How can structured business conversations help with client meetings?

In the past we have looked at how business conversations are usually goal oriented.

The goal is to get something done in the most efficient way possible, so flowing from this perspectives there are two things we need to have in mind before approaching a client meeting.

The first thing is we have to be clear about what the goal of the conversation is, and the second thing we need to be clear about the most efficient way of getting there.

Traditional sales theory can help you with both problems because DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE IN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLIENT, sales theory gives you a clear idea about what you should be aiming for next.

Sales theory can also give you several ideas about the best way to achieve those goals.

So let's work with a few scenarios and come up with a few plausible answers to the question.

What are the possible kind of client meetings we could be having? 1. the meetings where we're trying to get someone on as a client 2. the meetings where they are a paying client and we have specific projects we're working on 3. the meetings where we're trying to resolve problems, and 4. meetings that we have just to "nurture the relationship" with existing clients.

We will start exploring all the wonderful questions these scenarios raise in the next post!