5 Ways to Get More Out of Your Coffee Shop Meetings

Antony Gaddie

1. Plan your meetings Research… whoever you're meeting with. Look them up, check them out on LinkedIn, Facebook, or view their website. If possible, ask someone who knows about them.

When you have a certain connection or affiliation in what they do and what they're passionate about, it is easier to connect on a personal level. It also shows you care.

Take action: Do your research and take some time to look into the person's LinkedIn, Facebook, website and other social media to know their background, where they've worked, their hobbies, and goals.

2. Build rapport Spend five minutes making small talk to break the ice. But no more than that!

If you've done your research, it will be good to talk about topics related to the things you've gathered from their profiles, including, as mentioned above, their background, hobbies and goals.

Take action: Use this time and phase of the meeting to get to know the other person. But keep it short!

3. Two big questions to give the conversation focus

Always pose these two questions…

ESTABLISH GOALS: “In 6 to 12 months from now, how will you know that it's time to celebrate?"

ESTABLISH OBSTACLES: “If those are your goals, what will stop you achieving those goals? What obstacles are likely to slow you down?”

Take action: Make sure you write down the questions you would like to ask, before the meeting. This way, you don't get caught off guard by your own inquiries. Keep it as friendly and comfortable as possible. Framing it positively is the key.

4. End the meeting with a win-win scenario

Most people, when they get to the end of a meeting, they suddenly go into "close the deal mode". Don’t do that. At the end of the meeting, it’s more important to attempt to identify easy wins for each other.

It’s not your job to create a master and slave relationship (where you are the slave). Instead, ask the question, "After what we've discovered today, what might the wins be?"

Take action: Make them understand that you are genuinely seeking opportunities to help, but only if you see a win-win scenario for both parties for what you offer. Most importantly, mean it too.

5. Follow up after the meeting Finally, if you want to stand out from the crowd and make something happen, make it a habit to follow up… within four hours. Add a note in your diary and follow up! It's different and very professional.

Take action: Always go back to the details of your meeting to review the key points so that when you make a follow-up, you will know how to proceed.

THANKS!