How do I have an effective One-on-One meeting?

This is the primary key to develop and deepen trust with another business person. These conversations cement understanding of how to ask a client or prospect about their problems and issues on behalf of your network referral colleagues.

Here's my step-by-step advice on how to have a successful One-on-One.

• • Before you meet, review the website of the person’s company. Learn about them in advance so you can ask intelligent and clarifying questions.

• • Bring your Networked Events Profile. It's about you and your ideal client and the problems/issues that client experiences.

• • Caution! Describing your products/services is useful, but only to a point. Is someone really interested in listening to you go on and on about all the great features of your product or service? Are you really interested in listening to them? Try this approach. Tell a story about your client’s problems. After all, their problems are your lifeblood and the reason you’re in business. Stay focused on sharing your client’s problems and how you go about solving them.

• • Describe your successes. Nobody knows what you know until you open up and share it. If you’re squeamish about doing this, get over it. Your successes in business reveal much about your approach to problem solving, your values, your commitment, and your passion.

• • Ask your network referral partner about their business problems. We all have them and you bring a unique, one-of-a-kind perspective to any conversation. Ask questions and explore conversation threads. Opportunities surface, some of which you can benefit from, some that others will benefit from.

• • Bring your prospect and client list with you. Open the books about who you want to do business with. Don’t leave this up to guesswork. Show others specifically who you are targeting as new clients. People have told me they sat down with laptops open perusing each other’s LinkedIn contacts.

Never forget you are a great resource.

One that spotlights you as a problem solver - a Connector.

What's your take?