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. 11 disruptive European travel tech startups are selected to showcase their innovations to 6000+ attendees as part of Travel Technology Europe’s Disrupt Launchpad. The eco-friendly shopping assistant that helps you find the most nutritious food for the lowest environmental impact. Small Robot Company, a British agritech robotics startup for sustainable farming, has raised £1.2 million via equity crowdfunding. Cycle.land, the bike sharing marketplace unlocking the assets of unused bikes, raises over £200k thanks to their successful 2nd equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. IgniteNI looks to build on legacy with 2nd accelerator programme and San Fran base for 5 selected founders. Applications close asap so be quick to apply. The startup that's creating technologies to measure and demonstrate sustainability in the food chain. The lowdown on the London based barbershop and app that will come to you... UrbanVolt - The Lighting as a Service startup that is on a mission to radically reduce global energy consumption... From understanding what counts as intellectual property, to what to do if you think IP theft has occurred, we chatted to Andrew Kirke, Director at commercial law firm Tughans to find out more. The startup that has created the world’s first video-only review and booking platform...
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- 11 Travel tech startups selected for Travel Technology Europe’s Disrupt Launchpad 18th Jan 2019 11 disruptive European travel tech startups are selected to showcase their innovations to 6000+ attendees as part of Travel Technology Europe’s Disrupt Launchpad.
- Cycle.land raises £200k to continue their bike sharing journey 16th Jan 2019 Cycle.land, the bike sharing marketplace unlocking the assets of unused bikes, raises over £200k thanks to their successful 2nd equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.
- IgniteNI Accelerator to offer startups San Francisco landing pad 14th Dec 2018 Ignite Accelerator is putting investment-ready tech companies on a global stage thanks to their new San Francisco 'landing pad'.
- Falmouth University Launchpad incubates tech legacy 7th Dec 2018 Developed by Falmouth University in Cornwall, Launchpad is an innovative, post-grad incubation and acceleration programme. We take a look at some of the previous Launchpad alumni.
