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NOVEMBER 2015 •
PPB
• 61
WANT TO ENSURE a successful
business meeting? Forget the board-
room and head for a booth, says barbe-
cue entrepreneur Brett Randle. The
CEO of Dallas, Texas-based Soulman’s
Bar-B-Que believes taking business
partners out for lunch is more benefi-
cial than ordering in at the office.
“Conducting business meetings
over lunch is a great way to establish
a relationship with a client or potential
business colleague,” said Randle. “As
we like to say at Soulman’s, ‘
why not
do business over brisket?
’ Lunch meet-
ings allow professionals to break up
their work day while getting to know
each other.”
Randle offers a few more reasons
for meeting over a meal:
LET’S DO LUNCH
THE WATER COOLER
Restaurants are neutral territory.
No one has the “upper hand” at a dining
establishment. But don’t choose the latest trendy bistro for your meeting. A
restaurant that is reliable and comfortable is much more suitable for casual
business conversation.
Dining out lets you get personal.
Though conference calls may be more conven-
ient for executives who are pressed for time, the personal interaction over a meal
can’t be beat.
Comfort food puts them at ease.
Take away the sterile, bland boardroom and
you’ll take a lot of tension out of a meeting. Going out for lunch can turn a formal
conversation into a casual dialogue.
Everyone appreciates a change of scenery.
Going somewhere new or different cre-
ates a memory with which to associate the meeting. Better recall means better results.
Meetings become time-sensitive.
Knowing you’re only in a place to do two
things—eat and talk—means any business you have can be conducted with greater
efficiency … especially if the participants would rather eat than talk.
“Why not do business over brisket?”