One of the questions we may ask ourselves from time to time is, "What is the best way to open a research meeting?" The answer to this one is quite simple o whatever you said to schedule the research meeting successfully in the first place o say it again.

How did you schedule this research meeting? Are you meeting with a coach who you were very honest with? Maybe you said to your coach, "Hey coach, I need to step back and better understand the business. Let's take some time for me to update my understanding of your direction and issues." If you did that initially, terrific, begin with that as your opening statement.

Another situation might be that you are meeting with a contact you have never met before. What did you ask them on the phone to schedule the meeting? Did you ask them if they could spend some time with you to confirm your understanding of their business and expand on it? If so, and they said yes, restate it again. It was compelling enough the first time for them to meet with you, and saying it again will get you off on the right foot.

However you open the research meeting, be prepared. Have your hard-hitting questions ready so you can launch right in to the Q&A and not pause and ask for feedback on how you are going to conduct this meeting.