Sealing the Deal over the Business Meal

Sealing the Deal over the Business Meal

Lydia Ramsey

Friday 7:59:39 pm

Doing business over meals is a ritual that has existed for
centuries. Taking clients to breakfast, lunch or dinner has
long been an effective way to build relationships, make the sale
or seal the deal. These business meals are essentially business
meetings. Knowledge of your product or your service is crucial
to the success of the meeting, but so are your manners. Too many
people jeopardize an opportunity because they fail to use good
dining etiquette. Here are a few basic rules to make the
experience pleasurable and profitable.

Know your duties as the host. You are in charge. It is up to
you to see that things go well and that your guests are
comfortable. You need to attend to every detail from extending
the invitation to paying the bill.

Plan ahead when you issue the invitation. Allow a week for a
business dinner and three days for lunch. Be certain that the
date works for you. That might sound obvious, but if you have
to cancel or postpone, you can look disorganized and
disrespectful of your clients' time.

Select a restaurant that you know, preferably one where you are
known. This is no time to try out the latest hot spot. Being
confident of the quality of the food and service leaves you free
to focus on business.

Consider the atmosphere. Does it lend itself to conversation
and discussion? If you and your clients can't hear each other
over the roar of the diners and dishes, you will have wasted
your time and money.

When you make your reservation, let the staff know that you will
be dining with clients. If your guests suggest a restaurant new
to you (perhaps you are hosting clients out-of-town), call ahead
and speak with the maitre'd. Make it clear that you will be
having an important business meal and picking up the check.

Confirm the meal appointment with your clients the day before if
you are meeting for breakfast or that day if you are having
lunch or dinner. Things do happen and mix-ups occur.

Arrive early so you can attend to last minute details. This is
the perfect time to give your credit card to the maitre'd and
avoid the awkwardness that seems to accompany the arrival of the
bill.

Take charge of the seating. Your guests should have the prime
seats-the ones with the view. As the host, take the least
desirable spot-the one facing the wall, the kitchen or the
restrooms.

Beyond being polite, where you seat your guests is strategic.
When you are entertaining one client, sit next to each at a
right angle rather than across the table. With two clients, put
one across from you and the other to your side. If you sit
between them, you will look as if you are watching a match at
Wimbledon as you try to follow the conversation.

Allow your guests to order first. You might suggest certain
dishes to be helpful. By recommending specific items, you are
indicating a price range. Order as many courses as your guests,
no more and no less, to facilitate the flow of the meal. It is
awkward if one of you orders an appetizer or dessert and the
others do not.

As the host, you are the one who decides when to start
discussing business. That will depend on a number of factors
such as the time of day and how well you know your clients. At
breakfast, time is short so get down to business quickly. At
lunch, wait until you have ordered so you won't be interrupted.
Dinner, the more social occasion, is a time for rapport
building. Limit the business talk and do it after the main course
is completed.

When you know your clients well, you have more of a basis for
small talk. However, because you have established a business
friendship, you can eliminate some of the chitchat when time is
an issue. When you don't know your clients well, spend more
time getting acquainted before launching your shoptalk.

Sometimes you simply need to use your own judgment about when to
get down to business, realizing that if you wait too long, your
clients may start to wonder why they were invited. If you begin
too early in the meal, your guests might suspect that you are
more interested in their money than you are in them.

Keep an eye on the time, but don't let your guests see you
checking your watch. Breakfast should typically last an hour;
lunch an hour and a half. Wrap up your business dinner in two
to three hours, no more.

Handle any disasters with grace. With all your attention to
detail, things can still go wrong. The food may not be up to
your standards, the waiter might be rude or the people at the
next table boisterous and out of control. Whatever happens, make
sure you are not the one to lose control. Excuse yourself to
discuss any problems with the staff. Your guests will feel
uncomfortable if you complain in front of or to them.

Limit the amount of alcohol you drink at the business meal. The
three Martini lunch is mostly a thing of the past. However,
cocktails and wine are still part of the business dinner. Since
alcohol can have the same effect as truth serum, keep your
consumption to one or two glasses. When guests are drinking
liberally and you sense trouble, excuse yourself and discreetly
ask the server to hold back on refilling the wine glasses or
offering another cocktail.

Your conduct over the meal will determine your professional
success. If you pay attention to the details and make every
effort to see that your clients have a pleasant experience, they
will assume that you will handle their business the same way.
Before long you could have them eating out of your hand.

Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert, professional
speaker, corporate trainer and author of MANNERS THAT SELL -
ADDING THE POLISH THAT BUILDS PROFITS. She has been quoted or
featured in The New York Times, Investors' Business Daily,
Entrepreneur, Inc., Real Simple and Woman's Day. For more
information about her programs, products and services, e-mail
her at lydia@mannersthatsell.com or visit her web site
http://www.mannersthatsell.com

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