Why You Should Rehearse Your Meetings

Being a salesperson is like constantly interviewing for a job. And anybody who has made hiring decisions before knows that a job interview doesn’t start or end when the prospective hire is in the room.

Imagine looking out of your office window and seeing a car come speeding into the parking lot and whipping into a space. The person jumps out of the car and walks briskly towards the building before getting a panicked expression on their face and running back to the car to get something they forgot.

Or perhaps the person entered the building looking calm and collected, but when told the interviewer (you) was running late, they got snippy with the receptionist or talked down to them.

Maybe they were talking loudly on their phone in the elevator, and saying rude or inappropriate things.

None of these happened during their actual interview, and yet, all of them paint a negative picture of what it will be like to work with them. Odds are, you aren’t hiring that person.

How you show up for meeting matters, and just as a bad first impression may poison the well, a well-designed meeting paints a great picture of what it will be like to work with you. From the moment they’re able to see you, your goal is to show the prospective customer that you are intentional, focused, deliberate, and able to make the most of the limited amount of time you may have with them.

For many salespeople, this means the basics: showing up early, having all documents prepared, dressing professionally, and popping a breath mint. But that’s the bare minimum you can do. What will really set you apart is architecting your meeting.

Architect Your Meeting.

What outcome are you playing for during your meeting?

This could be the first meeting you’re having with a customer where you’re hoping to start getting to know each other and building a connection. Or perhaps, you’ve started forming a relationship and now your goal is to start co-creating a solution. Maybe you’ve been in conversations for a while, and you’re hoping this meeting is the one where the customer will decide they are ready to move forward.

Defining what stage of the selling cycle you’re in will help you craft an experience that is designed to reach that goal.

If you’re trying to establish a relationship and get to know each other, a low-pressure meeting in a restaurant may be perfect. However, if you’re presenting ideas visually, a meeting location where you can easily show your computer screen would be much more advantageous.

Perhaps you’re early in the discovery phase and seeing the day-to-day functions of their business would be helpful. Maybe there is some combination of locations that would best fit your needs.

There isn’t one right answer to what kind of meeting you should have. So before offering to come to their office or sending out a zoom link because it’s your default way of conducting business, think about what the purpose of the meeting is, what your ideal outcome would be, and how you can craft a meeting to achieve it.

Plan and Rehearse the Logistics.

Architecting your meeting doesn’t mean coming up with a script that you’ll closely follow with “choose your own adventure” deviations based on the customer’s feedback. It means that you’re planning everything within your control as thoroughly as possible so that, when you’re in the meeting, you’re able to focus all of your attention on building a relationship with the customer.

In-person meetings in a professional location

If your client is in the same area as you and they offer to meet face to face at their offices, do whatever you can to make it work.

Once the meeting is scheduled, make sure you know how to get there ahead of time. Yes, everyone knows to map how long the drive will take from their home, or even to check the individual steps of the drive. But you should take it further by rehearsing the drive.

Take some time during the few days leading up to the meeting to actually practice driving the route. Make note of any road closures or upcoming events in the area that could cause an unexpected delay.

Figure out where you’re supposed to park on the day of the meeting and how you get there from the street. If it’s a large building with multiple parking lots, yours may not be close to the main road, and it will be good to budget extra time into your drive. Also make note of which door you’re supposed to enter through and how to get there from the parking lot.

Once you’re in the building, do you need to check in and get a badge? Will somebody lead you to the meeting room, or do you need to have an idea of how to navigate the space?

Having all of this information will keep you calmer on the day of the meeting. You won’t feel panicked if unexpected construction adds to the drive time because you’ll have already planned around it. You won’t be scrambling trying to figure out how to get to parking lot B when Google Maps had you enter the building area in the west garage. You won’t be running late because you didn’t realize you had to check in at the front desk because it was part of your plan.

When you rehearse these steps, you aren’t just ensuring your on time arrival, you’re taking away guesswork that could leave you frazzled at any point along the way. You can spend the drive focusing on the meeting in front of you. You’ll be calm as you walk through the parking lot. You’ll be warm and kind to anyone you run into because you won’t be in a hurry.

SUBHEAD - Meeting at a restaurant.

Meeting at a restaurant

Great business has always been done over lunch, dinner, or drinks. If you can suggest a meeting at a restaurant (your treat, of course) you should, so long as it makes sense with the purpose of the meeting.

Like any meeting you’re traveling to, practice your route. If you’re in a busy city, make sure you know if parking will be available, if the restaurant has valet available during your meeting time, and if you’ll need cash on hand to pay the valet and a tip.

Pro-tip: look at the menu ahead of time and decide what you’re going to order. When your customer is in front of you, you don’t want to spend any mental energy or time hemming and hawing about what to eat. You want to take a quick glance at the menu, confirm what you’re getting, and wait patiently for your customer’s attention.

Just like with plotting your route, it keeps you focused on what matters most - the customer.

Online meeting

Most salespeople would love for every meeting, especially with prospective customers, to take place in-person. But the fact of the matter is, some of your customers may not be geographically close enough for that to be an option, may primarily work from home, or just find it easier with their schedule to meet over Zoom (or Teams, or one of the many, many other options).

If you’re like most people, you probably already spend a fair amount of time on video meetings, but it’s never a bad idea to double check your surroundings to make sure you’re giving off the right image.

Before your meeting, put your camera on and double check what your background looks like. Is there anything peeking out of the corner that may be distracting? Is there a weird shadow behind you during a certain time of day? Is the lighting too harsh or soft?

Next, take a short recording of yourself and listen to it back. Are there any distracting noises, like street traffic or construction? Using headphones helps to reduce background noise, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure your audio sounds as distraction-free as possible.

The goal here is to make sure that you’re giving off a professional vibe, even when you’re working out of a home office.

Architecting Your Meeting Reduces Risk.

The truth is, there are so many factors outside of your control leading up to the meeting with a customer. And while some of those things may be outside of your control (like your neighbor’s yard service taking several hours to mow or the mailman setting off your dog), having a clear plan that you’ve rehearsed allows you to take control of absolutely everything that you can.

It ensures that you’re not only on-time, but calm, collected, and smiling when you first meet with your customer.

It keeps you from spending your meeting overthinking what you’d like to eat for lunch, instead of making small talk that helps you understand your customer’s world.

It keeps the top edge of your printer from jutting into your shot just enough to distract people you’re on a video call with.

When you craft your meeting intentionally and have a clear plan for each step leading up to and during it, you’re able to pour all of your mental energy towards showing up the way you want to and building a relationship with your customer.

They may not know all of the work you put in, but that shift is one they’ll plainly feel, too. Setting the stage intentionally helps the customer see a path forward with you.

Learn More.

Iceberg Selling is a technique grounded in the understanding that for every person, organization, and situation, you can only see 10% of what’s really going on. By adopting the right mindsets, prioritizing building relationships, and approaching customers with genuine curiosity, you can start to explore the other 90% and improve your sales performance. Get the book to learn more about Iceberg Selling.