Preparing for a client meeting: a 15-minute checklist, from last time's promises to the ask

Long prep lists tell you to research the client's whole industry, map their org chart and rehearse your presentation. That suits a once-a-year pitch, but for the meetings that fill a normal week it won't happen, and you end up doing none of it.

Fifteen minutes, done every time, beats two hours done once in a while. The checklist below is built for a rep, account manager or anyone selling their own services who has three or four client meetings a week. It works for first meetings, follow-ups and reviews, with small changes for each.

Put it on your phone or in the front of your notebook. After a few weeks you'll run it from memory.

For a client you know, research isn't a deep dive. It's finding what's different since last time, because that's what they'll want to talk about and what you can refer to.

Check their website news or blog, their LinkedIn page and the person's recent posts, and any email or message from them since you last spoke. You're looking for one thing: a new hire, a product launch, an office move, a complaint on their reviews page, a slow season.

For a first meeting, add five minutes: what they do, who they sell to, how big they are and one question the website doesn't answer. Build rapport with prospects covers the research before a first conversation in more detail.

This is the step people skip and the one clients notice. Read your notes from last time and answer two questions:

• What did I promise? A quote, an introduction, a sample, a date. If you haven't done it, do it before the meeting or say so in the first minute.
• What did they promise? Numbers they'd send, a colleague they'd bring, a decision they'd make. If they haven't done it, you know your first question.

Walking in with "last time you mentioned the Leeds office was opening in March, how's that going?" tells the client you listened. Walking in without it makes you like everyone else.

Your notes only help if you can find them. The client meeting notes template has a before, during and after layout, and how to turn promises into dated tasks the same day.

Decide the one thing you want to leave the meeting with. That's the ask. It's rarely "a signed contract". More often it's a next step: a second meeting with the person who decides, a trial, the numbers you need for a proposal, a date for a decision.

Then write the agenda in three lines, built around the ask:

Send it the day before if it's a bigger meeting, with one line: "Anything you'd like to add?" For a regular check-in, say it in the first minute. Either way, the client knows the meeting has a shape and an end.

Write down three questions you don't know the answer to. Good ones are open and about their world:

• "What's changed since we last spoke?"
• "What would need to be true for you to go ahead by [date]?"
• "Who else will have a view on this?"
• "What's the one thing you'd change about how [the thing] works today?"

If you're not sure which to ask, the questions in consultative selling techniques are sorted by the stage of the conversation.

Then think of the objection you're most likely to hear, and have your answer ready. Usually it's price, timing or "we need to think about it". Common sales objections has eight, with what each usually means.

Small things ruin good meetings. Check the time zone on a video call, the address and parking for a visit, and who's coming from their side. Open the proposal, the price list and anything you might share on screen before the meeting, not while they wait. Test the link if it's a platform you don't use often.

If a colleague is coming with you, agree who leads, who takes notes and who makes the ask. Two people pitching over each other is worse than one.

Prep is half of it. Straight after the meeting, while you remember:

1. Write down what they said, especially numbers, names and dates.
2. List what you promised and what they promised, each with a date.
3. Put your promises on your task list.
4. Send a short follow-up that repeats the next step and the date.

Those five minutes are what make the next prep take three minutes instead of fifteen. If typing notes in the car park never happens, talking them in is quicker, and a dated task list keeps the promises from slipping.

1. Copy the checklist into your phone or notebook.
2. Before your next client meeting, set a 15-minute timer and work through it.
3. After the meeting, spend five minutes on notes and promises.
4. Do it for every meeting this week, then notice which step saved you most.