Pre-Meeting Brief
Paste one profile link and get a meeting brief before you meet: what you two have in common, what changed for them this year, and their company. Every fact links to its source.
Built for
- Sales reps preparing for a first call with a new buyer
- Founders meeting investors, partners or candidates for the first time
- Partnership and BD leads who need common ground before a deal
Key insights
- What you two have in common, with proof from both sides
- What changed for them in the last 12 months
- Their career, checked across accounts
- Their company’s funding rounds and news
What is the meeting brief?
A meeting brief is a short page on the person you’re about to meet: who they are, what they care about and what the two of you have in common, so the first five minutes go somewhere. Actionbook builds it from the person’s public pages and posts on LinkedIn, X, Threads and their own site, read in your browser, and compares them with your own profiles. It leads with your common ground and what changed for them in the last 12 months, then covers the usual sales background: their career, their company and its funding. Every fact links to its source. A good meeting brief answers three questions:
- What do we have in common? The same city in the same years, a trip you both keep making, a long walk you both did, a mutual connection. Each with the posts from both sides.
- What changed? A new role, a promotion, a funding round, a growing team, or news they shared themselves, from the last 12 months.
- Who are they? Role, career, their company and its funding, and a check that you have the right person.
Meeting prep: how to prepare for a meeting with someone new
Meeting prep for a first meeting is less about the agenda and more about the person. Rapport with a new client starts with common ground, and five steps take you from a name to two or three things worth talking about.
1. Make sure it’s the right person
Match the name, company, city and photo on at least two accounts. Common names catch everyone out, and one wrong profile spoils the whole brief.
2. Read what they wrote, not just their title
Recent posts, talks and interviews show what they care about now. A job title tells you what they do. A post about their first trip to Tokyo tells you what they’d enjoy talking about.
3. Line up their world with yours
Compare places, work topics, interests and people. Being at the same event in the same week, or knowing the same person, counts for more than a hobby half the world shares.
4. Check what changed in the last year
A new title, a funding round or a team that doubled changes what they care about this quarter. So does news they posted themselves, like a move or a new baby. Congratulate them on it, then let them lead.
5. Note what to leave alone
Topics where you disagree and anything they haven’t talked about in public are background, not openers. Let them bring it up.
Who the meeting brief is for
Account executives and SDRs
You have first calls every week and want the first two minutes to feel like a conversation, not a pitch.
- What you have in common with the buyer, with both sides’ posts
- Promotions and funding rounds from the last 12 months
Founders
You meet investors, partners and candidates you’ve never spoken to, often back to back.
- Common ground to open with, before a pitch or an interview
- A check that you researched the right person
Partnership and BD leads
You meet people at other companies before any deal exists, and rapport is most of the job.
- Mutual connections and shared places, with dates
- Their company’s funding and news from this year
How to build a meeting brief with Actionbook
Step 1: Add their profile link, and yours if you like
Click Build with Actionbook and paste a link to the person: LinkedIn, X, Threads or a personal site. Add your own profile link too, or skip it and Actionbook uses the accounts you’re signed in to.
Step 2: Let it read both sides
Actionbook opens their pages and yours in your browser, read-only, and asks you when two people share a name.
Step 3: Get your brief
You get a private dashboard: your common ground, what changed, their profile, their company and every source behind it. Read it before the call.
Meeting brief FAQ
What is a meeting brief?
A meeting brief is a short page you read before meeting someone: who they are, what they care about and what you have in common. This one is built from the person’s public pages and posts and your own profiles, and every fact links to its source.
Does the person know I looked them up?
Actionbook reads the same pages you could open yourself, read-only. Nothing is posted, followed, liked or messaged. LinkedIn may show the person that you viewed their profile, as it does when you visit it yourself, depending on your LinkedIn privacy settings.
Which sites does it read?
LinkedIn, X and Threads with your login, read-only, and personal sites, conference talk pages, interviews and press from public pages. It reads your own profiles the same way, to find what you have in common.
Do I have to add my own profile?
No. By default it reads the profiles you’re signed in to in your browser, such as LinkedIn and X. You can paste a link to your own profile instead, and it asks you when none is signed in.
Does it guess things about the person?
No. Every line is something the person wrote or a page states, with its source and date. Life events appear only when the person posted them.
How does common ground help build rapport with a client?
People warm to people like them. A shared city, trip or friend gives the first minutes of a call something real to talk about before business. The brief shows each overlap with the posts from both sides, so you can bring it up naturally and get it right.
How is this different from other meeting prep tools?
Most meeting prep tools read your calendar, email and CRM, so they sum up the history you already have with someone. A first meeting has no history. This brief reads the person’s public pages and your own profiles to find your common ground before you’ve spoken.
Can I get the brief in another language?
Yes. Pick the language when you start. Names, book and product titles and the person’s quotes stay in the original.
Is the example a real person?
No. The example uses mock data for a fictional person at a fictional company, so you can see every section before you build your own.
Who can see the dashboard?
A new dashboard is private: only you and the people you invite by email can open it. Set it to “Anyone with the link” to share it more widely. Only you can refresh or change it, and dashboards are kept out of search engines.
