How to Make the Most of Your Face to Face Sales Meetings

Ever wonder why virtual meetings are excellent for knocking out quick check ins but fail when it comes to establishing strong sales relationships? It’s because nothing beats the relationship building power of face to face meetings.

When researching why in person meetings are so powerful, The Washington Post found, “More than eight in ten executives prefer in-person meetings to virtual contact, noting they create space for tough, timely business decisions and foster more complex strategic thinking.”

If you’re finding your meetings could use some fresh wind to meet your goals and serve your customers, you’ve come to the right place. Here are several sales techniques you can implement that are simple but effective to make the most of your face to face meetings.

1. Make a strong first impression.

2. Pick a great location.

3. Get to know the person better.

4. Establish you’re trustworthy.

5. Gain context into their situation.

6. Give an interactive sales pitch.

7. Have a brainstorming sesh.

8. Read their non-verbal cues.

9. Ask open ended questions.

10. Speak their language.

11. Bonus Tip!

1. Make a strong first impression.

Gone are the days of grace for a virtual meeting in your noisy home in a dirty t-shirt. Sales is a space for relationship building and first impressions, so be prepared to make a good one. Begin with clean, presentable attire. This may differ based on your industry. What is considered professional attire in banking is vastly different to what is appropriate in fashion or music. Make sure you look the part for the industry you’re representing.

Next, you may be prepared to meet with a firm handshake and warm smile, but we recommend you go one step further. Try showing up early to snag the best table and text your guest with parking tips to ensure a smooth arrival. You can even ask for their drink order so you can have that waiting for them when they arrive. Your guest will feel special and remember you fondly.

2. Pick a great location.

There’s nothing worse than picking a bad location for a face to face meeting. If one of you have a hard time finding it, getting there, or parking, then you’re already starting out on the wrong foot. Additionally, if you pick a coffee shop where the music is too loud or there are too many distractions, it’ll be too difficult for you and your guest to concentrate. Luckily, Meetify helps avoid this.

Use Meetify to easily find a location by selecting the type of establishment you prefer, entering an address or two, and selecting a few time and date options. Meetify can then generate a list of recommended locations between the two of you or near one of the locations. Pick a few options you like, send everything off to your guest and they will pick the time and location they prefer from your list.

PRO TIP: Aim for an establishment that is moderately quiet, with great connectivity, and ample space to secure a table and meet. Meetify makes it easy to schedule a meeting and move on with your day.

3. Get to know your invitee.

Face to face meetings are for ideal for building personal relationships, so don’t rush into your agenda before first getting to know each other better. How long have they lived in the area? What do they and the people they’re close to like about the city most? What activities are they involved? Do not assume this is just time wasted before you can get to the point of your meeting.

People work with others they like, and people like those who care about similar things. By first getting to know the person, you can find the passions and backgrounds you have in common and build common ground. Bonus points if you can ask them their favorite restaurants and coffee shops and make that mental note to suggest meeting at one of them next time you plan something.

4. Establish you are trustworthy.

“Without trust we don’t truly collaborate, we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.” Stephen Covey urged readers in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to understand the impact trust has on a team and relationships in general.

A surprise benefit to in person meetings is they lend for more off the record insight. In person, people are more likely to be transparent about issues they are facing or new initiatives they aren’t sure will work. Kickstart their trust by ensuring what they disclose with you is confidential and that your intent is to help them solve their challenges no matter what they are.

However, promising confidentiality won’t completely earn your guest’s trust. Be willing to share authentically with them if you want the same in return. In a world where most people pretend to be succeeding in every area, sharing a challenge you’re facing and how you generate ideas to work on it can be refreshing. Note, that being vulnerable doesn’t mean you spill about every shortcoming. This brief but inspiring TED interview of Brené Brown by Adam Grant sheds some light on how to be appropriately vulnerable in business.

5. Gain context into their situation.

Imagine putting all this effort into a sales meeting only to find out your sales prospect doesn't perceive a need for the problem you solve. The key to great sales is to lead by serving and solving problems. To serve someone you must first understand their challenges.

Start by opening a dialogue about their daily work struggles with no immediate agenda and pay attention to not only what they say, but how they say it. This will help give you a clear picture of the needs they have. Pay attention to the areas that frustrate them, cost them extra money or take up too much time. Do they make a joke about how impossible something is? Can you probe deeper in these areas to genuinely get to the heart of this problem and assess if your products can help solve it?

Asking questions from a few different angles can even highlight root causes or concerns they may not have been consciously aware of themselves.

6. Give an interactive sales pitch.

If you have a physical product, there’s no replacement for face to face meetings when selling it. Being able to interact with the product will show your guest the reasons it’s better than the competition. Encourage them to pick it up and try it out. If possible, bring your full assortment of samples so your target customer can fully experience the benefits. This will show the detail and professionalism they can expect from working with you.

If you have a tech product, this tip is for you too. For starters, in person meetings can eliminate technical challenges that come up on so many video calls. Just make sure in advance that your phone or the location’s Wi-Fi is strong and that your product demo is preloaded if possible. Gear the demo to be as interactive as possible. You will find that your guest can more easily point and ask questions or even grab the mouse and give your product a spin themselves. That is where they can really experience the magic you provide.

7. Have a brainstorming sesh.

If you opt to meet in an office with a whiteboard (or have a great blank notebook) take advantage of the opportunity to roll up your sleeves and put pen to paper. Brainstorming how you can solve their problem is not only helpful but it establishes you as part of their solution and makes them more likely to want to work together.

Furthermore, brainstorming gives you even deeper insight into their perspective as a target customer, which will only help you in the future. Just be prepared, brainstorming requires trust, which is one reason we recommend you establish it early on. If all you do is try to sell your product or service during brainstorming, they will quickly shut down and not want to work with you. Be honest about other solutions or competitors that may work for them. By confidently giving them all the information, and the freedom to choose, you give them the confidence to choose you.

8. Read their non-verbal cues.

It is estimated that about 90% of communication is non-verbal. No wonder so much gets lost in translation via text or email. MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab spent hundreds of hours tracking performance drivers across industries to find “that the most valuable communication is done in-person, and that typically 35 percent of the variation in a given team’s performance was explained by the number of times team members actually spoke face-to-face.” This is your permission to meet in person early and often. 

Make sure to pay attention to their nonverbal cues during your meetings. Can they hear you clearly, and are they able to focus on only you and your presentation? If not, suggest moving to a table tucked further away from distractions and noise. Track how often they agree with what you are saying, or if they pause to ask extra questions during a specific part of your presentation. By paying attention to how they engage with you, you can learn where they are most concerned. Address the areas you perceive they need more clarity, reassurance, or statistical support.

9. Ask open ended questions.

Confirmation bias beware! When you are passionate about an idea, it’s incredibly easy to allow your excitement to fog true feedback or your sales target’s level of interest. Conducting sales meetings in a way that avoids this takes practice. The easiest way to get started is to let your guest talk as much as possible. Let them tell you their needs, challenges, and perceived solutions. Instead of yes/no or leading questions, opt for open ended questions. People naturally will want to be polite, leading them to unintentionally give you positive feedback while they may be thinking, “This product is not for us, but I’m sure it’s great for someone.” You want to avoid this at all costs. By asking open ended questions, you allow them to give you their perspective rather than confirming what they think you want to hear.

10. Speak their language.

In any business relationship, making customer service your priority will always yield positive results. This starts with understanding how your sales target builds relationships. If this is a new acquaintance, this will involve some guess work for a bit. However, the beauty of in person meetings is you can try several relationship building styles in one meeting to figure out their preference. A great place to start is studying the The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman. It’s like the 5 love languages, but for work.

Here are a few ideas to use the various “languages” to build a stronger relationship with your potential customer. Words of Affirmation people hear best and enjoy genuine compliments about the work they’ve done or their character. Quality Time people will appreciate your taking the time to meet with them to resolve their challenges. Making time with the unhurried personal part of this meeting will also help here. Acts of Service people may be impressed by your taking the time to create a strategy for them with supported research to help them tackle this challenge better and faster. Gifts people can be fun as you can buy them a small token of your appreciation that can symbolize your working relationship together or a reminder for them of the success that’s to come. Picking up the tab is an easy way to go here.

Finally, Physical Touch people will appreciate your handshake and warm demeanor. A hug or supportive touch of their arm as appropriate may be a good idea, too. Of course, it’s always better to err on the safe side in business relationships with physical touch. If you don’t know the person well, or this is a first meeting, stick to a handshake.

No matter what, by considering the different ways people strengthen relationships at work, you can practice using these appreciation languages as you build your sales relationships.