What should count as a qualified meeting when you pay per meeting?

Key takeaways

• Write the definition down with the provider before any outreach starts: the company profile, the buyer’s seniority, and the intent you need to see.

• A meeting bills only when the buyer attends and matches the written definition.

• Most definitions stop at who the buyer is. Add how the buyer arrives: the meeting reconfirmed beforehand, and material about you sent between booking and call.

• Settle who checks a held meeting against the definition, and how a miss is raised, before launch.

What is a qualified meeting in a pay-per-meeting deal?

In a pay-per-meeting deal, a qualified meeting is a meeting that matches a definition the buyer of the service and the provider wrote down before outreach started, and that the prospect actually attends. The definition names the company profile you sell to, the seniority of the person on the call, and the intent you need to see, such as a live problem your offer solves. A meeting that misses the written definition does not bill. A prospect who does not show up does not bill. At Market Runner, the definition goes into the agreement with each partner before outreach begins, and Market Runner is paid per qualified meeting that shows up.

What should the written definition include?

A useful definition has four parts that a third person could check after the call. Company fit: industry, size, revenue floor and region. The person: the titles or seniority that can act on the purchase, or that carry it to whoever can. Intent: a live situation your offer addresses, stated by the prospect during outreach or on the booking form. Attendance: the prospect joins the call at the agreed time. Then list what never counts, so neither side argues it later: existing customers, open deals already in your pipeline, competitors, job seekers and duplicates of a meeting already held.

Your own deals set the bar better than any template. Take the last ten deals your team closed and write down, for each one, the company size, the title of the first person you met, and what they said the problem was in that first call. The pattern across those ten is your company fit, your person and your intent. If most closed deals started with a manager who brought in a director later, a manager belongs in the definition. If deals below a certain company size never closed, that size is your floor. A definition built this way describes the meetings that turn into revenue for you, which is the only reason to pay for a meeting at all.

What is the difference between a booked, held and qualified meeting?

A booked meeting is a time on the calendar. A held meeting is one the prospect attended. A qualified meeting is a held meeting that also matches the written definition. The three counts fall away from each other: some booked meetings are never held, and some held meetings miss the definition. When you compare providers or read a report, ask which of the three a number counts. In a pay-per-meeting deal, only the third one should bill.

Why should the definition cover how the buyer arrives, as well as who the buyer is?

Market Runner argues that a qualified meeting depends on how the prospect arrives as much as on who the prospect is. A prospect who fits the profile but joins the call cold, unsure who you are or why they booked, gives you a discovery call you have to rescue. A prospect who arrives pre-framed, who knows who you are, why you are the authority on the problem, and what you offer, gives you a sales conversation from the first minute. Two steps produce that arrival: the meeting is reconfirmed before it happens, and material about you and the offer is sent between booking and call. Put both in the agreement as part of what a qualified meeting means.

In Market Runner’s system this sits in the Nurture department. After a meeting is booked, a pre-call sequence sends the prospect material written from the outreach thread, and the meeting is reconfirmed before the call. The standard our team works to: “We are selling meetings booked to your calendar with qualified prospects that show up to the call pre-framed, educated in your solution, and ready to hear you.” Your side of it is shorter: you show up and sell.

When you compare providers, ask each one what happens between the booking and the call. If the answer is a calendar invite and a reminder, the provider is booking time on your calendar, and the preparation is left to your team.

Who decides whether a meeting counted?

The written definition decides, and your team checks each held meeting against it. Agree three things before launch: who on your side reviews a held meeting, how soon after the call a miss must be raised, and what evidence a miss needs, such as the prospect’s title or company size falling outside the definition. A miss raised against the written criteria does not bill. A complaint that the call went badly is a sales outcome, not a qualification miss, and a good agreement says so in advance, so both sides judge the meeting by the same page.

How should no-shows and reschedules count?

A no-show does not bill, and neither does a meeting the prospect cancels. Agree before launch how a prospect’s request to move the meeting counts, and how a reschedule your own team asks for counts, because the provider did its work when it booked the prospect and your team moved the slot. With Market Runner, a prospect cancellation does not bill, and a reschedule requested by the partner counts as held. For emergencies, each month the partner may move 1 meeting or 10 percent of the month’s leads, whichever is greater, and a meeting moved inside that allowance that then ends as a no-show is not charged.

How do you test a provider’s definition before you commit?

Run it on real meetings before paying for any. Market Runner starts every partner with a free one-month pilot: the qualified-meeting definition is agreed in writing, outreach launches in 5 business days or less from the intake call, and the meetings booked during the pilot show whether the definition matches the prospects your team wants to sell to. After the pilot, Market Runner is paid per qualified meeting that shows up. Parcel Path booked 650+ qualified meetings in 11 months with Market Runner.