7/19/2024-Stop saying “thanks for your time.”

You have lots to manage on your customer sales calls, but you can easily master an end-of-meeting protocol that benefits all. Ending meetings is not complicated, but it does require planning.

"Thank you for your time."

Be honest: how often do you say that to your customer in a pitch meeting?

Act deserving when you’re in front of your customers; gushing with appreciation for their time does not position you as a professional. Your time is as important as theirs.

It’s fine to open a meeting with "thanks…" but don’t close the meeting with it. You have much more important things to do at the end of each pitch meeting.

With five minutes to go in your pitch meetings, start closing it down with this protocol:

1. Qualify their interest. "What is the most appealing part of our offering?" (After asking, don’t move a muscle – especially the ones in your mouth).

2. Summarize your value prop. Take another shot and remind them why they need you.

3. Determine next steps. This includes actions assigned to the customer, e.g. asking for intros inside the org.

Your best shot at getting the customer to open up might be at the end of the meeting…let ’em talk! This is not your time to play the "…and one more thing…" game.

There’s nothing worse than smartly moving through a good meeting with a customer where everyone nods their heads, and then the end becomes rushed and disjointed.

Calculating the flow of your in-person (or video) meetings is akin to conducting a symphony: you need to understand how to get the best out of everyone…and you need to time everything.

Managing meetings through tight agendas is the key. You’ll never get to the desired state where buyers are talking and sharing truths unless you strategically plan how you’re gonna get there.

Gone are the days when sellers opened with strategic questions and learned a bit about the customer before hitting "play" on their 32-slide deck.

Now, the customer appears with folded arms and a semi-scowl that reads, "Ok, whadya got?" It’s as though they’ve seen and heard it all. (They have.)

Start your meeting close by offering a general overview of your value prop, and get them talking about how it may or may not address their needs. Only then might you earn permission to go further with open, strategic questions that reveal more about their needs.

If you’re lucky enough to have set the hook, let the fish run. Let the buyer talk. But ALWAYS get out of there early. If it’s a 30-minute meeting, you’re gone at :29.

Whether you’re in an internal meeting or a pitch meeting, you must assume minds are wandering. Oh yeah, you’re plenty engaging and you can hold a room…but not enough to beat human nature!

Who better than those zany folks at Fast Company to show a version of what really goes on in meetings?

If you run a tight agenda and engage everyone, you’ll minimize what you see in this clip.