to present, or not to present. that is the question.
by domenick j. esposito
8 steps to great
the firm’s business development plan is in place. strategic targeting is complete. contact with the first prospective client has been made. an impressive value proposition has been shared. interest in an in-person meeting has been expressed by the prospect.
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et voila! it’s time to gear up for a “pitch meeting.”
from our experience, it’s at this moment that things tend to go off the rails related to conducting a successful introductory meeting with a prospective client. referring to this introductory session as a “pitch meeting,” quite simply, leaves your team pointed in the wrong direction.
approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service. – brian tracy
at best, the term “pitching” conjures up the vision of a well groomed professional in front of a roomful of executives dutifully executing a well rehearsed monologue. this particular wording misdirects the pursuit team about how to best prepare for, and conduct themselves in, this very important initial face-to-face meeting. the term “pitch” causes the team to think about spending countless hours preparing a great presentation and practicing to deliver a good show.
creating a presentation should not be the concept that comes to mind when preparing for a business meeting with a client or prospective client. business should be the key word when it comes to facilitating meaningful discussions with clients or prospective clients. superior presentation skills are, of course, important to develop, but there is a time and a place for delivering a presentation – usually for the purposes of educating or training – but this meeting may not be the right time.
a “pitch meeting” is rarely a forum for educating or training. as consultants who have delivered countless training programs on a wide variety of topics, we know there will be frequent opportunities to present to our capabilities to clients. even still, we understand how critical it is to make these presentations interactive: engaging our listeners, ensuring their contribution to the program and encouraging a collaborative learning process rather than a constrictive teaching process.
the first 20 minutes of the meeting is valuable time and if lost, it is virtually unrecoverable. it is not uncommon to hear about cpas talking (read: presenting) for the first 20 minutes of a “pitch” meeting to talk about their accounting firm and/or their personal credentials without asking the client a single question. while the cpas may have demonstrated how proficient they are at knowing their own firm’s history, they completely missed the opportunity to understand the client’s needs and, more importantly, to make a connection.
when at ernst & young, we replaced the word “pitch” with “pursuit,” which changed our team’s behavior. we found that, if done correctly, the “pursuit meeting” provided a view to the prospect into what it would be like to work together.
the primary focus of a “pursuit meeting” should be to have an interactive conversation or discussion with the prospective client. during this discussion, the team should be able to clearly demonstrate their knowledge of the prospect’s business, including broader industry issues that may be on the horizon. talking about relevant industry issues and drivers establishes immediate credibility.
the pursuit team should be laser-focused on the prospect’s organization and issues, not on their own firm’s “fast facts.”
if you demonstrate that you understand the prospect’s business issues, then they can only presume that
- you have expertise that will be beneficial;
- you are active in the prospective client’s space;
- you speak their language;
- you are “one of them” rather simply a “vendor providing a service to them.”
most importantly, you make a connection. to make a connection, we must first think about viewing the world from the prospective client’s eyes and engage them in meaningful discourse, which typically begins with demonstrating that we understand their business.
the most successful rainmakers with whom we have worked over the years
- understand their clients’ business;
- recognize what is getting in the way of their client achieving their objectives;
- are immersed in their clients’ industry;
- have developed the ability to share valuable insights on a topic relevant to the client;
- are able to engage clients or prospective clients in meaningful discussions; and
- rarely, if ever, “present.”
presentations should be reserved for sharing technical information in an educational setting. presentations are typically one-directional (i talk, you listen). a “pitch meeting” is not the right forum for a one-way conversation. a “pitch meeting” (“pursuit meeting”) is an opportunity to share information in an interactive setting, to engage the prospect in a dialogue, to gather feedback and to begin developing the trust that will yield a mutually beneficial relationship. if we spend our allotted time “presenting,” we are spending more time talking and less time listening, which most often results in missed opportunity.
with so much information at our fingertips these days, there is no excuse for walking into a meeting and (after the 20-minute “about us” soliloquy) asking the prospective client the dreaded question, “so, tell me, what is keeping you up at night?” if you ask this question and they haven’t thrown you out of the office, you can be sure that the thought did cross their mind and, in our opinion, they should not have reconsidered.
if the right team has been put together, the team should know what the pressing business issues are and should be able to come up with more focused questions than the one above. a simple meeting agenda that will result in a connection-enabling interactive discussion with a prospect follows:
- introductions
- what we’re seeing (this is sharing insight)
- what we know about your company, inc.
- how we can help
- next steps
following this simple agenda will establish the team as thought leaders, help the team communicate in business terms, enable the team to make a connection and facilitate learning nuances about the prospect’s organization that only an insider could know. for example, related to the second bullet above, once insight about market conditions is shared, simple questions can be posed to the prospect that will serve to validate their personal experience.
most often, if you have assembled the right team, the answer will be yes to these drill-down validation questions. even if the answer is no, an opportunity then presents itself for other questions to drill down further, which will result in learning more about the nuances of the prospect’s organization as mentioned above. in most cases, your competitors are not asking these questions.
don’t “pitch.” have an interactive business discussion instead. forget pitch books and brochures. instead of presentations, think of pursuit meetings as opportunities to have meaningful discussions to share valuable insights with your clients or prospects. you (and your prospect) will be pleasantly surprised at the results.