The following post is from my old column “Dear Ash.” Aspiring and new freelancers would submit their questions, and I’d answer them Agony-Aunt style.
| Dear Ash, My question is: Any tips on how to run meetings and present yourself and your ideas with confidence and charm? This is my first role where I’m actively creating content so keen to gleam from your knowledge and experience 🙂 From, Seeking Confidence Dear Seeking Confidence, I still remember what my first mentor told me when I was setting up a client call. I’d been referred to a new clothing company looking for someone to manage their content, and they wanted to hear my “thoughts & ideas” to see if I’d be the best person for the job. The only problem? I didn’t know what the hell to say. I was so new to the world of copy and marketing that I didn’t have solid “ideas” to give them. The only experience I had up to that point was creating what ever the client told me to create. But now *I* was the one who was expected to call the shots and determine what was the best content for their business. In that moment, I felt like a fish out of water, floundering around and gasping for air. My mentor listened to me freak out on the other end of the call. Then, she calmly and confidently told me to: “Be in control.” That’s the only thing I remember from our conversation. Right after she hung up, I hopped on the call with the clients and fell into an adrenaline-induced blackout. I can’t remember anything about it, except for the fact I must have said just enough to convince them to hire me. It’s been over a year since that meeting, and since then, I’ve had to run dozens of sales calls and client meeting. And every time I’m about to hop onto a call, I still remember my mentor’s words: Be in control. Practically speaking, here’s what that looks like: Confidence and control starts long before the actual meeting. It’s being prepared and knowing what you’re going to discuss on the call. The anxiety you feel beforehand likely stems from uncertainty. You don’t know what questions they’re going to ask you or what they’re going to say. So try and reduce as much uncertainty as possible. For sales meetings, it’s about doing your research on the brand or prospect. Look at their website and social media. Understand what their business does. Try and identify any areas you think you could improve and have these up your sleeve in case they ask your opinion. In the last 2 sales calls I had this month, both prospects asked if I had a chance to look at their website. It would have been really awkward if I had to stumble my way around the answer, “No, sorry, didn’t get a chance to!” You can also prepare a set of questions you’d like to ask them so you can understand more about their business and what they need your help with. I used to believe asking questions made it look like I didn’t know what I was doing. But now I know it sets me up as an expert. It shows that I know what information to look for to do my best work. The last thing I want to do is accept a project, only to realise I don’t have everything I need or we’re not the right fit. Now, I have a list of questions on a Google Doc for all my sales call so I can identify if we are the right fit and how I can best “add value” to their business. If you’d like to see the questions I tend to ask on my sales call, just hit reply and I’ll flick them over to you. For client meetings, set an agenda of what you’re going to discuss. You can try and do this beforehand via email so everyone is on the same page beforehand. For example, you can say something like: “I’d love to set-up a meeting with you next Tuesday so we can discuss x,y,z.” This way, instead of feeling scattered and all over the place, you can get hyper-focused on what you need to prepare for. When the meeting starts, I also like to reiterate the purpose of the call. After a couple of minutes of small talk (aka building rapport), I like to say something like: “Awesome! For the next xx minutes, I’m going to start off by running you through X, then we can discuss Y. How does that sound?” Even though I may be shaking on the inside, setting the agenda puts me in the driver’s seat and makes me “sound” like I know what I doing, which ultimately makes me feel more confident. For full transparency, I rarely present my copy on a face-to-face call with the client. Instead, I like to send them the Google Doc along with a Loom video of me walking them through the doc so they understand what’s happening and *why* I made certain copy decisions. I do this because it saves time for my clients, and I get to present it on my own terms (read: in my room, in my PJs, with no one staring at me as I talk). If you have to present your ideas or have a meeting in person, put on an outfit that makes you feel like you’re a #boss (because you are!), and know that you’ve *got* this! Oh, and a really great slide deck helps. Lastly, I want to leave you with this: The client has approached you for a reason. You are providing a skill and expertise they either don’t have or don’t have the time to implement. So long as you’ve paid attention to the brief, what ever work or ideas you’re about to present to them is bound to be better than anything they could come up with themselves. You belong in that room. You just have to believe it. Love, Ash |
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