Tips on getting the most from Business Meetings - Part 1
by Startacus Admin
Business Meetings:
If you’re starting out in business, meetings are one of those things that you’ll just have to get used to. And quickly. There’s no escaping them - from sole traders to fully fledged limited companies, they’ll 
happen at all stages of your startup journey. Here at Startacus we’ve had our fair share of business meetings and we’ve picked up some pretty useful tips as we’ve gone along. And us being us, we’re gonna share them with you folk!
Business meetings can be a great way of developing - yep you guessed it - business and without getting too cliche-ridden, there is a lot of truth in the saying “people buy from people” - and often that rapport building that you can do in a half an hour meeting can be the equivalent of a few months’ work on the phone, sending emails or trying to get the right person.
Having said that, business meetings can be both glorious successes and humongous failures - we’ve been in a few of both! With this in mind check out our first 4 tips below which we hope will point you in the right direction. The next 4 points, as you clever folk have probably already worked out will appear in part 2...
Plan
Most, if not all of the first 4 points need to happen before you get to the meeting itself. If you are not prepared for a meeting expect all of the points we subsequently mention (unless you are remarkable at ‘winging it’) to fail and fail miserably. Planning was admittedly my biggest failing, and is quite often or not a typical mistake that most people make. If you do not plan for the meeting - where you are going, how you are going to get there, who you are meeting - their background story, their responsibility etc, what you are likely to need to know, all the company information and news stories you can find, then you may look like a prize fool, when a pretty basic question is asked of you. Work out the detail way before you go!
Reconfirm
Just because you are fab at time management (and of course you all are) you cannot expect all of your clients to be the same. Therefore rather than wasting a load of your time, planning, travel and energy in getting to a meeting and finding out the person you were meeting is either ‘not there’ or ‘none the wiser’, simply send a confirmation (aka reminder) email a couple of days prior to the meeting. Yes, by doing this on occasion a meeting may actually be rescheduled or at worst cancelled - but would you not rather that be the case, than turning up and being turned away at the door. Not only that, your client may actually not even remember that a meeting had been planned, so in turn sending a confirmation email can save embarrassment all round. Women in Tech themed half-day event and startup pitching competition to take place during next year’s Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Enterprise Week HyperJar is a FinTech startup and digital app which is making it easier for people to plan, share and spend their money More FinTech headquarters based in London than any other city according to report just published from Savills and flexible office specialist Workthere PropTech innovation continues with the launch of Track, a property and money manager app aimed specifically at younger homeowners Joii, the innovative platform and app that is on a mission to make petcare more accessible, more affordable and more convenient Belfast based startup, Locate a Locum secures £1m in equity funding and plans further development and job creation The innovative platform which helps organisers of trade shows to find, attract and convert new attendees for their events year on year The lowdown on Caroo, the Manchester-based startup that is shaking the recruitment sector up by doing everything differently... The electronic signal device that sits between your instrument and your amp to allow maximum sound quality to transfer... How Soapbox Labs is on a mission to "deliver the power of voice to children everywhere” using kids’ speech recognition technology
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- Derry & Strabane Tech event championing women in tech and tech inclusion announced 5th Dec 2019 Women in Tech themed half-day event and startup pitching competition to take place during next year’s Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Enterprise Week
- London leading the way for global FinTech headquarters 4th Dec 2019 More FinTech headquarters based in London than any other city according to report just published from Savills and flexible office specialist Workthere
- London-based startup Perlego raises £7 million 19th Nov 2019 Major investment news for Perlego, the London-based startup that is on a mission to make education material accessible for all
- Investment announced in Aisha, the award-winning halal baby food manufacturer 13th Nov 2019 Aisha secures seven-figure investment from the Foresight Group to help its marketing, development and international expansion plans
