Tips on getting the most from Business Meetings - Part 1

by Startacus Admin

Make sure you know your goal / targets...

Great! You've finally managed to gain a meeting with that all important and influential prospective business client. You get on like a house on fire in the meeting and leave feeling pretty chuffed with yourself that you now have a new and valuable point of contact. But what did you achieve? Every meeting must have a goal and a target. If the only goal you had was only to make small talk and build a relationship then fine, you did a good job. But if you aimed to gain commercial business or business information from that meeting, you really need to formalise that in your mind as a target, so that apart from having meetings for meetings’ sake, you are moving yourself and your business forward.

Come prepared...

This is all so pretty basic, but getting the basics things right can certainly help. It is also relative to the type of business you work in too. If you work in a corporate environment and arrive to a business meeting in a pair of jeans - it’s maybe not the best idea. And the same applies if you work in a creative industry and turn up for a creative meetup in your Sunday best, it could put off a potential business client.

Image, as much as in an ideal world would not count, does. So coming prepared and understanding the business environment you work in can be key. So Dress smart - or ‘smart’ for the meeting.

A few other simple things like bringing a decent (and working) pen, a nice notebook, and being prepared to be a little early all count.

Well hopefully that all helps and guides you in the right direction. If you liked this article you might also like Making Sales Calls the Basics and our previous tips post on business networking.

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Published on: 6th July 2013