent work as a manager of any self-respecting organization.

Hello! In this article we will talk about how to conduct the first meeting with a client so that it develops into long-term cooperation.

Today you will learn:

What are the stages of meeting with a client?
How to prepare for upcoming negotiations;
A few business etiquette techniques that will help you quickly establish contact with a potential client.

The importance of the first meeting and its purpose

For a person who must find and meet new clients as part of his job duties, the first meeting is of great importance. The signing of the contract and, most often, the size depends on how successfully the negotiations go. Therefore, such an event must be approached very responsibly.

When going to negotiations with a client, you must understand that the first meeting does not always end with the signing of a contract for close cooperation. This is only the first step towards a successful business relationship.

When meeting with a potential client for the first time, you first of all need to pursue the following goals:

Determine whether the client is promising and ready to cooperate;
Form the primary needs of the interlocutor;
Decide on the range of goods and services that are of interest to the client;
Offer to use free product samples (samples);
Ask your interlocutor to express his opinion about the product you are offering.

The main purpose of the meeting is not to sell the product, but to sell yourself. You must do everything in your power to achieve goodwill and interest from the client.

Preparing for a meeting with a client

In order for the first negotiations to be successful, you need to carefully prepare for them. You'll have to think through all the details. You should not rely on yourself to find your way around. You need to be prepared for anything. To do this, you will have to develop several plans for the development of events.

All preparation can be divided into 2 stages - informational and organizational.

Information stage

Before planning a meeting, you should collect as much information as possible about your potential client.

Firstly, collect information about the field of activity of your future interlocutor. Read more specialized literature, try to remember as many specific terms as possible that may be useful during the conversation.

Secondly, go to the website of the organization that the client represents and familiarize yourself with its contents. Study the management team and analyze all available information.

Third, take an interest in the activities of competitors, as well as their possible offers. Thanks to this, you will be able to offer your interlocutor more favorable terms of cooperation.

Fourth, thoroughly study the product you offer. You must know every detail about the products or services that you offer to the client. If you cannot adequately present your product at the upcoming negotiations, then it is unlikely that anyone will want to deal with such an inexperienced employee.

Organizational stage

At this stage, you should start organizing the upcoming meeting. First you need to assign it.

To do this, call your potential client and find out where, when and at what time it will be convenient for him to meet with you. Set specific dates. When arranging a meeting, take into account the wishes of the interlocutor.

Let's look at examples of meeting locations.

Client territory	This is most often the client's office. It is possible to prepare for such a meeting, but most often you have to act according to circumstances
Your territory	This could be your personal office, or a meeting room. You should not make appointments in a room where there are many prying eyes and you may be distracted. Under no circumstances should you start negotiations in the corridors or on the way somewhere
Neutral territory	This could be a rented conference room or, in extreme cases, a quiet coffee shop. Never have a meeting in a restaurant. You and the client will have to be distracted by food and wait for someone to chew the food. Keep meals separate from business meetings.

Any meeting place should be quiet and uncrowded.

After the client has accepted the offer of a meeting, it is necessary to thoroughly prepare for it. Think about what gadgets and demo materials you will need.

You must have with you:

A diary or business notebook in which you will write down information that you think is important;
Business cards – should be meaningful, but at the same time concise;
Handle;
Blank sheets of paper (if the meeting takes place in a coffee shop and the client does not have a diary at hand);
Blank contracts, questionnaires or order forms (in case you organize the right meeting and the client immediately wants to conclude an agreement);
Advertising brochures - the client needs to be presented with visual information, and not talk about the product “on fingers”.

Having prepared the necessary attributes for negotiations, you must prepare yourself. As the proverb says, “You are greeted by your clothes...”, so your appearance can play a key role.

When going to an appointment, you should:

Find business clothes in your wardrobe. This could be a suit + shirt + tie. Or a suit and turtleneck. Women can wear a skirt and blouse or pantsuit. You should feel comfortable in these clothes.
Refuse extravagant, ultra-modern and provocative outfits.
Tidy your hands and hair. Women's makeup should not be bright and provocative.
Pay attention to your shoes and clean them if necessary.
Refuse cheap accessories and fakes of famous brands. Many wealthy people at first glance distinguish cheap Chinese counterfeits of watches, lighters and other accessories from the original. If you cannot afford expensive branded items, then it is better to abandon them completely.

Step-by-step instructions or meeting script

As a person who wants to negotiate, you need to understand that preparation alone is not enough for successful negotiations. You should be familiar with meeting protocol and basic business etiquette.

We have compiled an action algorithm for you, thanks to which the first meeting with a client will be at the highest level, and you, as a specialist, will be left with the best impressions.

Enter the office. If you are meeting with a client in his office, and your arrival has been reported, enter the office by knocking. You do not need to ask permission to log in again.
If the meeting takes place on neutral territory, then you need to arrive 5-10 minutes before the appointed time.
Greet the client. Say hello using your first and last name.

At the client's premises, the client should be the first to extend his hand to greet. If he did not do this, then the handshake does not occur.
In your territory, you are obligated to extend your hand first.
In a coffee shop, men extend their hands to women, older ones to younger ones.

Exchange business cards. The business card must be handed over in person. If a client offers you his business card, you should definitely read it out loud. You can't put it in your pocket without looking and familiarizing yourself with it.
Sit on the chair. If the negotiations are taking place in the client’s office, then wait until you are asked to sit down. If you don’t receive an offer, ask where you can sit. If the meeting is taking place on neutral territory, then there is no need to wait for an invitation to take a chair.
Start a conversation. It is necessary to start negotiations with abstract topics. It's best if you give a compliment to the client's company. Only he must be sincere. Do not touch on topics related to religion, politics, or sports interests. It is also better to refrain from banal topics about the weather and the beautiful interior of the office.
After talking on general topics, move on to the presentation situational issues. Start asking them carefully, “testing the waters.”
Then move on to more serious ones problematic issues and suggest ways to solve the identified problems. Make a short forecast for future cooperation.
If the client wishes, you can sign a cooperation agreement. But don't insist on it. Very often a person needs to “digest” the information received.
It is better to end the meeting with an agreement on the date and time of the next meeting. Even if it turns out that the client is not interested, still ask him to meet with you again.
Say goodbye to your interlocutor, thank you for your time and leave the room.
After the negotiations, Write down the most important moments and details of the meeting in your diary.

There are situations when a meeting is prepared and organized at the highest level, and everything goes great, but at some point something happens and the client withdraws into himself. After which the negotiations cannot be considered successful.

Most likely, some mistake was made that played a decisive role.

To eliminate the possibility of such a scenario developing, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the following recommendations and always adhere to them:

Turn off your cell phone. Calls will distract you in every possible way, and if you decide to pick up the phone in the middle of negotiations, then you will show disrespect for your interlocutor.
Don't try to smoke.
If a client offers you tea, coffee or water, then opt for water. After asking for coffee, you will receive several more questions (for example, how many spoons of sugar to put in or what kind of coffee you prefer). They will distract you and take up valuable time.
Look your interlocutor straight in the eye. You must make eye contact.
During negotiations, periodically make notes and notes.
Don't fawn or fawn. Behave with dignity; this is the only way the client will treat you as an equal.
Let the client know that you respect his interlocutor’s opinion and are ready to defend his interests.

Conclusion

The first meeting is a serious and important stage on the path to long-term cooperation. Often it is she who decides the fate of future business relationships. Therefore, the organizer of such a meeting faces a difficult task - to prepare, organize and conduct the upcoming negotiations at the highest level.

Sometimes business meetings with potential clients end in complete failure for sales managers. One of the reasons is the manager's unpreparedness for negotiations. When a manager is not prepared for a meeting, he makes mistakes that cost him the loss of his commission. Therefore, it is worth preparing in advance for the first meeting with a client. This is what our article is about!

First meeting with the client. Goals

If you sell retail goods, then waiting for sales here and now is quite appropriate and justified. But if you are entering into an agreement with a B2B client, then you should not make the goal of your first meeting a sale.

Therefore, set yourself the goal of the first meeting to establish contact with a person: this could be the formation of a need for your product or an agreement on the supply of the first trial batch of your product. Perhaps the purpose of your meeting will be to understand the client’s readiness to enter into an agreement with you.

In addition, when determining the purpose of your meeting, you must clearly understand at what stage of the decision to enter into an agreement with your company your client is.

Preparation for a meeting with a client can be both informational and organizational.

Information preparation The meeting involves finding out details about the client’s company: field of activity, news of this industry, trends. Study your client’s website, find out the name of the manager, products, price list, reviews about the company.
In addition, when preparing for a meeting with a client, you should find out about your direct competitors, perhaps with whom your potential client is already cooperating. If you can get information about your client’s suppliers, this will only be a plus.
It would be ideal if you prepared a conversation outline in advance that will help you demonstrate to the client his problems and goals, and, possibly, create a need for your product or service.
You should think through the possible objections of your interlocutor in advance, based on previous experience in negotiating with clients and their objections.
Plan in advance the possible course of your meeting and next steps.

Organizational preparation for the meeting involves choosing a place, date for the meeting and agreeing on it. If you are inviting a client to a meeting in your office, consider holding the meeting outside of a crowded common room. You should not make an appointment in restaurants or cafes.
Take care of your appearance, watch your clothes and hair. Because this is the first thing that catches your eye. Business attire will give you confidence and show your interlocutor your professionalism.
In addition, you should not curry favor with the client, even if you are talking to a big boss. For you, he is first and foremost a potential client and you want to make him a business proposal, so you should be more confident in yourself. Your interlocutor will appreciate your professionalism.
When meeting, try to be friendly and look your interlocutor straight in the eyes.
Match your speaking pace to your client's topic of speech.
Try to sit next to the client on the left side, because on the right are his personal belongings: a notebook and a phone. And when you sit opposite a client, you oppose yourself to him.

In any case, the positive outcome of your meeting will depend on how well you know your product and your client's needs. It is important to show that you care about the client and can offer him a truly worthwhile solution to his problem.

If a client tells you “no” now, this does not mean that he does not intend to cooperate further. Perhaps he needs time to agree on some points with his employees or to understand whether your offer will really be useful to him. Therefore, prepare a template in advance that will help you arrange a follow-up meeting or call, or send additional materials, possibly a contract.

There is one more little trick. When negotiating, act as if you've already been told yes. Do not ask questions about whether to send you the contract, but simply say, I will send you the contract or I will leave the contract for your consideration and call you on Wednesday to find out if there are any questions regarding the contract. But this approach should be used very subtly, so monitor the situation, if it is appropriate, then use it!

Get a plan for creating an online business with a profitability of 200-500 thousand rubles in 120 days.