- Being Prepared for a Meeting
- The Sales Pitch
- Outlining the Scope of the Project
- Discussing Price
- Closing the Deal
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Outlining the Scope of the Project
When the buyer is finished telling you what he needs, you list the items he's told you he needs, getting his agreement for each one and assigning a level of importance to each item. This list is the scope of the project. By listing each item, you make it clear in the mind of the buyer exactly what he has asked for. Most buyers think their projects are much smaller than they really are. Seeing it in black and white will help the buyer understand why the cost might be higher than he expected.
When the list is complete, you check off the items that you can provide. Because you've been guiding the buyer through the process of identifying what he needs (with your services in mind), you should be able to provide almost everything on the list.
At this point, you need to prove your value and demonstrate your capabilities. This is when you fire up your laptop and show the buyer appropriate examples of your work. You can go to your website if you have enough examples there, show the buyer some samples that you have on your hard drive, or show printed samples of the work you've done for other people, if appropriate.
Additionally, you should tell the buyer how you would meet his intangible needs. For example, if you were listening like you were supposed to, you may have deduced that it is very important to the buyer to get constant feed back. So you should tell the buyer that you would be giving updates on your progress with the project _____________ (fill in the blank with an appropriate interval[md]daily, twice a week, weekly, etc.) by _______________. (Fill in the blank with the communication method the buyer prefers[md]phone, email, meeting, etc. You would know what the buyer prefers because in the interview process, you would have asked the buyer, "John, if we work together on this project, how do you want to be contacted with questions or feedback?")