“It went great, she is a dreadfully nice person and agreed to discuss with her colleagues and get back to me”, is a regular refrain I hear from my clients after first meetings with a potential partner. Great but what about their obvious self-interests, your ability to put something compelling in front of them that leads to your desired result, and their competing priorities?

Too often partners seeking prospective partners see their attendance at the meeting and they being liked as the result when it is really a “means” to an “end”.

If you both are not clear what that “end” obviously looks like (clear personal and business outcomes) for the other party, how can you put something compelling in front of them and why would they meet again? How do you know their internal investigation will lead to your desired result? How can you know with certainty that there isn’t something else going on right now that may stall or de-rail your proposed work together?

Meetings are about results, not attendance. Above all they are about asking the right questions that maximises your control of the discussion and the relationship that may follow on.