In Australia, both employers and the government try to create an equal-opportunity workplace across the country for both men and women. As a woman, it is still incredibly hard to climb the corporate ladder and to get the promotions and opportunities that you are due even after all of the hard work that you put in. If it is your job to set up meetings and attend them then this is a lot of responsibility to have and it is up to you to present ideas that appeal to prospective customers and you have to do all of this while presenting yourself in a professional way. Everything relies on how you present the information, how you present the product or service and how your prospective client receives it.
Ideally, you want to be able to give a sales presentation to them that is not only engaging but is also very well structured as well. You want the potential business clients to either sign on the dotted line then and there or at the very least, leave the business meeting with more respect for you than they had when you first walked in. If you would like to learn more about how to take command of your business meetings as a woman from this point onwards, then you should find the following incredibly informative.
- Always have a plan – It doesn’t matter how good of a salesperson you are and how many sales meetings you’ve had before this point because if you don’t go into a business meeting prepared then you are marking yourself for an unsuccessful conclusion. Nobody is saying that you have to read a piece of paper and that you should have a basic outline of what it is that you want to say and what it is that you want to achieve.
- Practice, practice, practice – You can never be over-prepared for any important business meeting and if you suffer from nerves then it makes sense that you would practice would you want to say before you actually meet with the people who have the power to sign on the dotted line or just walk away. Try to practice what you want to say out loud to make sure that it sounds right and get feedback from work colleagues.
- Control your nerves – If your nerves get out of control in an important business meeting then you could blow the whole thing and then you have to explain everything to your boss when you get back to their head office. It’s important that you take control of your nervousness and so maybe using your strap on the night before the meeting might help to settle you and to provide you with a proper night’s sleep.
Pay attention to your body language so that you don’t give off any negative impressions to your prospective new clients. Be sure to start your business meeting on time and end it on time as well. It’s likely that your clients have other meetings to go to and so you don’t want to upset them.