The first meeting: thirty minutes that decide the deal
28 Aug 2026 MeetingsDiscovery
You walk into the first meeting with a twenty-slide deck. You leave having talked for twenty-five of the thirty minutes, and the customer says "nice, send us a quote". Then they vanish.
The 70/30 rule
Seventy percent of the time, they talk. If that does not happen, you do not know what you are selling them, you know what you own.
A thirty-minute structure
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–3 | Frame it: "I want to understand your situation, and if we are not a fit I will say so" |
| 3–15 | Current state: how this is done today, and where it breaks |
| 15–22 | Impact: what the breakage costs, time, money, or opportunity |
| 22–27 | A short demo of only what relates to what you heard, not the whole product |
| 27–30 | Next step with a date and who attends |
Five questions worth memorising
- "How is this process done today, step by step?", the answer reveals everything.
- "When did it last break, and what happened?", a story beats a general description.
- "If nothing changed for a year, what happens?", measures urgency, and without urgency there is no budget.
- "Who else will be involved in evaluating this?", reveals the committee early.
- "What would make you say no?", the bravest question, and the biggest time-saver.
The sign the meeting worked
Not "they liked the demo". It is that they mention a detail you did not ask about, a budget, an internal problem, someone who objects. That means they moved from evaluating you to thinking with you.
The worst way to end a meeting
"Send us a proposal and we will study it." If you hear it, ask: "Before I send — who will read it, and what matters to them?" If there is no answer, the proposal will die in an inbox nobody opens.