Sooner or later, you will reach a pivotal moment: You secure a meeting with a potential Employer Partner.

Excitement quickly turns into a new question:  “Great… now what do I do?”

First, take a moment to recognize what you have accomplished… it means your outreach worked, and the Employer sees enough potential value to give you their time.

Your mission now is: Turn that meeting into a meaningful partnership. Here is a clear framework to guide you.

Step 1: Exploration – Listen Before You Lead

Your first goal is to understand. Not to sell.

Walk into the meeting curious and unscripted. Leave assumptions at the door. Truly hear what the Employer representative is telling you.

Manage and start the conversation with open discussion, inviting each participant to share:

• Their title and responsibilities (titles alone don’t define a role)
• Their biggest frustrations and challenges
• Primary problems they want to solve and what makes these ‘primary ‘

This approach does three important things:

• It gathers key BANT information: Budget, Authority, Needs, Timeline
• It uncovers their true pain points
• It builds trust and rapport for creating action steps 

Take notes while they speak. Not only do you NEED to capture all of this detail for future use, it signals active listening and shows respect of their time and concerns. Document each one’s ‘pain points’ and even exact words that each uses.

Step 2: Ask Strategic Questions …. Facts and Feelings

Once everyone has briefly spoken, now it’s your turn. And now you go for detail.

This is where you sharpen your understanding and uncover the details that will allow you to present a solution that truly fits their needs. You are not following a list, you are allowing their answers to ‘be-get’ your next question.

Feeling-Based Questions

• What’s been the most frustrating part of this issue?
• What solution approaches have been tried before?
• What would an ideal outcome look like?
• What programs have been successfully implemented in the past?
• Are there deadlines that might drive the priorities?

Fact-Based Questions

• How often does this kind of issue arise?
• How many incidents occur each year?
• Where do these typically happen?
• How’re you tracking the associated costs?
• Who’s in the decision tree for implementation? 

These questions reveal both data and emotion, which are essential for crafting a plan that is recognized as a powerful solution.  

Step 3: Present the Solution.  Now … connect the dots.

Speak directly to their issues, in their words, as you review your services that fit for meeting the disclosed desired outcomes. Leave medical jargon out of the communication. 

Tailor your ‘connect-the-dots’ review to the personality styles in front of you while still delivering  the same information to everyone:

• Analytic: Provide numbers, outcomes, and data.
• Driver: Emphasize efficiency and timelines.
• Amiable: Focus on benefit-to-all, collaboration and partnership.
• Expressive: Paint a compelling vision of process and results.

Remember, you are not here to ‘sell a service’.  Your vision and end goal is to build a partnership that solves real problems for Employers and their Employees. Start with outcomes that solve their current pain points and service stack later.

Step 4: Define the Next Steps

Never leave a meeting without clarity and establishing next steps. They become invested in the outcome when they are intimately involved in the research of data and the plan going forward. 

• What information needs to be gathered … from where/who?
• Who will handle specific tasks/research?
• When will the next meeting occur and what information can be exchanged before then?

A well-run meeting sets the stage for a powerful professional relationship. When you listen carefully, ask insightful questions, and present solutions that directly address their challenges, you position yourself as a trusted resource.

Ready to sharpen your Employer Partner strategy even further?

Call 800-333-3KEY(3539) or email www.keymethod.com us today to learn more about KEY Products and how they can help you build stronger partnerships and grow your practice with confidence.