Country music legend Barbara Mandrell once gave some advice to her younger sister, Louise, who is also a performer. She said, “Remember to always appreciate your audience. They are giving you the most valuable thing they have…their time. This same rule applies in sales. We demonstrate that we respect a client’s time.
Early in my career I learned a lesson about respecting our prospect’s time. I was meeting with a decision maker and we had agreed to a 30-minute meeting. The meeting progressed nicely, and when the 30 minutes had expired, the prospect kept going and the conversation continued to evolve. I decided to let him roll, and the meeting ended up lasting close to an hour. I thought it went great. Later on I found out the prospect was upset that I agreed to a 30-minute meeting and went beyond that. Huh? But, but, but… He was the one who kept talking!
The next day I shared this frustration with my coach/mentor Ed. Ed said, “You were leading the conversation. You let that happen”
Then Ed tauaght me something that has worked for me ever since. Ed said, “If you have agreed to a 30-minute meeting, keep track of the time. If you reach the 30 minute mark and you are really in to it, you say, “Mr/Ms _______, I noticed that we have reached our 30 minutes we agreed on. I have allowed some extra time. Would you like to continue or should we set a follow up call?” This puts the decision on their shoulders, and shows us that we respect our time as well as theirs. We are also taking charge of the meeting.
