1. BUILDING AND NURTURING RELATIONSHIPS, A 4-WEEK strategy document
CPSA Meeting in a Box: A series of 15-minute guided presentations to help increase your team’s performance.

2. Pre-learning:
Facilitator: One week prior to your meeting, please inform your sales team to prepare with these CPSA Learning Hub resources.
Reading:
Building Lasting Rapport’ Five Mistakes Made in Client Meeting The Elements of a Winning Sales Presentation
Webinar Recording:
"Stand & Deliver” – Communications and Presentation Skills
5 Steps to Stronger Sales Presentations

3. Building Rapport in Meetings
WEEK 2:
Building Rapport in Meetings
CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR EARLY STAGE OUTREACH ACTIVITIES HAVE LED TO A MEETING WITH AN IDEAL PROSPECT…
SO NOW WHAT?!
In week 2 we’ll get into ways to better understand your prospects and practical tips to help improve your sales outreach efforts.

4. TIME TO SHINE: BUILDING A REALTIONSHIP WITH PROSPECTS IN THE MEETING
You’ve secured an important meeting with a top, pre-qualified prospect.
This may be your one and only chance to make a big impact, and you certainly don’t want to blow it!
So you’ve booked an important meeting with a hot new prospect. Great work so far but this may be your one and only chance to make a big impact, and you certainly don’t want to blow it.
To help you prepare, let’s consider what you should do ahead of and durig the meeting to earn your prospect’s respect and business.
ACTIVITY: Read ‘Five Mistakes Made in Client Meetings’ for a deeper understanding of why it’s so important to get it right ahead of your pitch or client meeting.
Read ‘Five Mistakes Made in Client Meetings’. Gain a deeper understanding of why it’s so important to get it right ahead of your pitch or client meeting.

5. 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER AHEAD OF THE MEETING
Do Your Homework - Research is integral to a successful client meeting and sales pitch.
Use Your Research to Hone Your Pitch - Tailor your pitch to your client’s needs and business pain.
Know Your Customer’s Personality Type - You can build lasting rapport by understanding your customer’s comfort level when starting out a new relationship. A meaningful relationship is always built on mutual trust and respect.
Use Tech to Tailor Your Presentation - Targeted presentations that make use of the data you have collected in your research stage demonstrate that you are not only an expert in your own product, you understand what the client needs for their business solution.
Have a Plan to Recap and Secure the Next Steps - Before you even enter the room, you should have a plan to secure buy-in for next steps in the conversation and the actions you then do in follow-up.

6. During the Meeting – THE Art of Relationship Building
Building lasting rapport with your prospects and customers is a crucial step in hitting targets. Not only will a solid relationship help you seal the first deal with a customer, but it will also lead to recurring revenue, upsells and referrals.
Relationship building is no mean feat, it’s not about creating one-off connections but continually nurturing and growing relationships. In fact, relationship building is an art. Let’s consider how to build a lasting rapport with your customers that keeps both your relationships and your bottom line, healthy and growing…
Read ‘Building Lasting Rapport’ for tips on how to strengthen business relationships.

7. During the Meeting - Top Tips
Be Genuine - If you really want to succeed in building lasting rapport then it’s important that you avoid cliches and show you actually care about your product, your customer and your business. Always act with authenticity, honesty, and integrity and take ownership of your mistakes.
Active Listening - Discovering your customer’s personality style and earning their trust and respect requires you to pay attention. Listening skills are perhaps the most important tool in your for building rapport. Through active listening, you’ll be able to start discovering their needs and preferences from your very first interaction.
Think Win-Win - No relationship is ever without conflict. The key to successful negotiations and overcoming objections with customers without damaging your relationship is to think win-win. Put your customer’s needs at the forefront and frame your proposals in negotiations as a way for both parties to get the best result.
Share Some of Yourself - A real relationship is a two-way street. You can’t hope to come across as genuine and build lasting rapport if you close yourself off. Sharing some of yourself means being yourself. If customers feel you’re being yourself, they’re far more likely to trust you and want to work with you. So let your personality shine!

8. Take action!
ACTIVITY: Discussion: Why is it so important to be genuine in client meetings and what examples can we provide of ways to build rapport?
Let’s consider the positive outcomes that can come from sharing a bit of ourselfs with the prospect or client I order to build solid and long lasting relationships.
The leader will now invite each team member to say why they think it is important to be genuine in client meetings – including one or more examples of ways one could build trust and rapport in a meeting. Other team members are welcomed to respond and debate best ways to develop meaningful connections.
The presenter may want to guide the team by reminding the of some of the things to remember before and during the meeting:
Do Your Homework - Research is integral to a successful client meeting and sales pitch.
Use Your Research to Hone Your Pitch - Tailor your pitch to your client’s needs and business pain.
Know Your Customer’s Personality Type - You can build lasting rapport by understanding your customer’s comfort level when starting out a new relationship. A meaningful relationship is always built on mutual trust and respect.
Use Tech to Tailor Your Presentation - Targeted presentations that make use of the data you have collected in your research stage demonstrate that you are not only an expert in your own product, you understand what the client needs for their business solution.
Have a Plan to Recap and Secure the Next Steps - Before you even enter the room, you should have a plan to secure buy-in for next steps in the conversation and the actions you then do in follow-up.

9. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM CPSA
TEMPLATES – CPSA is constantly building and upgrading our catalog of templates to make your job easier!
WEBINARS - Our “virtual” training sessions led by industry experts, at your convenience.
PODCASTS - Take the sales experts wherever you go!
LEARNING HUB - Check out the latest sales articles, white papers, and ebooks

10. GO TEAM GO!