While there is a science behind conducting meetings, there’s an art to scoring those meetings. The issue here is time. People are pressed for time; they spend their time rushing around and they certainly don’t want to waste it. And, definitely not in meetings with people they don’t know.

So, how do you make those introductions and confirm those meetings?

Know Your Place

Yes, an element of humility should be exercised. Don’t assume someone wants or needs to meet with you. Your pitch or first attempt at contact should motivate exactly how you can justify taking up someone’s valuable time. In other words: prove your value and exactly what you are putting on the table.

This relates as much to what you say, as to how you say it.

Artful Language Manipulation And Time Management

In the 4-Hour Work Week Tim Ferriss acknowledges that sometimes, just getting through to the person can be a challenge.  It’s easy for a prospect to ignore emails when you don’t know him or her.

Sometimes the new contact you want to make is guarded by a PA or a secretary, who has been tasked with ensuring the executive’s expensive time isn’t wasted.

He recommends making phone calls early in the morning and after the work day has ended as this is often the easiest way to get past the “gate-keeper” and speak to the person directly. Once you have got through, use a respectful address, introduce the reason for your call and tell them immediately that you don’t intend to waste their time.

Warm Your Leads Up

It goes without saying that you are going to want to meet with people you don’t know or haven’t heard of you. The trick to getting that coveted “yes” is to establish yourself as someone who is not a total stranger.

LinkedIn is an effective platform that can help you do this. Use your shared connections to introduce yourself and explain how you might be connected to the person.

Back to the issue of time-sensitivity: it is infinitely more difficult to pitch to someone who doesn’t know you at all because they can’t see the value in investing their time in someone they don’t know. And, if you are pitching over email or the phone you’ve got to present your value proposition and outline the person return on time investment really quickly.

Make It Easy For The Person To Say Yes

In the greater scheme of meetings a 30-minute engagement may not seem like a lot of time but if you are the tenth person of the week to ask for it, it certainly adds up.

By acknowledging the person’s already-full schedule and asking for a minimum time investment, you’re already in their good books. Be considerate with the time and date; you’re less likely to score that meeting first thing on a Monday or at the end of the day on a Friday.

Give the person two or three options to choose from. Let the person make the choice based on what is most convenient.

In summary:

Productive meetings are the ones you want, but they are not always easy to get together. Our tips to help you score a meeting with any prospect include:

1. Be humble and state your value upfront

2. Be strategic about how you make contact. A phone call is always easier to control than email.

3. Make it impossible for the person to say no by providing a few reasonable options to choose from

4. Share your commonalities so you aren’t trying to pitch to a cold lead

And when you’ve done that, make you to read up on our tips on how to run effective meetings to ensure you are adequately prepared for your first engagement.

Get your Cosapien invite to ensure you run your meetings effectively and productively. Make all those meetings count by keeping accurate minutes and allocating follow-up tasks to you can maintain the relationship.