Meetings To Have Meetings

Attention, business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives! I have a game-changing strategy to boost your revenue. This is not a drill; it’s a surefire, guaranteed, take-it-to-the-bank, count on it worthy method. Are you ready to hear it?

STOP unnecessary meetings.

That’s right, you heard me. Stop right now creating planning meetings to plan meetings. Stop having meetings in the boardroom or ZOOM without a strong, powerful, and meaningful agenda. Do you know what these time-sucking black holes might be costing you? Well, I’ve done a little research.

There were 55m meetings held in the US each week as of 2023. If you do the math, that’s 11m+ a day and 1B+ a year

Let’s talk about numbers. According to a 2023 Microsoft report, American workers spend an average of 7.5 hours weekly in meetings. And if you’re a manager or executive, you know that number easily quadruples. But it’s not just time, it’s money. All that time spent waving and smiling on ZOOM? It’s costing you. To be precise, it costs the US economy an estimated $37 Billion annually. That’s a hefty price for unproductive meetings, wouldn’t you say?

Think about it. If your star performers are in meetings rather than making you money, that’s just wild and stupid. In my role as a Certified Master Business Coach, the one common and consistent issue I work with clients is strategies to help them spend more time on the things they are best at. Just a week ago, I spoke to an entrepreneur/business owner whose issue was that he had worked 70-80 hours a week for years and wasn’t growing. So, I had him list everything he “thinks” he needs to do daily. Most of the things he listed revolved around some meetings: a sales meeting, a planning meeting, a marketing meeting, a finance meeting, etc. I then asked him the most challenging question he’d ever had to answer. I asked, “If you could do just one thing that you are exceptionally good at, and that is the main thing you do every day, what would it be?”

After telling me in no uncertain terms that that was a stupid question, I persisted. He finally said, “I’m a great salesperson.”

I then asked him, “How much time do you currently spend selling. “

He said, “10% of the time”.

I said, “What would it be worth to you if you could spend 90% of your time selling and 10% of your time doing (or delegating) these other things?”

He thought about it and said with reality creeping onto his face, “It would mean millions of new revenues for my company.”

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or executive, you must examine the time you and your staff spend in meetings and ask yourself if they’re all necessary. Most can be handled in minutes rather than costly hours.

An old mentor of mine taught me this. He would say that Babe Ruth was not paid to take batting practice. He was paid and drew big paying crowds to watch him hit home runs. Your business is no different. Don’t keep your big hitters locked away in meetings. The result is almost always more new customers, more returning customers, and lots of new and improved revenue and profits.

Unnecessary meetings are no more than restrictive corrals for your team. Open the gates and turn them loose. Your bottom line will show the results.