Do you run from call to call without preparing for each meeting? At the end of the day or week, do you have a ton of action items that have compiled? Has this pattern become a habit to a point that you perform in the same way even during times when you’re not that busy?
There is one very simple method to making sure you are fully prepared and able to stay up on top of all action items resulting from sales calls. It’s very simple, but I bet most of you don’t do it:
Block off 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after your sales calls to prepare and debrief – for every single meeting. The value of preparation is obvious, but a debrief meeting is typically practiced by only the very top of our craft. Performing a task immediately following a meeting, when it’s still fresh on your mind, will take half the time that it will in three days from now. You don’t have to recall the mood or try to understand exactly what you meant by your notes, etc.
The secret to doing this is to schedule it in your calendar, and treat that time as though it’s part of the meeting. If you schedule these 15-minute debriefs, you’ll save a lot more time in the future and deliver much better quality.
