I’ve found that it’s almost impossible to accurately predict how a meeting will play out. Regardless of how much preparation is done, almost inevitably something happens during the meeting that derails the plan.
Some people struggle with this. They try to rigidly stick to their initial plan at the expense of catering to the interests of the other attendees.
But the best salesmen I’ve seen are able to “dance.” They read the situation and use that to plan their next move, even if it means deviating from the plan.
While I’ve been observing this skill and trying to implement it into my own capabilities, I’ve come across two key points:
- Having a plan doesn’t mean you should blindly stick to it. It’s far more important to cater to the attendee’s needs in realtime rather than staying with what you previously thought should happen.
- Just because you deviate from the plan doesn’t mean that the planning was a waste of time. The process of assembling the plan gives you the level of preparation necessary to be able to dance.
-Brandon