The BD Meeting: Initial Preparation

There is a huge amount of work to be done to prepare properly for a BD meeting. We understand that there are only so many hours in the day. But how much work do you think might come your way over many years if you get this right? And how much would that be worth?

Here's some stuff you might want to think about:

• If you've met the person before, dig out any notes that you have on them (you did remember to scribble as much as you could recall about them on the back of their business card, didn't you?)
• Find out if anyone else in your business has had any contact with the person or organisation.
• Ask other contacts you know if you think they might know something about the person or organisation.
• Check out their website: "recent news" and "visions/values" pages are always worth a look.
• Think about whether you should take anyone else with you to the meeting.
• Do you want any brochures/newsletters etc with you?
• What are you going to wear: very smart; more casual? What did they dress like when you met them? What sort of organisation are they?
• What's your small talk going to be? What interesting things have you been up to recently? If you've met the person before, what clues have they given you as to their interests outside work?
• Do you have any mutual contacts that you might want to mention, to establish credibility?
• What questions do you want to ask them? What information do you want to find out?
• What things do you think you'll want to tell them about your services?
• Are there other clients in their sector that you work with? Would it be a good idea to mention that at some point?
• Are there projects, deals, case studies of work that you think would be relevant to what they do?
• Can you think of any "objections" (reasons to say "no") that they might come up with? Put yourself in their shoes - why might they not do business with you? What could you say in response to their objections?

Do you have any of your own to add?

Matt is our Client Relationship Manager. If you have anything else to add to the list above, drop him an email.

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