First – “I’ve been thinking about our meeting…” Well, that makes a change, doesn’t it? Most of your competitors rarely, if ever, do that. What a great expression to start a meeting with. It will make you look so professional and so different and so in control compared with the other recruiters who call on that client. The next few words are – “…and I’ve prepared an agenda…” How many people have you ever met, or, more importantly, how many people has your client met who took the time, trouble and effort to prepare an agenda? Again, this separates you from other recruiters and makes you look professional. Now you say – “Is there anything you’d like to add?” In order to answer this question what must the client do? They must read the agenda. At this point, slide the AGENDA over to the client, then SHUT UP and WAIT for a response. Simple, isn’t it? Yes - provided you remain quiet having asked the question. Look down and read your copy again - the client will read the agenda and then respond to your question. Because they’ve read the agenda you’ve now opened the files in their mind about the topic in hand, and created a route map for the meeting. The majority of the responses that the top recruitment/search firms have received over the years to this question (and the majority of the responses reported to me by those who now use agendas) go something like this, “er, no - that’s great!” Just think about that for a moment... You took some time and worked out what you wanted to discuss with the potential client. The way you positioned it means the client has now agreed to YOUR agenda. What would it mean to you and your business if every time you had a meeting with a client they agreed to your agenda?