You may live to be 100 years old, but time passes quickly. You are here today and gone tomorrow, like a spring snowstorm in Denver. Shouldn’t you make the most of every encounter and meeting? You never know where or when a life-altering event will occur. You need to put some ‘WOW’ into your meetings!
To me the acronym WOW stands for ‘Winning Over Winners’. In business it means helping someone with whom I have a good business fit. In my personal life, it simply means adding value to the lives of people important to me.
Whether the meeting is for business or any personal encounter, similar principles apply to having a WOW meeting. Here are 6 steps to help you make your next meeting have more WOW.
1. Open with a Grabber
Enthusiasm and intentionally being positive is a good thing. Listen to these two statements as if I were speaking directly to you:
‘Hi Jim, what’s up?’
‘Hey Jim! Great to see you! How have you been anyway?’
Did you feel a difference in the enthusiasm level between the two?
If I am meeting with a prospect I think I can help I may ask them something like this:
‘Would an additional $1.6M per year help you improve your practice?’
When guest lecturing at a local university, I may open my talk with something like this:
‘It’s the little things that make the big difference. The little things that are easy to do and also easy not to do.’
In each situation I am speaking to their hearts and minds and getting their attention.
2. Let them know that you care more about them versus about telling them how great you are
Asking people questions with genuine concern is a great communication skill. Raise your hand if you have ever talked too much about yourself. Instead, you would do better to ask something like this:
‘Jean, I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Is your job going well? Tell me all about what is going on in your life!’
In a business meeting, versus telling them about you, if you say something like:
‘During our research we have found that you hope to include an additional 90 docs to your group over the next two years.’
In both cases they will feel that you care enough to talk about them.
3. Hear while listening
I believe that we are created with two ears and one mouth for a reason. That is to hear more and talk less. Remember Lieutenant Colombo? Columbo asked question after question, even when he already may have known the answer, simply to learn more.
Are you better able to help others by knowing the truth, or thinking you do? In the same vein, making sure the other person in the room knows what you know is important. By asking a question like this, you will find out:
‘What I think I just heard is that you want to be moved into your new home by July 15th. Is that correct?’
By asking for a confirmation, you are showing that you care enough to want to know what is being communicated.
4. Let them know that they can depend on you
In sensitive situations make sure you do not commit to something you’re not sure you can deliver. If you say no, your friend or colleague may be disappointed for a time, but they will be devastated if you commit and then aren’t there for them when needed the most. In business meetings, I have said:
‘I want to determine if I can help you. If it appears I can’t, I will tell you.’
I always mean that. It is much easier being genuine than trying to remember what you said last time.
5. Solve their problems with them
People don’t always want tangible fixes to problems, so it may be just helping them realize something in their life or circumstances that helps them the most.
In business we are always trying to help overcome challenges so we may say:
‘Reporting is critical in being able to analyze progress and find the root cause for problem areas.’
Empathizing (not to be confused with sympathizing) can often provide a gentle nudge to help someone move out of stagnant struggles and into more proactive behavior. We have often heard:
‘This too shall pass.’
That statement doesn’t seem very empathetic to me. If only it were said in a slightly different way:
‘This is a difficult circumstance and I am sure very painful for you. You can take what you can from it and know that times will soon be better with this far behind you.’
There is more hope injected into the second statement. Having a solid understanding of a situation and life in general often builds credibility with people.
6. Plan next steps to help them be successful
Before leaving a meeting of any kind, I try to establish next steps. The next step could be to say goodbye on good terms, or it could be to map specific actions to build the relationship. One might say this to an acquaintance:
‘Let’s talk on the phone tomorrow after you sleep on this and decide if we want to meet again in a day or so. What do you think?’
If in a business meeting, the proposed next steps should be very specific, but always remain reasonable, valuable and relevant. They could come in the form of:
‘I propose that 1) you review our proposal by next Friday, 2) we talk about any questions that you have by Monday and 3) we begin contract work by that following Friday. What do you think of that plan?’
And before leaving any meeting a positive statement always leaves everyone feeling better. In business we refer to that as a Closing Statement. It could go something like this:
‘Bill, it was a pleasure learning more about your business challenges today. I will send you an invitation for Monday and look forward to discussing any of your questions.’
If leaving an acquaintance after a crucial conversation you may reassure them by closing with:
‘Jan, I am sure glad we had this talk today. Thank you for sharing your heart with me. I look forward to our call tomorrow and hearing what new insights you have gained!’
I am convinced that if you practice these 6 things until they become who you are and not just what you do, your meeting ‘WOW’ factor will be off the charts. And, you will most certainly add more enjoyment to each of your interactions in both your personal life and in business.