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If someone told you that you could make more money by doing less or saying “no” to customers looking to give you their hard-earned money, you’d probably look at them like you just saw Bigfoot breaking bread at the Denny’s booth next to yours.
The thing is it’s a real thing and I’m going to show you how with another restaurant related tale from last weekend.
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It wasn’t a literal sucker punch or anything like that but it definitely felt like one because I was for sure caught off guard. To the point of feeling my heart sink into my stomach…
And I was worried my face might’ve given it away for a split second, but I think being on a smaller screen in Microsoft Teams may have saved me.
Here’s how it went down:
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Do you ever feel like your day has so many meetings they all start to blend together?
So many details to capture. And sometimes not even knowing anything about the meeting topic.
It’s a real struggle. And because of this, one of the most important things you can do in your career (especially management consulting) is make sure you know how to take notes in meetings.
Working on consulting engagements, it’s not uncommon to have multiple meetings to prepare for the “real” meeting with the client. If you’re lucky, the meetings will yield some useful information.
There’s a huge problem with all of these meetings though – people have short-term memories. By the time the participants leave the meeting and get back to their desks, they remember minimal pieces of the discussion.
And even worse, when you ask people later about their commitments made in the meeting, they act like you’re speaking in a language they’ve never heard before. (Maybe accountability could be considered a language and that’s why they’re not familiar with it.)
That’s exactly why you’ll find the rich and powerful to be avid note takers.
When it comes to meeting notes, you’ll want to email those out to all invitees and be sure to focus on capturing the 6 following pieces of information.
Don’t worry if you’re having trouble following along in meetings. I’ll show you what to do in that situation too.
Relationships might be built online but they are solidified in person, whether that be business (think client buyers) or personal (think online dating). That’s on my mind because I just got back from a meeting in Salt Lake City and it made a world of difference. I think I was in town for roughly 16 hours and was asleep in the hotel room for a decent chunk of that. It was kind of funny, because my flight out got delayed to the point that I was checking in for my flight home before I even left the San Jose airport.
A big part of why some folks like virtual meetings isn’t what you think. The official reasoning might be that it saves on travel cost or time wasted migrating between meetings but I know some people who won’t walk next door if there is a webex link in a meeting invite. Some of it might be laziness but I think the more likely culprit is work overload. [Read more…]
One of the many things you learn in the management consulting business is there is no one path to success, so it’s interesting to hear what people remember as the most useful information or advice they’ve picked up so far. What better way to highlight this than to ask consultants from different firms what’s the best advice they’ve gotten. [Read more…]