muzau
First meeting

How do you prepare for a first meeting with a new customer?

To prepare for a first meeting with a new customer, start from their request, in their own words. Before booking a meeting by email, a Muzau agent writes your team a note on who the person is and what they are looking for: without that note, nothing is booked and the meeting waits for you in "To approve". Once it has summarized the request, that summary goes into the meeting description and into "Good to know". The conversation itself, you lead.

Why a first meeting often starts blind

A new customer has written, by email or on the site chat. They explained what they need, asked two questions, accepted a slot. A few days later, the person who is meeting them opens the calendar and reads "Meeting", followed by a name. They then have to reread the whole exchange, or start with "So, what brings you here?".

The customer has already told it all once. Making them repeat what they need shows them nobody read it. The meeting, the listening and the proposal stay with your team; it is putting down in writing who they are and what they are looking for that the agent takes on, at the moment it books the slot.

How the agent goes about it

Input
A new customer who accepts a slot, by email or on the site chat
It does
Writes the team who they are and what they are looking for, summarizes their request
It delivers
A meeting that carries this summary, in the calendar and in "Good to know"

By email, no meeting without a note on the person

Before booking a meeting by email, the agent writes your team who the person is and what they are looking for. This is not just a guideline: without that note, Muzau refuses to book, and the meeting waits for you in "To approve". It checks that the note exists, not what it says. On the site chat, the slot does not wait for it: the visitor's first question stands in for it. The note stays internal and never goes to the customer.

The summary of the customer's request, in the meeting description

Once the agent has summarized the request (on the chat, that is the visitor's first question), the summary is written into the meeting description, in Google Calendar or Outlook. A "Meeting" line also appears in "Good to know", with the customer's address and that same summary. Whoever receives the customer knows what it is about on opening the event, without rereading the exchange. With Slack or Microsoft Teams connected, the agent also alerts the team there. Without a summary, the calendar description only says "Meeting booked via Muzau".

One text for the team, another for the customer

The invitation the customer receives also carries a short summary of what they talked about, written for them to read. That summary is checked before sending, like the rest of the message. What the agent thinks of the person is not in it: that judgment stays in the internal note. Depending on your setting, the invitation also gives the address to come to, or a video link when the connected calendar books the meeting.

The customer's answers, gathered before the meeting

If the agent qualifies requests and keeps a file it can write to, your questions are asked by email before proposing a meeting, or on the chat once the slot is chosen (see when to ask your questions). The answers go on the customer's record, in their own words; what they did not say stays empty. When everything is in, you receive a card and an email: their answers to each of your questions, then who they are in a sentence or two, drawn from what they wrote.

Preparing a first customer meeting: the checklist

With or without a tool, a first meeting is prepared from what the customer wrote, not from your presentation. The goal: know what they are looking for, what you are missing, and what you will propose at the end.

Open with their request, reworded: "You wrote to me that you were looking for…, is that still the case?" The meeting then starts from their need, not from your catalog. Two mistakes come up again and again: running through your presentation before listening, and leaving without a date for what comes next. For a customer you have already met, the preparation changes: see preparing a meeting with a customer you have already met.

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What it does not do

Autonomous does not mean unchecked. You set the level of autonomy of every agent, its limits cannot be crossed, everything it does is recorded in a plain-language log, and one gesture stops it all.

Frequently asked questions

What should go in the description of a customer meeting?
What the person talked about and what they are looking for, in two or three sentences, so whoever meets them does not have to reread the exchange. When a Muzau agent has summarized the request, that summary is written into the meeting description; otherwise, in a connected calendar, it only says "Meeting booked via Muzau".
How do you start a first sales meeting?
With the customer's request, reworded in their own words, before any presentation: they know they were read, and the conversation starts from their need. Then ask the two or three questions whose answer you are missing, and end on a dated next step.
How do you find out what a new customer expects before meeting them?
Reread what they wrote: their request, their deadline, the questions they asked. When a Muzau agent has booked the meeting and summarized the request, that summary is in the event description; if it qualifies requests, a card also gives you the customer's answers to each of your questions, and who they are in a sentence or two.
Should you confirm a first customer meeting the day before?
Yes, especially if the meeting was booked several days earlier: a word the day before confirms the time and place, and gives the customer the chance to say if they can no longer come. A Muzau agent does not send this reminder: its invitation gives the address to come to, or a video link when the connected calendar books the meeting, and the confirmation the day before stays with your team.
Which questions should you prepare for a first customer meeting?
Only those whose answer you are missing to make a fair proposal: two or three, not a grid. First reread what the customer wrote: a need, a deadline or a budget already given is not asked again.

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