Comments on: Your Guide to the Perfect Business Lunch

By: Lance

Lance — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:24:05 +0000

I’m glad you said write a thank you card. I think as you get more acquainted with a client though, an email might do. Oh and for sure order something easy to eat is great advice.

By: Samir

Samir — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:15:35 +0000

What if you are the guest?

By: dmalstott

dmalstott — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:04:24 +0000

This piece conveys a mixture of good and bad advice. Some of the basic principles are sound, but the overall tone seems to be one of deference and neediness. Be your own man in any situation. If you want a real drink, then order one regardless of what the others are doing. You don’t need to follow every cue regarding “appropriate behavior.” Be confident and dictate the cues. If you are the host, you are the de facto leader. I’m not saying one should act like a jackass and do whatever you want, but too much of what’s conveyed in this article is beta-male behavior. Like the thank-you letter/email at the end. Why? My time is valuable. Why am I grateful to you for eating on my tab? Ultimately, much like women, clients like and want winners with a pair of cojones, not deferential sycophants. Again, not narcissistic jackasses with no boundaries or sense of self-awareness, but not some low-self-esteem candyass who feels lucky to pay for someone’s lunch. Respect yourself and your abilities, and they will come back for business.

By: mbodayle

mbodayle — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:43:52 +0000

I don’t think it’s a problem to ask a guest to recommend a place if you are unfamiliar with his city. I think it also conveys your trust in him.

Also remember – no broccoli as it makes your teeth look nasty.

By: Phil Black

Phil Black — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:50:13 +0000

Decent advice. However I’s rather use Hotel Staff’s recomendations over the ‘anything goes’ Internet review sites.

By: curtis

curtis — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:07:35 +0000

on the subject of professionalism i think it would be a lot much more professional to take a business assioate to lunch then to a summit rather then that becuase going to lunch seems to show more openess and corperate hospitality.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:09:39 +0000

As someone that has had his fair share of “power lunches” this is a great article and highlights a lot of interesting topics. The thank you note is a great touch and goes a long way. You don’t realize how taking 2 minutes to write that note and mail it out can pay dividends in the future.

By: Erika Awakening

Erika Awakening — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:47:32 +0000

Damn, that’s a great article! I love how precisely you are helping the guest to have a really wonderful meal experience.

I have done a lot of coaching of men to improve their skills with women, and I swear, change a few details of this article, and you have written a stellar dating advice article. :)

As a woman, I would most surely go on another date with this guy – because he demonstrated social intelligence :)

cheers,
Erika Awakening

By: Annalisa

Annalisa — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:06:06 +0000

Great advice! Several days ago I did everything in this post with a photography intern who’s position is opening (including the thank you note!). Many people applied for the job, but I was the only she met with. She recommended my work highly to her boss, mentioned my professionalism, and agreed to call me if she ever needed me over the summer months before I go to college. In the last 48 hours I’ve received two emails from her offering to let me cover events that she will be unable to! One includes an important Big Ten University gathering. Praise God for great posts like this one! Great job, AoM.

By: P.M.Lawrence

P.M.Lawrence — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:54:50 +0000

A6, all that preparation and adjustment is just a way to make the best of a bad job, i.e. the bad materials routinely available in the U.S.A. If you were able to get a proper cut (thinner) with decent marbling (and so more fat), you could simply cook it (you might be able to get some from hobby breeders of heirloom varieties like Dexter miniature cattle; they often have owners' groups that work a lot like producer co-operatives). That remedial work shouldn't dry out the cut since you do it with chilled meat and it provides more juices. TMA, most American steak is too lean and too thick cut to be cooked well done. If you found a steak too fatty for comfort, well, was it well done? If not, sure, the fat wouldn't have moved through properly, and it wouldn't taste good. So what you are suffering is most likely the result of poor cooking, e.g. medium or rare, that leaves any fat there not worked through enough for your digestion - for you, a properly well done steak is the only decent way to cook it. But if you had had that well done and it had been a typical U.S. cut, the odds are that it wouldn't have given you so much indigestion but it wouldn't have tasted very good either, from the outside ending up nearly carbonised and the inside still not done enough, all without the effect of enough fat on the flavour to do justice to "well done". The U.S. error is thinking that that shows that "well done" ruins steaks when they were actually already ruined for anything but undercooking, from getting the material wrong for that much cooking. Oh, here's a link to pocketing steak, referring to the more elaborate fillers rather than butter.