“Oh not another requirements gathering meeting”. The thought that goes through most people’s heads on receiving notification of an imminent RGM. “What’s the point? They never go anywhere?”
Relax.
Breathe.
Ok.
Look past the name and think about what you’ll actually be doing. Is a requirements gathering meeting a meeting to gather requirements? Hell no! You’ll be meeting your contact(s) face to face, they’ll be telling you all about the day-to-day problems they have in your area of expertise, and they have already decided you’re worth listening to because they’ve given you their time.
What more could you ask for? An open forum for a potential customer to talk openly about what you might be able to do for them? Yes please! Not to mention the fact that you’ll be networking, building a new relationship, and making the client aware of who you are and what you’re capable of. It’s not what you know, it’s who the people that you know know!
So, fasten your seatbelt; and turn your requirements gathering meeting into a ‘relationship building, marketing, awareness, solution scoping, future upselling’ meeting. Oh and here are a few tips that might help.
