Photo Courtesy of llawliet
How many times have you gotten on a planned phone call, or attended a work meeting, and realized an hour later that you completely wasted the hour talking about a ton of unfocused and unrelated topics?
Have you ever gotten on a call, or gone into a meeting with a goal in mind, and then realized after finishing that the other parties got the better of you, or that you ended up compromising on what you initially wanted? I sure have.
Try this simple solution for keeping your calls and meetings focused and on topic:
1. Take out a sheet of plain paper, notebook or legal pad.
2. At the top, write down your top goal for the call or meeting. What one thing do you want to accomplish? Write down in detail your desired outcome.
3. Write down, in order, the sub topics and action steps required to reach this outcome. This will give you an agenda for the call or meeting.
4. Write down any possible objections or negative reactions that may arise from other participants.
5. Think through and write down the best possible responses to these objections.
6. Write down all potential participants on the call, and where you think they’ll stand on the topic. Will they be for you or against you, etc.?
7. Now, take out some 4 X 6 index cards, and transfer the info from your written notes to these cards. For simple subjects, you can put everything on one card. For more complex topics, and for longer calls and meetings, you may end up with a number of cards. Distribute the info on the cards to suit your needs.
In some cases for example, you may want to create a separate card for each participant, a separate card for each sub-topic, etc. The goal is to set it up so that you have one card in front of you so that you are completely focused on the correct task at the correct time, then for example, if an objection comes up, you can immediately find the card that contains the correct response.
By taking a little bit of extra time to prepare, focus and set goals for each and every phone call and meeting, you’ll look like a genius, and will find that you’re less and less drained and frustrated after the end of any business related call or meeting.
