First Contact: The Key Step That Turns a Good Prospect into a Client.

capabilities presentations waste of time

Most capabilities presentations are just killing time.

One of the biggest new business mistakes usually happens at the initial point of contact in the first meeting. The agency walks in ready to give a full blown capabilities presentation. The client may have asked for one, or lacking any other option the agency just brings it.

Capability Presentations Are For Losers.

If you have a feeling that your capability presentation isn’t as strong as it needs to be, you’re right. Capability presentations are for losers. In a typical agency capability presentation, your agency does 80% of the talking while the client talks for 20%. And that’s a big mistake 100% of the time.

Facts show that 80% of an agency’s new business failures are caused by an inability to build trust with the prospect quickly and efficiently on the first meeting. This “no trust” disease is fed by the way we dress, how we over-talk about ourselves, our rush to show samples, case studies, capabilities, and our inability to get into serious problem solving discussions.

Visit Prospects the Right Way.

Understanding how to manage your first contact with a prospect is the most effective way to improve your agency’s performance in closing new business. Many agencies have a steady stream of prospects. Making more out of these prospects is what Torch is all about. Torch shows agencies how to visit prospects and then close the prospects your agency wants, perhaps within 48 hours or 7 days – what we call fast-closing.

What you really need to understand on the first meeting:

  • How to overcome the biggest obstacle that trips up 80% of agencies
  • Why you should leave your creative portfolio in the car
  • How to talk about budgets in the first meeting
  • How to find needs and why uncovering fevers is so important
  • How to set up a fast-close in the first meeting

Our Torch program is focused on how to win this critical first visit. You’ll learn how to find all the needs and the fevers prospects have hidden away that really control agency selection. The latest thinking on agency packaging and positioning is included along with valuable tips on how to control chemistry. You’ll learn how to discuss the agency selection process and what to do if you want the account. And because you know Torch, you can determine which fast-close process is best.

A few more DOs And DON’Ts On Visiting A New Business Prospect.

Fast Closing and Other Winning Strategies

If you have had a good first contact with a prospect, why not move to a close? The alternative is to let the prospect drift along until the account moves into a formal review. Or you end up going back for a Howdy-Doody meeting, meaning, Howdy, we’re back and don’t know Doody about how to close you.

Redirect Your New Business Effort.

After Torch, you’ll understand the true value of quiet visits with prospects. You’ll re-direct your new business efforts to where it should be, creating first visit opportunities for your agency. You’ll see the wisdom of avoiding the cattle calls and the RFPs that rarely lead anywhere. You’ll put your energy into the most important part of new business: making a good first impression. You’ll want everyone who comes in contact with clients to know Torch. Agencies find the negotiation section on discovering the real budget helps with prospects and clients. We’ll show you how to probe to see if there is any money left on the table. Just understanding how to negotiate with prospects over budgets will give your agency pay back from your investment in the training, often within the first four weeks of your Torch session.

If Torch Training sounds like something your agency can use, then call Sanders Consulting Group at 412.897.9329 for cost and schedule availability. In new business, you only get one chance to make a great impression.

A Few More New Business Tips:

 

Photo by BetaAquilae