Sup fellas?

I've got a work meeting with a potential client this afternoon. I'm trying to be more sociable at work these days, and while I'm making progress with my coworkers, I still struggle to make small talk with people I'm just meeting for the first time in a professional setting.

Sometimes I get lucky and someone else at the meeting is good at drumming up conversation, usually the sales agent who brought the deal together, but I'd like to not have to depend on others for this. I'd like to shed the reputation I've built as the weird, quiet expert who is only there to answer complicated questions about a product if they come up. I'm exposing my insecurities a bit here, but I think people get extra weirded out by me sometimes because I am a good looking dude, and my body language usually comes off as confident, but then I have nothing to say and fail to carry conversation well. The fucking joys of being an introvert, right?

Share with me your most effective non-pickup oriented small talk strategies so I can go in there with something in mind to talk about and build my own strategy over time.

Thanks, and have yourselves a lovely day!