Is Breakfast the New Lunch?
Coffee & Muffins: Faster & More Affordable than Lunch
Is breakfast the new lunch? ABSOLUTELY!
As “The Queen of the Business Lunch,” I ought to know; I personally hosted more than 3,000 client lunches while I was an advertising account executive and saw my sales increase by more than 2,000%. As many of you know, my tips and techniques for building business over meals was chronicled in my award-winning book, “The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2″ which is currently in twelve languages. There is nothing as effective as breaking bread for getting to know a client, to learn more about their business, understand their needs, and find better ways to help them achieve their goals. Something magical happens when you are in a social setting, sharing food. But budgets have been busted, expense accounts annihilated, and time to savor sandwiches and conversation is at a premium!
I am recommending breakfast meetings as an effective way to break bread in this “new economy”!
There have been so many changes in business over the past few years that even though a business lunch would still be ideal, many professionals just don’t have the time for it anymore. Working mothers can’t spare an hour and a half out of their day since they have to pick up their kids at five o’clock. And executives with billable hours – like attorneys – have always had a hard time getting away for any length of time during the work day.
Getting a lot done over coffee
Meeting someone for coffee or breakfast at eight o’clock in the morning is a wonderful way to accomplish your relationship-building goals while saving time and money. It’s not apparent that you may be suggesting breakfast as a way of saving on your expense account. Instead, it will simply seem like a more efficient way to get together.
The pace of business has picked up incredibly over the past few years. Today people just don’t have time for long, languishing lunches. The 3-martini business lunch of the late ’60’s and early ’70’s – where lunch rolled right on into happy hour – is long gone. But most of us used to be able to get away long enough for a decent lunch.
In today’s business environment, however, people just have too much work to do. If the professionals with whom you do business still have time for lunch, I urge you to seize those precious hours in the middle of the day to take those clients out. The mid-day hours can become the most productive time of your day. But for those who either don’t have time themselves or whose clients don’t have any time to spare, breakfast done right can help you to achieve your traditional business lunch goals.
Traditional lunchtime goals are primarily about building relationships – and trust me….something absolutely magical happens over a meal. People let their guard down and they open up. You’ll discover information about their business that you would never learn in an office setting. And the more you know, the better you will be able to help your clients achieve their goals…and that is really what it’s all about. People prefer to do business with people they like, and there is no better way to get to know someone than by sharing a meal with them. And if you don’t have time or the budget for a high-end lunch, then breakfast is the next best way to build relationships.
I recommend meeting at a Starbucks or neighborhood coffee shop for morning meetings. Meeting over lattes and muffins doesn’t just help you to save a bundle on meals, but it also assures that you’ll get that quality “face time” that is essential to business success. It’s a lot like working out. A lot can happen during your day to sabotage a planned after-work visit to the gym. Your friends might want to meet for happy hour or you might end up having to work late. Anyone who works out regularly will tell you that getting their workout done and out of the way first thing in the morning is the best way to succeed.
Scheduling breakfast meetings can have the same advantage; by getting together with clients before their regular day begins, you have little chance of things coming up that might interfere or cause them to reschedule. Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you can drop the ball on connecting with clients. Networking breakfasts are also an outstanding way to get in front of many people at once. Mornings have never been better for building profitable, productive business relationships.”
What do you think? Have you tried substituting breakfast meetings for long lunch meetings? Are you saving a bundle? And have you been able to accomplish the same goals?
Client Lunch as a Christmas Present?
What do you get the person who has everything? My recommendation is to take them to lunch or dinner. The best part of that, (though it is a wee bit selfish), is that you get to enjoy your friends or clients and a great meal, all in the name of Season’s Greetings! Seriously, it’s one of my favorite things to do, and the holiday season provides the perfect excuse to get together with clients who are otherwise too busy to break free.
Everyone has their guard down this time of year, which could make this the perfect time to get someone out who typically is “too busy” to go to lunch. Imagine how far a little twist of the arm could go!
Lunch & Golf - Great Christmas Gift Combo!
Don’t make it about business, either. Simply seize this opportunity to treat your clients well, make it about them, and possibly, if the mood is right, discover ways you can help them with their business this year.
And if you’re in a warm climate, make it a round of golf and lunch. Talk about building relationships! Nothing is better than this One-Two punch! 
The best part of a client lunch is that it hardly seems like work, yet it can easily become the MOST PRODUCTIVE PART OF YOUR DAY!
The $25,000 Lunch Blunder
Think your behavior at a business lunch doesn’t matter? I just read a blog from Joel Comm about a consultant who just lost a $25,000 consulting gig because even though the consultant did the inviting, he failed to pick up the check. Hmmm, how can I say this even more plainly than I have in the past?
WHOEVER DOES THE INVITING PICKS UP THE CHECK!
If you did the inviting, this is YOURS!
Seriously – it’s THAT simple; no exceptions! What I loved most about Joel’s blog was the fact that the consultant actually had a shot at getting Joel’s business – and he blew it because of his lunch behavior! AND I especially loved that this post received more than 65 PASSIONATE responses – mostly from those who understand the IMPORTANCE of a business lunch done right! KUDOS to all!
And here’s a second tip: Two for the price of one….
NEVER EVER pay for a business lunch with CASH!
Slip your credit card to your server discreetly
“Why?” you ask? Let me ask you this – when you are out with a friend and they grab the check and say, “I’ve got it,” don’t you ALWAYS offer to at least “get the tip”? That will also be your client’s reaction. A credit card is not just authoritative, but you will be able to hand it to your server as soon as you are seated (or WHILE you are being seated) to avoid that awkward moment or fight when the check finally comes. It will have already be handled, tip and all, if you planned ahead.
Build Better Business Relationships to Reach 2010 Goals!
If you’re wondering how you’re going to reach your 2010 goals, I recommend working on your relationship-building skills. My original “Claim to Fame” was that I had personally hosted more than 3,000 client lunches and I saw my sales increase by more than 2,000%! That’s really a conservative estimate.
It’s critically important that you first understand the IMPORTANCE of building relationships for business, then you need to understand the best ways to DO this. I want to help you reach your goals, so I will be sharing tips and techniques in this blog to help you understand the “why” and accomplish the “how.”
Loving Lunch with Wally "Famous Amos"
Famous Amos, the cookie man, said, “Picture everyone with M.M.F.S. on their forehead…. it stands for: Make Me Feel Special.” Think about how different your day would be if you did that with everyone you meet today – making the most of your quality Face 2 Face time. You would start to feel a positive energy coming back to you. People would start to go out of their way to help you achieve your goals simply because they love how they feel when they are with you. Making others feel SPECIAL is the most important key to building solid, productive relationships.
Try it for just today – make everyone you talk to – in person, e-mail, or on the phone, feel as if they are the most important person in the world….because they really are.
Client Lunches: When You Just Don't Have the TIME!
I did a radio interview this week with Smokie Sizemore. Smokie runs the Smart Woman’s Club – and she is a real spitfire!
I had a question from a caller – Lena. Her question was one that I’ve heard before and you might have wondered about it as well, so I wanted to share my answer here to help those of you who can relate. Lena lives outside of New York City. Her complaint was one that I have about business lunches too, now that I work from home.
Lena said that taking clients to lunch has become a colossal time consumer! As important as it is to get in that quality FACE TIME, she found that a business lunch can cost her up to FOUR hours – between getting ready, drive time into the city and back, and following up. Lena – I couldn’t agree with you more! I used to advocate attending at least FIVE social events a week with clients, and that holds true today – IF You are already out and about!
Make Time to Break Bread!
When I was in sales, I was dressed, at my desk, and ready to go each day by 8:30AM. Even if lunch took FOREVER, (as with my old FAVORITE – a 2-hour lunch), it only took those TWO HOURS out of my day! No big deal…especially when that time was SO PRODUCTIVE!
Now, working from home, I often find myself working late at night….sometimes even well past midnight. By 8:30 the next morning, I’m up and at my desk, but I’m hardly dressed for a meeting. My friend, Judy Owen, asked me what the heck I meant when I would decline invitations for lunch on the Las Vegas Strip saying, “I just don’t want to come into town today.” She was puzzled because I only live about 15 minutes from the strip.
I explained to Judy that by the time I get READY (hair shampooed and set or flat-ironed, dressed, etc.) and drive there and back, I’ll have been away from my desk for TWO HOURS! And that’s not even counting LUNCH!
As you can see, I fully appreciated Lena’s lament. Yes, Lena, lunch in town – especially when you work from a home office – can easily become an ALL DAY EVENT! So what’s the solution?
DEVOTE ONE DAY A WEEK to meetings “in the city,” regardless of where you live. If you work from home, dedicate one day each week to being away from your desk. With the right planning and a smart phone, this can become your most productive day ever!
Start with an 8 or 8:30 breakfast meeting. Schedule a 10AM meeting at Starbucks or a coffee shop near your 10AM client’s office. Make your first lunch meeting around 11:30. Order soup. Next lunch? 1PM. Have some fish or salad. By 2:30, it will be time for SOMEONE’S coffee break, so suggest that you meet that person near their office. In ONE DAY, you can gain a WEEK’S worth of quality FACE TIME!
Then, as you return to your home office, kick off the painful, 3″ heels and slip back into your comfortable slacks or sweats. Relax. You had a big, productive day and you didn’t waste a single minute!
We just can’t afford to sacrifice that all-important FACE TIME. And that is truer now more than ever before. PEOPLE PREFER TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY LIKE – and there is no better way to get to know someone than by sharing a meal….breaking bread with them. (even if that is simply a biscotti at Starbucks!) Don’t pass on the chance to meet and greet with clients. Try this. Let me know how it works for you!
The POWER of the Platform: Speakers Help Through Motivation
Motivational Speakers and experts in Personal Development have come together once again in The Power of the Platform, an anthology from the Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau that features messages of motivation and inspiration from some of the world’s most outstanding speakers. I’m delighted to be a part of this book.
The first book, subtitled Speakers on Success, was a tremendous hit. I wrote the introduction for that edition. The book features chapters from such notable experts in the field of personal development as Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy, and Les Brown.
The latest book in the series, Speakers on Purpose, features returning self-help gurus Canfield, Brown, and Tracy, along with relationship expert Keith Ferrazzi and The Secret’s Marci Shimoff as well as many other speakers with important messages that offer hope during these challenging times.
Being a part of these anthologies has taken much of my time this past year. I have begun work on the next edition, Speakers on Life. This book will bring answers and inspiration to all who are fortunate enough to read it. The books are also available in e-book format and the audio books are currently in production.
As “The Queen of the Business Lunch,” my area of expertise lies in building significant, productive business relationships. Speakers on Purpose offered me my first opportunity to share my newest keynote message, “B Face 2 Face 4 Success.” The chapter in the anthology touches on the importance of the business lunch (OF COURSE!) but it takes relationship building a few steps further.
How can you build a relationship when lunch is not an option, as when your client lives on the other side of the country? And what about all this social media? Are you TWEETING your lunch hour away, eating solo?
I wanted to use my chapter in Speakers on Purpose to help business professionals get a grip on their client relationships. It’s a fabulous book that offers insights, tips, techniques, and inspirational stories from speakers as far away as Bangkok and Singapore! If you want a copy, just let me know. I’ll throw in FOR FREE an e-book edition for every paperback sold now through Christmas. I want you to have your best year EVER!
Gitomer Endorses Mealtimes 4 Sales Success
Sales Guru Jeffrey Gitomer has finally started Tweeting. So, what’s he tweeting about? Sales, of course! How to ask the right questions, what it takes to succeed, why people fail, and everything else salespeople should know to become phenomenal at selling. Jeffrey should know. He wrote the book. Okay…he’s written MANY books on sales. What is MY favorite tweet of his? That’s easy…
“The two BEST places for a sales appointment: Breakfast and lunch. Relaxed atmosphere and no interruptions.”
Thank you, Jeffrey, for stating the obvious that so many people in sales still tend to overlook. Jeffrey wrote a blurb for me when I launched The Art of the Business Lunch, and my publisher put a PART of it on the back cover. The part they left out was my favorite: “Robin Jay’s book is the recipe for Lean Cuisine and Fat Checks! Buy it, read it, and act on it!”
Jeffrey Gitomer, Sales Expert
Ya gotta love Jeffrey’s no-nonsense approach! My publisher chose the more conservative part of his testimonial: “The Art of the Business Lunch is pivotal to the science of selling. I have maintained for years that LUNCH is the best place to build a relationship and make a sale. Buy it, read it, and act on it.” I couldn’t have said it better myself, Jeffrey, but thank you again.
If you are not taking your clients out to lunch, you are missing out on the VERY BEST opportunity to build relationships and close sales. Jeffrey says when you build the right relationships, people will come TO YOU when they need something. It’s so true. Did you know that client lunches are such an EFFECTIVE SALES TECHNIQUE that they are practically ILLEGAL in ALL 50 STATES!?!? If you don’t believe me, just leave a comment and I’ll explain. Most successful sales people know EXACTLY what I’m talking about!
MAD MEN Understands Business Relationships
The season finale of MAD MEN on AMC was so fabulous, I watched it twice. The writers understand the importance of building strong business relationships. Even if you’re not a fan of the show, you will appreciate this aspect of the story line.
As the principles at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency discovered their agency had been bought by McCann Erikson (yes, mixing reality with fiction for added credibility), they decided to form their own agency. Without hesitation, the bosses decided who they wanted to join them.
Roger Sterling & Don Draper: MAD MEN
They knew the billing numbers they needed to have, so they picked Pete and Peggy – knowing that between them all, they would have sufficient billing to start their new agency. They KNEW that Pete and Peggy had relationships with their accounts and that their accounts would FOLLOW THEM wherever they went.
That is the point of what I do: I share with audiences how to build SOLID business relationships, client relationships that will become so solid and well-founded, that your clients would follow you wherever you go. You see, it’s not the AGENCY people do business with – it’s the INDIVIDUAL! And companies that GET THIS treat their people accordingly.
In MAD MEN, the principles never asked their account people IF they could bring business over – they simply asked “WHO CAN YOU BRING?” They knew that Pete & Peggy – account services and creative – would have clients who would follow them to the ends of the earth. Together, along with Don Draper and Roger Sterling, they would have enough billing to move forward with their own agency. The took the necessary files over the weekend and set up their new temporary offices in a nearby hotel room.
So, let me ask you this: If you were to leave your company today to take a position at another firm, who would follow you, bringing their business? THIS goal is what you should have in mind as you build client relationships. Take your clients to lunch, make time for face time, become their most valuable resource. Become such an integral part of their strategy that they could not imagine running their business without you! Agreed?
Helping MBA Students and Professionals Improve Presentations
Last week I spoke at the National Association of Women MBAs conference in Anaheim, California. I delivered two presentations – one was on my signature topic, The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2, and the other was called Speak & Write Like a Pro.
Lisa Waters was in my session and offered this testimonial. She was there with Rachel Magario, who I’m delighted to have as a new coaching client! Lisa and Rachel were just two of the impressive group of attendees! My faith in our future is boosted whenever I present to such intelligent, ambitious, and friendly audiences. Thanks to EVERYONE who was there. This event was incredibly well organized, thanks to the tireless effort of Delma Esparza.
In The Art of the Business Lunch, I shared my secrets and tips for building productive business relationships by introducing a social aspect. Breaking bread brings dough! What about when a job interview takes place over a business lunch? Why would an employer want to meet with you in a social setting? I had the answers and the women ate them up! I shared the importance of creating quality face time and helped the women to become Business Relationship Experts!
In my session on Speak & Write Like a Pro, I shared the fundamentals of delivering outstanding presentations – written and verbal. Using “Action” verbs helps to add impact to your sentences, as does eliminating the words “thing” and “stuff.” The audience laughed when I acted out, “I have a thing tonight….” A THING? Really? A dinner? A networking event? a date? We KNOW what we are going to do – so why not be specific about it. What the heck is a “THING” anyway?
When delivering PPT presentations, try to use photos instead of text whenever possible. Sure, you have to know your material, but you can cheat by using notes – if you use “presenter’s view.” All details, numbers, charts, etc., can go on handouts. No one is going to remember a lot of numbers! Keep your presentations compelling and entertaining.
What a great experience I had with the women of NAWMBA! I hope to work with these women in the future. Many of the attendees invited me to come to their universities to speak. That’s the greatest compliment ever!