First impressions make a big difference.

In fact, A Harvard study revealed that it typically takes eight subsequent positive encounters to change another person's negative opinion of you.

If you make a bad first impression…

At best you've got a lot of making up to do….At worst, you lose not just their trust, but the ripple effects of the opportunities they could have opened for you.

Making a strong first impression isn’t just about being likable—it’s about showing that you get it. Whether you're speaking with a new client or connecting with colleagues internally, people want to feel understood.

They want to know you’re not just ticking boxes but genuinely invested in helping them succeed.

Fortunately, through just a pen and some simple drawings, you can take your first impressions from a whimper to a visual BANG…

These meetings often end with something like: "Can you send me that please?! That's exactly what's happening and I need to show this to people!"

Here's a breakdown of one of our methods for having a great discovery meeting…

So get your pen and paper ready!

Prep - Get the Layout in!

Before the meeting starts we want to do a little bit of prep, 5-10 mins worth - trust me it's worth it!

You're going to draw in a line which is going to be the ground, a person and a title (their name) - be sure to shade them all :)

I added some long hair onto my person as well - adding little touches like these if you know a thing or two about the person you're talking to help make it more personal. We want them to feel seen.

I also added a house to fill it up a little bit more - add your own details but make sure there is still plenty of blank space.

The Meeting Begins

As the meeting begins and you say "Hello, nice to meet you, how's your week going?" all the usual pleasantries.

Then we move into the visual.

Usually saying something like "So what I would love to do is just get an idea of where you're at now and where you want to go" as I'm doing this I'll usually roll in the flipchart from off camera for the reveal.

PRO TIP: Want them to feel even more involved? - ask them to choose a colour. Point to the person and say something like "Before we get into talking about any of that thought I need to ask you a very important questions. (Pointing to the visual) - So this is you, this is your world. What colour would you like to be? I've got green, blue, orange, red or yellow?"

Colour the person in and use that same colour for all your highlighting - this already makes them feel like they creating this visual with you and they feel a sense of ownership.

What's Going on in Your World?

Once we've introduced the visual, we ask our first question: What's going on in your world? Or where are you at now?

Then we give them the space to tell them about their world. You're going to be taking the key points and capturing them in the ground.

Add simple icons if they come to your mind as you listen, if you can't think of any icons, just stick to writing :)

^Squiglly lines represent writing here

REMEMBER THIS: Do not try and draw or capture everything. That is not the purpose, the goal here is to take the big key elements and capture them.

A nice way to do this is to make it a part of the conversation. Listen to them talk for a minute, paying attention to the key themes. Then say something like: "So it sounds like these 3 things are the big ones" if they agree, then you draw!

Where Do You Want to GO?

Now that we've got a good grasp of what's going on in their world, we need to find out what their goals are.

We're going to follow a similar process to the previous step - ask them about their goal and capture the key points.

However, this time you're going to capture it at the top of the poster. Drawing in a circle with some semi circles for a moon and a wee flag to represent the goal.

Capture the key points about the goal around the moon.

What Are the Biggest Challenges?

Now that we know where they are and where they want to go, it's time to hear about what their biggest challenges are.

Usually, quite a few of these will have popped up in the conversation already, so you can start by saying "It sounds like this, this and this are the big things that are causing you difficulty? Is that right, could you tell me a little more about them?

You're then going to take what they say and visualise it in the middle of the poster, a nice way to do this is with weather. The more extreme the challenge is, the more severe the weather.

As you're going along make sure to ask if there are any other challenges.

The Recap & Next Steps

Now that we've got a clear view of where they are, where they want to go and the challenges. We want to stop and talk them through the poster.

Recap everything they've told you and ask them if there's anything missing.

PRO TIP: This is a great time to go through your visual with a colour and circle / colour/ shade the key points as you go - bringing it up to a finish in front of their eyes

By this point they're usually very excited about the fact that they can SEE what's going on and have clarity around what they're working towards.

Now that we've taken the time to understand who they are and what's going on in their world, we can move into talking (and visualising) about what we do that can help them :)

There’s of course visual ways we can approach that as well - if you’d like to learn more about that (or visualization in general) contact us for visual coaching

When the call is over make sure to add any extra shading in that you didn't get time to do, add a frame and send them a picture of the visual!

This is a lovely touchpoint to have and we often find they share it with colleagues to recap the call and share their new perspective.