I remember the meeting with my first potential client like it was yesterday. That meeting was a couple of years ago and i remember i was so uncomfortable that i wasn’t able to fully explain the thing i was best at. I know many people have this feelings starting out, and some have them even years in.
My partner was the exact same if not even worse. We where two nerds that where only good at two things, making websites and marketing.
I have learned thru the years how to become more confident and better at this craft with the help of one of my mentors tips. I thought i’d shared 3 of the best tips he told me when i started out, and that i still implement even to this day.
First one.
You have to save the moments you feel the most confident, meaning you have to capture them in some kind of way. That way you could bring the confident side of you out when you need it. My mentor told me two methods of saving them and i implemented one myself later on.
The first one he explained to me was that i should pick one song to play when i felt the most confident and do that many times. And then when i knew i was about to fell uncomfortable speaking to clients, i’d listen to that song in advanced to get more confident. The second and third is the exact same idea but switching music with images, and if you want to go Thanos on it, play around with smells.
This in my experience do actually work and i have now listen to the same tune (for these brief moments) for about 4 years. And i have built that tune up to represent confident when i need it.
The second one. Record yourself speaking.
When i did this the first time i felt awkward as fuck. I don’t do this anymore but it really helped my speaking in the begining, and as cringeworthy as it is listening to, it really helps if you are an introvert. I think the more comfortable you are with hearing yourself speaking, the better you become selling to your clients. You also train your pace of speaking that you sometimes can’t hear when you are nervous.
The third thing that i implement when meeting with my most important clients is following a script.
Not a standard everything to say script, but an outline to guide the conversation. Ideally you want to create a outline of how you want the conversation to flow. It will include specific questions you want to ask your potential client but don’t stress saying everything perfectly and memorize lines.
To wrap things up.
I will keep it simple and short and try to bring value in other topics as well.
I’d love to hear about your methods so i can implement them myself. I still feel like i can improve a whole lot in this area of business. So comment your best tips.
I tried getting a little bit more story telling writing thing into it, maybe i should stick to straight up…