How can etiquette help me make a good impression at a meeting?
I think that when someone is gracious enough to accept you for a meeting, the real truth is they want you to get there, deliver, and get out, because they want to get back to their task at hand. They've given you the benefit of an appointment for one reason, and that's because of your company. So they're granting the appointment to your company, not really to you. They may need widgets and you're a great widget salesman, but they may have four other widget salesmen that they want to talk to, too. They want to see your product and they want to see if they trust you, so remember, people do business with people they like and trust. And if they like you and trust you, you have a better chance of selling your widget. And so your personality is important, as is your professionalism, your promptness, your willingness to move through your information quickly. When you walk in a client's office, it's OK to make a personal comment about the tennis trophy or the sailboat on the wall, or the view from the window. It's all right to deepen rapport without sounding false. So do whatever you can to create rapport with this person. Your colour brochures should come out on the table when you first arrive into an office for a meeting. If you're there to sell something in a client meeting, it's all right to pull your spiral-bound notes that you're going to give to them about your proposal that you're offering. Go on and pull it out. And then you can refer to that during your meeting instead of fumbling after the meeting begins. These are all good etiquette tips that will help you make a good impression at a meeting.
