Controlling the Selling Environment –

Set Up the Room Before Anyone Arrives

Always have your educational materials (and speech props if any) completely set up BEFORE any attendee arrives. There is nothing worse than coming into a meeting room a half hour before the speech and seeing the speaker frantically setting up his/her stuff. It’s unprofessional and prevents you from the important opportunity of meeting and taking to your attendees.

Selling is about relationships and setting up time interferes with relationship-building time.

If you have not finished setting up when your attendees arrive, you have other problems. They will want to talk to you and you can’t get your work done.

I am obsessed with having my room ready to go before the first attendee arrives, including the client who hired me. I will try to set up my room the night before my speech if possible. If not, I’m up as early as necessary (5:00am if I have to). My preference is to set up my tables early, then go back to my room and get dressed, so I am fresh and ready to meet my attendees. This is more difficult if the meeting isn’t in the same place where I am staying. But whatever it takes, no one sees me setting up.

At the NSA National Convention in July, I did a breakout session fifteen minutes after another breakout session. Barely enough time to set up and I didn’t want to be setting up while people walked in. So, earlier that morning, before any sessions, I set up my table (props only, no educational materials), covered it with a tablecloth, put a “do not disturb” sign on it, and then moved the table against a sidewall. Then, before my session, all I had to do was move the table into place in the front of the room and I was ready to go.

I always get comments from attendees how much they like the fact that I am available to be with them instead of unloading boxes of books.