What to do/say at a first meeting?

Without your giving any more info (I have no idea under what circumstances you are meeting, what your business is etc.) I would suggest begin by asking them questions, and then shutting up. The more you can get the other person to talk, the better. I always start by trying to get them to talk to me about any personal interests. If they open up here, then the conversation that follows is always more at ease...

Mac the Knife

The first thing you have to do is RELAX.

They aren't going to bite you.

Just talk. Talk about what their needs are... talk about how you can help... talk about how the things you can do for them will put money in their pocket.

Be friendly and informative. Then just tell them the investment and get the check.

I would have to respectfully disagree with MWGrubb58. While of course your going to have to talk some, I was say you should just listen. Listen to what their needs are and what problems they have. Ask them about their business and let them go on about it. This will make them feel good because someone is actually interested in what they are doing. Everyone loves talking about their business that they have put their heart and soul into.

By letting them talk more you are finding out exactly what they want/need and when it is your turn to talk you'll know exactly what they are looking for from you.

Just my .02

Sean

You have done some great preparation for the meeting, and you'll have a chance to share what you can do with the prospect. Yes, he said he wants help with his online marketing, but you want to understand WHY. It may seem obvious (more sales, more revenue, etc), but there's more to it than that.

Why does he need help now with his internet marketing? What has he done in the past? Ask him. Then dig deeper...for instance, what does his ideal customer look like? How does he find them? What does the average customer mean to him in income? What would it mean if he could increase that value? Where has he done marketing in the past? What worked? What didn't?

Get him talking about his business and what it would mean to increase the number of visitors to his site, increase the average sale of a customer, etc. Write this info down, and then use it when presenting your solution.

You are having a conversation with him where first you ask questions and then LET HIM TALK. When you feel you have enough info to understand his pain and what his needs are, use that information to discuss how you can help.

"Mr. Customer, you mentioned you have a website but have never done any SEO. Simply having a website is like have 500 business cards in your desk drawer. You need to drive traffic to your site and entice the people who visit to come back. Here's and idea I have...yadda yadda. Do you see how that can help you?"

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Wendy

Yes, get the prospect to talk. If you do, and simply follow up with specifics about how you can help based on what THEY say, you have a great chance of landing the client. The worst thing you can do it talk...in ANY sales situation.

Mac the Knife

I think that was only applicable for a normal conversation, not a business meeting.

About the topic, I love the other anwesred, very informative and I just wanna add some more.
The moment you meet, have a shake hand with him, give your business card and let the conversation flow, how? Establish rapport with your prospect. Do not focus on making sale first, you have to understand how can you help them and what they need. Ask some probing questions, ask about their business, how is it going, are the customers coming back, how many branches do they have, does he have other business(es), have he tried the other way to boost his business potential and many more. Just let them talk about their businesses, people love the talk about them (to brag maybe?), then listen carefully and find time to jot down some useful information that would surely helpful for you to help them better.

I bet some business men are not so techie, so be careful with the terms you gonna use, it might be jargon for them. The best way is to find a common ground or more likely a lay man's term to make it more understandable for them. Present you idea in logical way and prove this can lead to "exponential growth".

After the meeting, have shake hand again and say you are grateful to know more about him and his business.

Thanks,
MrSS

Key to your first meeting is the 80/20 rule. You should be doing only 20% of the talking and 80% of the listening.

Ask them what they have done so far - what has worked, what they want to improve upon. I just try to answer questions and educate. Start building the relationship. Find out more about their business. I met with a lady yesterday and had spoken to her on the phone once, a referral). I am more expensive than the another company she thought they were more than she could afford. Sadly they did not do anything right and took advantage of her. I went and helped her out a little and she is going to cancel some other things she has so she can hire me because she trusts me. It was so sad to see her get taken advantage of.
Another meeting with potential client, they already have another SEO company and they still want to hire me because I educated them more. One of the women called and thanked me so much because she had a meeting later that day with the other SEO company and she felt much better equipped to speak with them and not sound stupid when she talked to them. Just help them in some way and be honest.
All I take is a notebook and a pen.