Have you ever bumped into an old acquittance in the street who you maybe haven't seen for a few years or so and receive the unanswerable question 'well, what you been up to?' Hopefully, unless it's been somewhat of a write off 730 days, you'll have been up to much more than can fit into a hurried sentence. This question always seems very lazy to me, a sign that the person in question doesn't really care what you've 'been up to.' If they did, they would've made contact, or at least been asking around about you so, they knew roughly what was going on.
In business, this lazy throw away sentence is undoubtedly even worse. If somebody starts a meeting with 'how's business?' it may have once upon of time seemed polite small talk. But now, I'd view it as offensively incompetent. There is no excuse anymore for not keeping tabs on a company's affairs and whatever relationship you're trying to forge with that company, the least you should be is informed on current events. Saying 'how's business?' to me suggests you really couldn't give a monkeys how business really is, you just want some yourself.
There is no reason, repeat, NO REASON for not being informed anymore. The explosion of online content means news has been become one giant community of conversation. What could once be disguised as a conversation starter at best, now leaves you exposed to the possibility of being uncovered as a lazy, uninterested salesperson. If you really want to wow a customer, don't start with 'how's business?', lead with 'how can I help your business with this?'
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