DEALING WITH GIANTS: More on...Making it Legal

Dealing With Giants
with Claudine Halpern

I have received many comments on last months article, Making it Legal, so I will take this opportunity to dig deeper into some of the issues that I spoke about:

• First, I am not a lawyer; I never claim to be a lawyer.

• Second, I use the services of lawyers when I need them.

• Third, I have no compunctions about going into court to collect monies owed to me.

That being said, let’s get to the nitty gritty of legalities and business as I’ve experienced it.

I believe that counting on lawyers and legal arguments to get paid is not the type of business that I want to be in or participate in.

There are firms that are built on the premise of lawsuits, mostly legal firms. I know a legal firm that buys unexecuted patents from inventors who have not been able to execute their ideas. They then scrounge the Internet to see if any firm is using anything that even has a whiff of their “Owned Patents”. They will then sue those firms, sometimes justifiably, and sometimes less than justifiably. The small firm has no choice but settle with the “Owner” be it in a single payment or ongoing upside. Large firms can fight and they have legal staff to cover these contingencies.

If you are a small business, you want to spend your time growing your business, in positive pursuit of more business, and better relationships. If you count on legal remedies to getting paid all the time, then good luck.

Now back to contracts and other agreements, a contract is only as solid as the contract signers’ willingness to pursue legal recourse. What does that mean, it means that if you can’t or won’t go through the legal recourse associated with a contract, it’s not worth much.

Many years ago, I was a Vice President at one of the BIG BOYS of the time. They announced a merger and asked me to stay on with the new firm and signed a contract with my new job duties, title, salary etc.

At the same time they requested that some people stay on through the merger and leave afterward, those people received contracts with guaranteed small bonuses at the end of the period.

After the merger was complete they terminated my employment, along with about 15 other people that I knew, without any reason. I felt that I was entitled to the guaranteed bonus, as I had stayed through the merger.

I contacted a lawyer with the intention of suing, after a single consultation I realized that pursuing the lawsuit may be great publicity for my lawyer, but bad for me, let me explain why:

1) I could not look for work while the lawsuit was pending as no one would hire me

2) I had to pay the lawyer up front

3) The BIG BOY had internal legal staff and had not lost a lawsuit yet

4) There was no guarantee that I would win

In the end, my decision was the right one; I founded my consulting firm and found business within 90 days. Three of the other people sued, it took two and half years, they each won $20,000. They all left the business, as no one would hire them. Yes they won, but lost more.

So, always have your legal ducks in a row, but work with people whose reputations you know and trust, if you can. If you don’t know or trust the reputation of the firm that you are working with, create a payment structure that mitigates your losses in a worst-case scenario.

Next Time: Selling to the BIG BOYS; Doing the Job, Managing your Reputation

and GETTING PAID

About Claudine Halpern

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

For more information, please visit Claudine's TNNW Bio.

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: More on...Making it Legal

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Making it Legal

Dealing With Giants

with Claudine Halpern

Making it Legal, Handshake Commitments, Letters of intent, Contract Negotiation

So you think you have a sale, before you celebrate, crack open the champagne and call all your friends and colleagues, make it legal, GET IT ON PAPER.

Uh oh, does that mean that you need to engage a lawyer now, not really. What you need to do is make sure that you are going to get paid for the work that you do and product that you sell.

I am a service provider, and I get paid for thinking, talking and figuring things out for the BIG BOYS. Other firms are product providers; they sell real things that you can hold in your hand. Either way you need to get paid, lets talk about how you make sure that you get what’s yours, I always tell clients don’t start to work unless the paperwork is signed, that does not necessarily mean that the entire legal work must be done before you start but you need to have a confidence level that you will get paid.

I have one long term client who I have worked with many times over the last fifteen years, we have never put anything on paper or signed a contract and I have always gotten paid in a timely manner. I know him and his firm, and when we work together I know that he will pay.

I have other clients, who have detailed contracts that we sign every time we work together, and some of them just treat the contract like toilet paper, I am bound by the terms as an honest person, but they are not. I could sue, but it brings negative energy into my life and impacts my business reputation, even if I am right.

LAWYERS COST A LOT OF MONEY….my recommendation is don’t count on the courts to get you paid, count on your understanding of the people that you are dealing with and your trust of them, and do the paperwork.

How do you decide how much paperwork you need with each customer? Good question, in politics it’s called trust but verify.

Closing the DEAL with the BIG BOYS

This one is tough THERE IS NO SINGLE SUCCESSFUL WAY TO CLOSE A DEAL, you will have to wing it, we all do, and it’s different every time. Some people will give you tricks to close a deal, but we know that’s not the way it works,

When the BIG BOY wants and needs what you’re selling and trusts you, he will buy. Make sure to ask for the business, give the BIG BOY a schedule (make sure the schedule starts tomorrow) and get to work.

Handshake Commitments

If you know and trust the people that you are dealing with, then this can work. With the BIG BOYS it’s a risk as people change jobs, get fired, the direction of the firm changes, and you are left with no one to go to. Use sparingly, I do not work on handshakes with BIG BOYS.

Letters of Intent

Letters of intent are quasi-legal documents, these are usually used when contract negotiations are protracted and the product or work is required on a short schedule. I use these often, especially for large deals. This way we can start getting paid before the contract is complete.

Contracts and Contract Negotiations

This is an art all it’s own, many people use standard contracts that are easily understood, no problem there. Make sure that you understand the legalese and every section. Don’t assume anything.

Complex contracts need more work, I have seen contracts that have chargeback clauses where a small firm can provide everything as required and still never get paid, legally, so be careful and be smart. Get advisors to help you, and no, not your brother in law, unless he’s a lawyer or experienced businessman.

Protracted contract negotiations are very common among the big boys, so be prepared and be smart.

I once represented a small firm in a contract negotiation with one of the BIG BOYS. After many months of getting nowhere, and over a hundred pages of contract, I started getting tired of the run around. I filled two sealed boxes, each held two versions of the contract, ours and the BIG BOYS. I then put a signature page outside the box and insisted that both parties sign on the outside, they did not know what I put in the boxes. They though it was funny and signed, contract negotiations over and done. These partners never referred to the contract again, the small firm has a satisfied customer and the BIG BOY has a great product and service provider.

Congratulations, You’ve got the business……….

Next Article; Selling to the BIG BOYS; Doing the Job, Managing your Reputation and Getting Paid

About Claudine Halpern

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

For more information, please see Claudine's TNNW Bio.

*******
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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Making it Legal

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Getting closer to the Close

Dealing With Giants

with Claudine Halpern

Next steps, Getting closer to the Close….Following Up, working smart, getting what you want

Remember, the Sales process BELONGS TO YOU, so take over and get the job done. Let’s go back though what you’ve done to date:

1) You’ve prepared for the first sales call

2) You’ve given a bang up presentation

3) You’ve overcome adversity by understanding your customers

4) You’ve determined that the prospect will be a good customer

Now you want to make sure that they want you. I’m sure that you remember that during our presentations we collected everyone’s email address and phone numbers. Now is the time to use them, 24-48 hours after your presentation, send a thank you email to everyone who attended along with a copy of the presentation.

Start the ongoing dialogue that will result in sale, you’ve set up the next meeting with the BIG BOYS during the initial presentation, now is the time to create a model that they will understand that you can work together. If you give the BIG BOYS a reason to bring you in they will, don’t let anything get in the way, YOU OWN THE SALES PROCESS.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW; EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES

BIG BOYS (Like almost everyone else) want something for nothing

I NEED A PROPOSAL: Remember that you are looking for the BIG SALE, sometimes it takes a small sale to get to a big sale. My clients often ask me; When do I start changing the client? When is a proposal an actual piece of work and when is it a sales tool?

Remember that the BIG BOYS want to get as much out of you without paying you, and you want to start to get paid, NOW IS THE TIME TO START CHARGING.

Create a small proposal that answers an important problem. I very often sell tiny pieces of work before I sell a big piece of work. Get the BIG BOY used to paying for you and your advice.

I was asked by a client to create a proposal for a VERY VERY BIG BOY. We were able to get the client to commit to pay for five days worth of work, the result of which was an analysis with recommendations. Guess what the recommendation was? Very good guess, our expert recommendation was a solution that only our company could address. This turned into a multi-million dollar relationship that is ongoing.

In your mind you need to understand the difference between product and services, and learn how to sell each of them. If you and your team are experts in something, then the advice and recommendations that you give are products, worthy of payment.

WE ONLY WORK WITH PREFFERED VENDORS: Many BIG BOYS won’t work with you unless you are a PREFFERED VENDOR. This is an onerous process that you and your company may or may not be able to accomplish. IT IS NOT ALWAYS NEEDED BEFORE YOU START WORK, there are many ways to get over, under, around or through this requirement. Every BIG BOY has their own rules, but most include the ability to work with a variance, so don’t let this stop you from moving ahead.

WE”VE PUT THE PROGRAM ON HOLD: This may or may not be true, if it is true, ask permission to reconnect in 90 days and work on another deal.

There are many more excuses; your job is to judge if the excuse is a challenge that you need to overcome, a request for free services or a kiss off.

FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP AND FOLLOW UP AGAIN

Always stay in touch with people that you’ve presented to, they will become your business partners at some point in life, choose people that feel right for you and your firm and keep the conversation going. Now is the time to meet for a casual lunch, for drinks, or just keep in contact. The BIG BOYS sometimes make instant decisions and sometimes take forever, each case is different. I cannot tell you what to do in the case of long lead times but here are some things to watch for:

o Every meeting is the same group of people and they always ask the same questions

o You never see any of the same people, and no one remembers what you said

Neither one of these is a good sign, what you want to see is one or two decision makers championing your company and introducing you to other, relevant player at the BIG BOYS.

ASK FOR THE BUSINESS: This is one of the hardest things to do, ask for the business, give them a start date, give them a dollar value, tell them what you’ll accomplish together and get it going. Don’t wait for the BIG BOY to initiate this conversation, they won’t, you need to. It’s ugly and scary but you get over it after you’ve done it a few times.

Next Article; Next steps, Getting closer to the Close…. Making it Legal, Handshake Commitments, Letters of intent, Contract Negotiation

Claudine Y. Halpern, President, The YCH Group, Inc.

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

******

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Getting closer to the Close

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Looking for Trouble

Dealing With Giants

with Claudine Halpern

Looking for Trouble
How to spot pitfalls, sinkholes and trouble and fix it.

In my last few articles I spoke about how to get a meeting with the BIG BOYS, prepare for a meeting with the BIG BOYS, and manage a meeting with the BIG BOYS. Today’s article will begin to itemize trouble spots, pitfalls, sinkholes, things to watch out for, things that you hope will never happen but will. Every one of these things really happened to clients, colleagues, or me. HIS IS NOT FICTION. Be prepared and know how to deal with the issues that are coming at you, OWN THE PROCESS, OWN THE SALE.

1) No one shows up to your meeting, and I mean no one; you confirmed, you sent out an agenda, you created a presentation, and did everything right, and no one showed up, not only are they not where they supposed to be you cannot find your contact anywhere. What could have gone wrong?

o Your BIG BOY counterparty made a mistake on his calendar and will be waiting for you tomorrow (or next week), but tough luck; he’s climbing the Himalayas today. This is an easy one to turn around, you have wasted your travel time but the meeting will still happen, all of the work that you have done will come to fruition, just not today. BE NICE AND UNDERSTANDING, DO NOT PUT YOUR FIST THROUGH THE WALL.
You’ve gained brownie points, the next encounter starts with the BIG BOY apologizing, and you can’t beat that. The BIG BOY owes you before you start.

o You’re meeting with a team from major investment bank’s mortgage group in September 2008 in the evening. For those who can’t remember that far back that was the day that this economic mess really became public. I had a meeting scheduled that evening, I showed up with the hope that I could get past the bust-up. My BIG BOY was no longer at the firm as of that afternoon, needless to say attendance was very sparse, just him and I. We ended up in a very nice bar with me buying. I listened and listened; he is now a potential client on a much bigger deal with a firm that he created. Understand that you are dealing with people first, when a BIG BOY is down he will remember that you were there for him, good karma always comes around.

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o No one shows because they intended to stand you up. If this is the behavior of a BIG BOY, YOU DON’T WANT THEM. You should be very thankful that you found out about their rudeness and lack of courtesy and commitment before they wasted a whole bunch of your time, and by default a whole bunch of your money. DO NOT GOSSIP OR BADMOUTH the BIG BOYS, everyone gets theirs eventually, no need to do anything, again karma comes around. This happened to me and I watched from the sidelines while the people who did this went down, I didn’t do or say anything, I had plenty of help and ended up looking squeaky clean.

2) Everyone shows up, but they are expecting something completely different than what you prepared. I went to talk to a BIG BOY about some business, when I showed and took out the agenda I got that look that you get from a kid who insists he didn’t do it while his mouth is covered in chocolate. They thought that reading the agenda and your emails was someone else’s job.

This is a tough one, can you speak to the issues that they are asking about, by the seat of your pants or not? If you feel you can, then by all means take the risk, if not, DON’T. You are not required to look like an idiot because other people don’t follow up. Ask them what they thought you would discuss, ask open-ended questions, in essence interview the BIG BOYs to find out what they thought you would be talking about.

Admit the miscommunication, DON’T BE DEFENSIVE. Get the questions and maybe the answers that they are looking for, THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Set up another meeting with them in a few days or a week. Make sure to get the phone numbers and email addresses. Start over, follow the instructions in my two previous articles.

http://thenationalnetworker.blogspot.com/2009/02/dealing-with-giants-preparing-for-first.html

http://thenationalnetworker.blogspot.com/2009/02/dealing-with-giants-you-only-have-one.html



3) You have a full house, but they are absolutely, positively not the decision makers and never will be. The BIG BOYS love meetings; they will meet with anyone anywhere as long as they don’t have to produce anything.

I have a colleague who has a really great product; he has a small business and was selling to one of the largest international conglomerates. There was a lot of synergy in the product set and it was known in the marketplace that the BIG BOYS were looking to purchase like products, sounds like a match made in heaven?

Well not really, my colleague was hooked into the geek end of the business, and the people he needed to talk to were in the acquisitions department, BIG BOYS DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER. The geeks were actually trying to find out how the products’ guts worked, they had no interest in doing any business, even if they wanted to they did not have the authority to do business. This went on for over a year. If it’s taking too long it’s not going to happen. We will talk in my next article about when to hold and when to fold, my recommendation was fold, he was wasting his time, and by default his money, with every meeting and conversation.

4) You mess it up, totally and completely. In my first term of college I was asked to make a speech. I was eighteen years old and had never met anyone outside of my neighborhood. I was taking summer courses to get a jump on the term. My fellow students were all over thirty and professionals returning to school for second degrees. I still don’t remember what I said or did, I do remember the look of pity and the F that I got. It can happen to anyone, use the opportunity to NEVER DO IT AGAIN.

Take the time to deconstruct what did and didn’t happen don’t let embarrassment get the best of you. Sit with your team going through each turning point and figure out what you would do differently. If you are friendly with any of the BIG BOYS, ask them to help you deconstruct the meeting and reconstruct it the way it should have happened. If you really have guts, ask for a redo, you may actually get it. I worked for a BIG BOY once, who fired me for a mistake that I made. I contacted him 6 months later and restarted the friendship, I was able to get quite a lot of work from him during the next ten years. He is now one of my biggest fans, I’ve used him as a personal reference more that once.

Next Articles: Next steps, Getting closer to the Close, How to Follow Up, Moving Forward, When To Hold and When To Fold

Claudine Y. Halpern, President, The YCH Group, Inc. Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://ychmagicclaudinehalpern.blogspot.com/


http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern






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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Looking for Trouble

DEALING WITH GIANTS: You Only Have One Time to Make a First Impression: Owning the Sales Process with the Big Boys

Dealing with Giants with Claudine Halpern

THE MEETING

Be on Time

Actually Be Early, then you have time to get the lay of the land before you start, if you’re overdressed you can take off your tie, or put the jacket on the back of the chair.

Don’t Huddle

Be friendly, smile, talk about the big game, be calm, this is a sales call, it’s as much about who you are personally as who you are as representatives of your company. Big Boys want to know that they can enjoy working with you.

You are creating a Team - Carefully Choose your Seat at the Table

Never ever, ever, ever choose seats where all of your team is on the opposite side of the table from the Big Boys, that works for divorce proceedings but not for an important prospect meeting. Don’t take the head of the table unless offered, if your team sits together opposite the Big Boys you give the impression of being insular and snobby, or afraid to mix, DON’T DO IT. If possible interleave your team with members of the Big Boys team.

If you walk into a room where people are already seated try to find space among the Big Boys without being obvious.

RUNNING THE MEETING …owning the results

Volunteer to Take Notes

This is very different than taking minutes, it’s not politics or a courtroom. You need to take control of the Next Steps and the best way to do that is to be the official “note-taker”. The things that you need to note are:

o Everyone’s name and rank (no serial number needed)

o New facts-or random thoughts that will help later on (Big Boy John just had a baby, let’s send him a gift)

o Questions that need to be answered immediately

o Questions to take away

o Who does what and when

And most importantly next steps and scheduling the next meeting

Stick to the Agenda- TAKE CONTROL

Don’t let it get out of hand, here’s where being the note taker pays off big time. If the Big Boys try to take you of on tangents, TAKE CONTROL, say “we will discuss that subject at the end of the meeting” and have your note-taker write it as a follow up. Usually people forget the off topic items because of your stellar presentation. If the Big Boys jump ahead, TAKE CONTROL, say “we will talk about that later in the presentation” and have the note-taker do the magic.

Sometimes it’s really hard to remember the names of the people at the meeting and who’s who. I usually make a cheat sheet, when everyone settles down I go around the room asking people to introduce themselves I make a cheat sheet with the shape of the table and the names of the people like a map. I note something memorable like ‘Mickey mouse tie” then when someone asks a question I refer to them by name, it makes people feel that you care about them and that they are important. It’s also helps me remember who a person is after the meeting.

A little more about controlling the meeting, let’s talk about some personalities that show up at meetings and how to handle them:

Mr. Email Reader and Texter : You know this guy, he is so important that he must be on his blackberry 24/7 or someone will forget who he is. He doesn’t look at anyone or listen to anyone as he is “Too Busy” to do his job, which right now is listening to your presentation. This is a tough call, one way to solve the problem is to use the “Movie Method” ask people to shut their phones and refrain from texting for the length of the meeting.

This doesn’t work all the time, I have had situations where people did not stop whatever I did, once I stopped the meeting waiting for Mr. Texter to finish. It was quite funny actually, for about three minutes we had absolute silence until Mr. Texter realized that we shut down until he stopped playing with his toys. When Mr. Texter woke up, I thanked him for his attention and told him how important he was to the presentation, he did not pick up his toys again during meetings. This engagement lasted a year and I never had the problem with him again, it became an inside joke between us and he became our biggest supporter during the engagement.

Mr. “Everything You Say is Poppycock”: This is the person who knows everything and will tell you that, he has a negative thing to say about everything, and constantly interrupts to hear himself speak. Mr. Poppy knows how to distract you and get you over a barrel. Don’t let him do that, this is where owning the agenda comes into play, when he interrupts and asks a question there are three possible answers:

1) Thank you for interrupting me, that question will be addressed later in the presentation

2) Thank you for interrupting me, that’s a good question we’ll take it away and get back to you

3) Thanks you very much for interrupting me, that leads me to my next point, these are the questions that you want and planned for.

Mr. Silent: this is the person who never says anything, sometimes you have a room full of these, that’s when it becomes difficult. Always engage the person during the question time. An example would be at a logical breaking point engage Mr. Silent. Mr. Silent may be very influential, or not. But he is at the meeting and you want him to participate, so when your asking if there are any questions or comments always ask Mr. Silent if he can participate by name to ask questions.

Mr. Teachers Pet: You know this guy from elementary school, he always asks questions to show off and doesn’t let anyone else speak, between him and Mr. Silent you’re in a bind, well not really. Here’s how this works, you have reached a logical break point in your conversation, you ask if there are any questions.

Now TAKE CONTROL of the questions, and by default the answers. Listen to Mr. Teachers Pet once or twice, by the third time directly ask Mr. Silent if he has questions, don’t ask a general “any Questions”, you know who’s going to pipe up and direct the meeting. At that breakpoint specifically say Mr. Silent do you have any questions? You’ll be surprised by the response, Mr. Silent is used to being ignored that you’ve just got yourself a new best friend.

By the end of the meeting you want to make sure that all of the attendees on both sides have spoken at least once. It’s really important to intuitively figure out the team dynamics, who the leader is, who are the followers and who are the influencers, each need to be engaged during the meeting.

Start on Time- Finish on Time

If you run over time don’t just assume that everyone can stay longer to finish. The Big Boys are always overbooked; their life is meetings and assuming that your meeting is most important is not respecting their time. If you have ten minutes left and are not up to “Enumerating Next Steps” jump there and set the next meeting as the first follow up.

You did your presentation brilliantly, engaged everybody, have a list of follow ups, have a list of things to get to the Big Boy, what now, you’ve got 5 minutes left………

ASSIGN FOLLOW UPS, make sure everyone knows what they have to do, when they have to do it, and who their resources are, engage everyone in the room with some follow up. The best thing to do is have follow ups that can be shared, then you have a great excuse to talk to people at the big boys casually off line, you can then find out what they thought what you missed and what you hit.

SET UP THE NEXT MEETING, Don’t Leave until you’ve done this…..

TAKE CONTROL- ask for another meeting politely, Big Boys love meetings. You can then decide later whether you want the meeting. If the Big Boys won’t commit to a meeting, get the name of their Meeting Planners (usually an admin) and permission to call and set up the meeting.

CONGRATULATIONS…. The Big Boy prospect is one GIANT step closer to becoming a profitable client

Next: LOOKING FOR TROUBLE…. How to spot pitfalls, sinkholes and trouble and fix it ………………

chalpern@theychgroup.com

___________________________________________________________

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: You Only Have One Time to Make a First Impression: Owning the Sales Process with the Big Boys

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Preparing for the First Meeting

Dealing with Giants with Claudine Halpern

CONGRATULATIONS; you’ve scored a first meeting with the Big Boys, What Now?

Remember what your mother said about first impressions, well she was right, you have about two milliseconds until everything that you and your company represent registers with your Big Boy prospect.

In this article we will talk about the how to make that great first impression, and accomplish the first step toward turning the Big Boy into the Big Profitable Customer.

Emotions and Intellect

Always remember that we are human beings reliant on all our senses for information. Intellectualizing emotions does not mean that they go away, we heed our emotional impulses whether we admit it or not. Let’s keep all aspects in mind while we talk through the problem.

Be Prepared

The Boy Scout’s motto of Be Prepared should be you mantra, I can’t emphasize planning enough. This article is about preparing for the first meeting, next month’s article will be about How to Own the Big Boy meeting, TAKING CONTROL and KEEPING CONTROL.

Who’s coming to the Meeting

I worked with a small company whose founder/CEO was insistent on going to every meeting that was held, as you might imagine this overkill did not go over very well. The CEO was a larger that life figure who had some really strong opinions about everything and was totally in love with his product, we want that in a CEO, but not for exploratory meetings.

Know who’s coming to the meeting, if the Big Boys have three mid-level people coming to vet your firm’s capacity, don’t bring ten people, overkill shows desperation.

On the contrary if the room will be filled with twenty Big Boy participants, you don’t need 20 people to match one to one.

You need to have the knowledge and clout in the room so that you are matched in experience, business knowledge, and capability.

So how do you get people to a meeting, representing your firm, if they don’t exist? Many emerging and startup companies do not have the staff to bring to meetings with the Big Boys. Beg, borrow, steal or hire the right people for the meeting. I have clients who call on me specifically to manage Big Boy meetings and communications; they understand the need and value of a strong first impression.

Dressing for Success is not Outdated

The first thing that a person registers is how you look. That doesn’t mean that you need to be a candidate for America’s Top Model. Dress for impressing, but don’t overdo it. Many firms will tell you that they are business casual. That runs the gamut from sport coat and ties to beat up jeans and tee shirts.

My personal opinion is in New York and on the East Coast, you can’t go wrong with being professionally dressed in a suit and tie. It shows respect for the client and understanding of the holistic local business environment.

In Europe it is critical to be formally dressed for business meetings, in Asia it depends on whether the firm is domestic or international. Domestic firms take cues from the local culture; international firms take their cues from the country of the firms’ origin.

On the west coast and California there is a different norm, but there are still expectations. Most important for men, well-fitted, neat, high quality, classical styles that you are comfortable in. Women have more leeway but I am a proponent of very classic styling for the first impression, keep away from bright colors, overdone jewelry and makeup.

It’s most important be comfortable, the last thing that you need is to be uncomfortable in your clothing while the prospect is trying to make you uncomfortable.

When I manage prospect meetings for emerging and startup companies with new Big Boy prospects, I ask everyone to show me what they will wear. This sometimes causes a bit of internal friction the first time around. I am never questioned on the Dress for Success mantra after that.

Setting Roles; Rehearsing for the Big Show

Write the Agenda, Control the meeting

Determine what you want the Big Boys to think, know and talk about after you leave, then TAKE CONTROL. Write a detailed agenda, chances are that the Big Boys will be really happy to have you do this.

A good agenda includes the following items:

o Question that you are answering- subject

o Who is presenting

o How long it will take

o Timeslots for questions and answers

o Bathroom Breaks

o Meeting Goals

o Timeslot for enumerating Next Steps

Vet the agenda with the Big Boys to make sure they understand what you will talk about.

Formal or Informal Presentation

How many times have you been invited to a meeting, seen the presentation before the meeting, and decided that you have enough information and don’t need to attend. Don’t publish what you will say before you say it. Give just enough information to interest the Big Boys, Hollywood has it right on this, a small teaser trailer is all that you need, use the agenda as tool to accomplish this.

NEVER READ FROM A POWER POINT; I WILL WALK OUT…nuff said

Less is More; Keep it Open Ended

Wouldn’t it be great if the Big Boys ask every question that you want them to? You can make that happen, you can bring the Big Boys exactly to the place you want them be, YOU ARE IN CONTROL. If you do it right the Big Boys will ask the exact questions that you want them to ask, and you will have the killer answer prepared.

Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse and Rehearse Again

Go through your presentation four or five times with stand-ins for the Big Boys, anticipate the questions, script the answers, then do it again and again until you are so sick of it you can do it in your sleep, then you’re ready.

Assign all of the people that you bring to the meeting something to say, otherwise why do you need them. Make sure everyone talks; it shows that you have the knowledgeable staff and depth to support the Big Boys.

Create hand signals for things like cut, or please shut up, and hope you don’t need them.

Be Relaxed; or at Least Look Relaxed

This seems like a no brainer but believe me, it’s really important, if you are traveling to your meeting, make sure that you have alternative arrangements to get you there, make sure that you get a good nights sleep, go to the gym, or do whatever it takes to be relaxed and on top of your game.

NOW YOU’R READY, GOOD LUCK

Watch for my next article; Owning the Sales Process with the Big Boys- TAKING and KEEPING CONTROL of the First Meeting

Claudine Y. Halpern, President, The YCH Group, Inc.

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon, she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://ychmagicclaudinehalpern.blogspot.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

___________________________________________________________

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Preparing for the First Meeting

TNNW, January, 2009, Week 1: "New Year, New Changes, New TNNW "

By Adam J. Kovitz

CEO, Founder & Publisher

Here we are in a brand new year. Do you feel any different? I guess I do...a little bit. The beginning of the new year is always so full of hope and promise. The U.S. will be seeing a new Administration as well as history in the making when Barack Obama takes office as the first black president in U.S. history.

We still have our challenges...remember that economic thing going on? Yep...that's still here with us in 2009...no ball dropping in Times Square, New York seemed to fix that, no matter how energy-efficient it was. The fireworks launched off the London Eye and every other world landmark in honor of January 1, 2009 didn't seem to do much for the economy either...

...but there's still the hope...the promise...the potential for positive change...

One thing's for sure...no matter how scarce money seems to be at this time, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of networking opportunity. In fact, is it me or have the invites from colleagues and people we don't even know to every network under the sun(online or otherwise) seemed to increase?

As I've stated in many articles regarding the Laws of Relationship Capital (even in my article this month), Intellectual and Relationship Capital preced any Financial Capital. Perhaps it's no wonder then that we're either scrambling or continuing to scramble to build those connections that will lead to positive change for ourselves. It's a perfect example of "when the going gets tough, the tough get going".

So here's to the wonderful promise of networking opportunity this year. May those who have give to those that need and let's make this world a better place. To find the best opportunities and get some of the best ideas how to make the most of your networking, we hope you continue to make TNNW your networking publication of choice...you'll be glad you did!

Speaking of reasons to be glad, we are introducing a new column this week for the small to mid-sized companies out there looking to do business with larger companies. How do you get in? With whom do you speak? Where do you go to network? Please join us in welcoming Claudine Halpern, CEO of the YCH Group as she answers these questions in our new monthly column Dealing with Giants. WELCOME CLAUDINE!!!

There is certainly more in store over the next coming weeks. Most of the feedback we've received regarding our new look and new services have been quite positive. This is the year that we are committing to bringing more value to our subscribers (and now that it's 2009: members).

How are we going to do this? By growing TNNW from being just a publisher of networking content unlike any other and turning it into a provider of premium services that no networker can do without...all for the most reasonable rates that we can negotiate. We have and continue to grow one of the world's most phenomenal networks and you're a part of it - we want to share all we can with you

Let's make it a memorable 2009 together!

New for 2009...

Membership

TNNW is available and will continue to be absolutely no-charge. Starting in 2009, however, TNNW will be offering a yearly membership, which will be a nominal yearly fee - $18/year for an individual membership and $30/year for corporate members. While membership is optional, you will want to join right away (call it our "offer you can't refuse"), as it will include access to members-only services which you won't find anywhere else, including:

1.) Press release, publicity and public relations services - imagine sending up to three of your own press releases to over 20 premium newswire services with an aggregate of over 25,000 national and international publications (online and traditional) all for less than $100.

2.) Webinar and broadcast programs - produce your own fee-based webinars!

3.) Custom text messaging programs

4.) Trade and non-bank financing for growing businesses

5.) Post up to one event per week on the TNNW calendar at no additional charge

Plus many more to follow...

We have spent the past several years building a network like no other...membership in TNNW will grant to access to this network and open a whole new door of possibilities to you and/or your business!

Stay tuned for more.

Surveys and Polls

Yes...you've been making your voice known to us! Now you can do it even better with our new site devoted to letting us know what's on your mind. We will also be making your collective opinions be known. Click here to find out more.

New Delivery Options

You mean I can get TNNW articles emailed to me? I can listen to them on the web? I can put all the TNNW articles (and then some) up on to my own website or blog? Click here to find out how!

TNNW Calendar

We have a new calendar and it's open to you! To post your event, please visit our calendar page. There are three options:

1.) Post your event for $5.00 as a non-member

2.) Purchase a package of 10 postings for $30.00 as a non-member

3.) Become a member and post up to one event per week at at no additional charge!

As always, I look forward to networking with you!

- Adam

________________________________________________________

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free RSS feed, go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.
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TNNW, January, 2009, Week 1: "New Year, New Changes, New TNNW "