How long should a first meeting last?

45 minutes is right for most B2B products that need explaining: long enough for a real analysis, short enough that a decision-maker will grant the appointment at all. Whoever schedules 90 minutes gets an appointment less often and, in my experience, fills the time with presentation instead of questions.

When may I name the price in the first meeting?

As soon as the customer asks for it — but never without a reference. A bare figure without the effort it replaces invites a comparison with the cheapest alternative. Whoever postpones the price and points to later, by contrast, loses trust and provokes exactly the discount discussion he wanted to avoid.

What do I do if the wrong contact person is sitting in the first meeting?

Hold the meeting anyway, but shorten it and change the goal: not a close, but joint access to the decision-maker. The question for that is not “Who decides this?” but “How has a decision like this come about at your company so far?” — people answer the second version willingly.

Does every first meeting need a presentation?

No. A presentation is an answer. If the question has not been spoken yet, there is nothing to answer. In practice, three to five slides or none at all are enough in the first meeting — the rest belongs in the second meeting, in which the analysis is reflected back.

The first meeting: five blocks, 45 minutes, one decision

The short answer

A first meeting has five blocks, and the order matters more than any wording within it: retrieve the reason, set the frame, analyse, contextualise, fix the next step. The analysis is the longest block, the presentation the shortest — and in almost every conversation I see go wrong, it is the other way round. The aim of the meeting is not the close but a decision: carry on, with a date, or part ways.

The five blocks and their time shares

Block	Aim	Minutes (of 45)
1. Reason	Why are we sitting here — in his words, not mine	3
2. Frame	Sequence, time, what will stand at the end	2
3. Analysis	Current state, figures, trigger, decision path	20
4. Contextualisation	What that means, and whether I fit	10
5. Next step	Decision with a date	10

The times are not an end in themselves. They are the only effective remedy against the most common mistake: that block 4 begins before block 3 is finished. Whoever is already explaining after twelve minutes has not analysed but merely waited until he was allowed to talk.

Blocks 1 and 2: retrieve the reason, set the frame

The meeting came about for a reason. You retrieve that reason at the start from the person opposite, not from your own notes:

“We spoke on the phone last week, and it was about your settlement. Before I say anything at all: what has happened at your end since then, and what would have to come out of today for the 45 minutes to have been worth it for you?"

Then two sentences of frame: “First I will ask you a few questions, then I will tell you honestly whether we fit. At the end we decide together whether this goes further — a no is a result too." That last clause costs nothing and changes the whole conversation: it takes away the other person's worry about being talked into something, and it makes it easy for you later to insist on a decision.

Block 3: the analysis — four questions are enough

Needs-analysis lists with thirty questions are busywork. Four axes hold:

Current state with a figure. “How does that work today in concrete terms — and what does it cost you a month?" If the figure does not come, that is the most important information of the meeting: without a figure of his own there is no pain and no yardstick for comparison.
The trigger with a date. “Why now? What was different three months ago?" Without a dated trigger there is no project, only an interest.
The path of the decision. “How did a decision like this come about at your company most recently — who was involved, how long did it take?"
The alternative. “What happens if you change nothing at all?" The most common competitor in B2B is not a competitor but the status quo.

In between belongs a technique that is not one: staying silent after the answer has apparently ended. The second half of the answer is the honest one.

Block 4: contextualisation instead of presentation

What comes here is not the catalogue but a summary in your own words — “If I have understood correctly: …" — and then exactly the three points that fit what was said. Everything else you leave out, even if it is good.

The uncomfortable part belongs in this block too: saying where you do not fit. An example from payment sales: if a business does €400 in card turnover a month, a terminal with a fixed basic fee is the wrong recommendation, and that has to be said out loud. The short-term loss is one device; the gain is someone who recommends you on, and a pipeline without dead weight.

Block 5: the next step — with a date, not with “I will be in touch"

The last ten minutes decide whether the meeting was worth anything. Three sentences, in this order:

The temperature question: “On a scale of one to ten — how close is this to what you need?" At a seven: “What is missing to make it a nine?" That is the only objection that counts, and it comes voluntarily.
The decision question: “Does this work for you in principle — yes or no?" Not “How does that sound to you?", which invites politeness.
The appointment in the calendar: the next step is dated in the meeting, not agreed afterwards by email. “I will send you the calculation based on your figures by Thursday. Does Friday at 10 a.m. work for 15 minutes?"

What has no place here: “I will be in touch, then." With that you have taken over responsibility for the process and taken the decision away from the customer — the worst possible division there is.

Action list

Schedule 45 minutes, not 60 or 90 — and put the time shares of the five blocks on a note beside the phone.
Retrieve the reason from the customer, do not read it out from your own notes.
Include the sentence “a no is a result too" in the frame, and honour it at the end.
Make four analysis questions binding: current figure, trigger with a date, decision path, status-quo alternative.
Stay silent for three seconds after every answer. Practise it once as a team; at first it feels wrong.
Present at most three points, selected according to what was said.
No meeting ends without a date. If none is in the calendar, the outcome is a no — and belongs in the CRM as one.