One Simple Tip to Instantly Get the Most from Every Business Meeting

Clients are curious about how I manage to get so much done. They ask how I manage my continuously growing business, travel to speak at association summits and free time for the important people in my life.

Before you assume I have a magic wand in my back pocket, I have a number of unanswered emails in my mailbox and, every so often, a few things fall through the cracks.

The reality is that we all have 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour. What I realize from mentoring people over the years is that there is way to get it all done, or at least a lot of it, while building a global business and enjoying life. It’s all about being watchful around how I use my time.

If you've been a client, attended my Wake Up Profitable or other live event, or heard me speak on a radio show or webinar, you know that I’m observant of managing our time together. Whether you’re managing a meeting of one or many, there is one simple thing you can do that instantly increases your productivity in meetings.

The one simple thing you can do is wrap up the meeting at least five minutes prior to the end of your meeting time. I dub this point of the meeting The Golden Five Minutes. When you manage the meeting, these remaining minutes are your golden nugget of productivity.

This habit gives you an opportunity to set the expectation the meeting is about to conclude and to confirm the next steps or action item list. The Golden Five serves two purposes:

1. It gives your team a queue they need to wrap it up. The wrap up time is especially effective if your prospect, client or team member is a talker. This is a good signal to them to keep it short and concise the meeting is about to end.

2. You’re shifting the meeting from abstract discussion to specific action. The action item list includes the follow up tasks from the meeting. Make sure everyone understands the action items by summarizing them. Identify who is responsible for each action item and the date it will be accomplished. Each task will only happen if it is grounded in a date and someone specific is assigned responsibility for that action item.

Before you end the meeting, make sure you have consensus around the due dates. If there are concerns over the due dates, renegotiate them and get clear on the new dates.

Once everyone is clear on their responsibilities and action items, evaluate the meeting. List what worked and what should be done differently for the next meeting. If there is anything on the “done differently” list to improve the meeting, make sure it gets assigned to someone and completed by the next meeting.

When you regularly wrap up your meetings in this way, watch how much more productive you and your team become. This also gives you an opportunity to get to your next commitment on time.