A streamlined meeting is always more efficient at relaying messages and maximizing productivity. Sometimes, it can be difficult to reign in a meeting that has gone haywire, with side conversations, arguments, or simply too much outside interference preventing the attendees from reaching the goal of the meeting. This article shows you how to streamline, manage, and conduct client meetings that save you valuable time and achieve maximum productivity.
Have An Agenda To Streamline Client Meetings
Anytime you plan something out, it will likely flow better than an unplanned event. This goes for conference calls as well. An unplanned call will often spiral into conversations about last night’s game or even the latest office gossip. Maintaining professionalism is essential when speaking with your clients by having an agenda for your attendees to follow.
An agenda can be as simple as a hand-written list or as complex as a spreadsheet with all the information up for discussion. Whatever the case, having a plan will give your callers a central rallying point to fall back on when the conversation begins to stray.
Having an agenda will also help reduce the time needed to complete the call. Honestly, no one enjoys a lengthy meeting, and attendees start to disengage and become bored once a meeting has gone on too long. By simplifying your meetings with an agenda, you’ll increase your efficiency tenfold. Giving your clients a professional representation of how you conduct business.
Only Invite Necessary Participants To Streamline Client Meetings
One of the best ways to streamline, manage and conduct meetings or conference calls is to invite only the right people/client to the event. Having the wrong people in a meeting can be disastrous, as someone who doesn’t know what is being discussed will start conversations that can derail the entire meeting.
When creating your agenda for the meeting, you’ll also want to take a few extra minutes to create a guest list. Review your guest list thoroughly and consider what each meeting member will bring to the discussion. Was Jim a necessary participant just because he’s head of shipping?
Once you’ve narrowed down the guest list, send everyone (including the client) a copy of the agenda a few days beforehand. This will give everyone time to review the discussion points and goals and decide if anything needs to be added or removed.
Including your participants in the planning, phase ensures accuracy and efficiency in meeting goals. It eliminates unnecessary (and often distracting) input from people who shouldn’t have been attending in the first place.
Use A Conference Calling Service
When you use conference call services for client meetings, you’re providing a safe, secure, well-connected platform for the meeting to take place on. This can mean the difference between costly phone bills and dropped calls. If you’ve ever had a dropped call during an important meeting, you know how frustrating it can be for both sides of the call.
Conference calling services are simple. They’re web-based calling services that allow you to connect with anyone anywhere in the world for one fixed rate. No more long-distance charges on your company phone bill or multi-caller orders driving up the cost of your phone services. Web-based conference calling operates on a fixed monthly or yearly rate, with packages for up to 1,000 callers available!
By utilizing this relatively new platform for your client meetings, you can be sure that calls are secure and cost-effective, and furthering the overall efficiency of your calls can save you valuable time. You’ll be able to tackle more issues. Meet more of your goals this way, and you’ll do it without breaking the bank.
Have A Set Timeline To Streamline Client Meetings
Part of planning for a meeting is setting a timeline for which each item on the agenda should be completed. Allocating specific amounts of time to different topics will not only help keep discussions relevant but will shorten the overall length of the meeting and help keep everyone engaged.
Allocate time to each agenda topic, and set a timer for each if necessary. Let everyone know when the timer is close to running out. Moreover, ensure that your agenda is broken down into time slots so everyone knows what to expect from client meetings.
Clear Leadership
Are you running the meeting? Someone else? Have you ever attended a meeting where it was unclear who was running it? Clear leadership can serve a twofold purpose; it will help define who is in charge of the agenda. Keep everyone on track. Give everyone a rallying point should the meeting become off-topic.
A good leader is prompt concise, and enforces the meeting’s goals and agenda. If you’re leading the meeting, it’s essential to let the participants know. That way, everyone has a clear understanding of your expectations as well as what to expect from you.
Good leadership will also give your business a sense of professionalism in the eyes of the client. With a clear agenda, allocate time slots for each goal. A good leader heading up the meeting, you’ll experience a more efficient meeting. In addition, it helps set the bar for future gatherings.
Client Meetings Streamline Conclusion
In conclusion, meetings should be productive, not counterproductive. To keep them this way, always plan. Include the right participants. Keep everyone informed. Make sure that whoever is designated to lead the meeting is organized. Punctual and concise. So hopefully, this article on how you can streamline, manage and conduct client meetings that can save you valuable time and get you maximum productivity.
