How and what to talk in a business meeting?

Posted by Shri

March 26, 2008

If you're new here, you may want to receive my fresh content via emailRSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

We are online people. Most of the time we meet our clients through our websites, blogs, emails or someother e-medium. But at times we will forced to leave our computer screens and meet people face-to-face. These offline meetings are very different from the online meetings. So here’s how we can prepare ourselves for the offline meetings.

Here is a list of top 10 things you should be considering before attending a business meeting:

Confidence:

This is the most important thing you’d be taking with you. It depends on how high you think about yourself and your job.
What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines his fate. ~Henry David Thoreau

Dress code:

Most of us work at home and got used to the special WAHM dress code, ‘pyjamas’. . And many of us won’t forget this point when listing the advantages of working at home. While you are going out for an offline meeting, you need to rummage in your cupboard for a simple casual pair. Consider light colored clothes, less makeup and neat hair do.

Greetings:

A formal greeting, a firm hand shake portraying your confidence will be a great start. You might want to talk to the person over phone before meeting, so you get to know a little about him/her. This will help you get started on an semi-formal conversation until you build a comfortable rapport to jumo to business conversation. It is always better to start in a formal tone rather than trying to make it funny. Not everyone fall for it.

Mannerisms:

Your body language speaks a lot about you. Pay particular attention to what you are unconsciously revealing to others. This sub-topic needs more focus, so i’ve dedicated a seperate post on this. It is a must read. You can find it here.

Business speak:

Leave internet lingo, geek speak and tech speak, unless the other person is also an internet maniac. If you try to impress the person with your tech speak, you will end up making him/her feel like a dum. If you MUST explain techy subjects, limit your tech vocab to minimum.

Voice:

Keep your voice confident and audible enough. Don’t shout or talk too low. Don’t rush nor snail pace. Just the right mixture. Don’t get excited. Taking a little pause, a sip of water will give you a moment to settle yourself back on track.

Relax:

Take a deep breath, take a sip of water, spread out a nice good smile, relax and speak slowly and at moderate pace. Hear yourself talk. Be attentive to about what you are saying. Your facial expressions and voice will reveal your tension. It’ll look so unprofessional and makes the person to feel too much at ease to take you for a ride. You don’t want that, do you?

Stay Focused:

Don’t drift away like a cloud. Stay focused. Restrict yourself to what you planned to talk about. You can take time for off topic discussions once you finish with the aimed topic. Be attentive about what you are talking. If you feel you are being drifted, calm down with a sip of water and start again. This will help you stay focused.

Don’t spill out

Don’t get excited. You don’t need to spill out all your business secrets. The trick is to learn where to pause and where to put the full stop. Once you have encouraged enough interest in the person about your topic, add a little more to it to keep the person hooked. STOP. Take cues from the person’s reactions now and decide whether it is good to go ahead or to stop there. Don’t bore people or force them to take decisions immediately. They need time.

Be Honest

Be realistic and honest. Don’t try to show heaven on earth. Don’t commit to things which you can’t do. Just be what you are. This will help build credibility.

It is a very good idea to stand in front of a mirror and talk for few minutes. You will notice the corners where you need to improve.

Ok…you have done your best. Don’t think about the results. Keep smiling