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When Whale Meetings Explode 1

Recently we were shadowing a client's team as a part of our Deal Coaching work. In that work, we serve as an additional Shaman on a very large whale hunt.

They were pitching an enormous retailer on a marketing campaign. All of the preparation work that we advocate had been done:

  1. Champion and additional supporters were secured

  2. Agenda and outcomes had been "peek-a-booed" in advance to the Champion

  3. Logistics: room, A/V, length of meeting were all set

  4. Attendees were confirmed

  5. Boat was prepared and Power Boat roles assigned and rehearsed

  6. Leave-behind materials created

  7. Presentation was solid, proof-read and timed Rehearsals had been conducted and went well

Then Murphy's Law went into full force! The Murphy's Law of meetings includes any one of the following circumstances that can happen in a meeting:

People — The wrong people come to the meeting, key people do not show for the meeting, some of your people at the last minute cannot make the meeting.

IT and A/V — The internet connection does not work, your technology demonstration does not work, the projector is not available or does not work for your Power Point, the machine you want to use for a manufacturing demonstration does not work.

Facility miscue — You find yourself in a room for 8 people, and there are 12 invited, you need a conference phone or a call in and there isn't one, the room is too hot or cold, the room location has changed and half the people do not know where the new location is.

Hostile Witness — One of the attendees has shown up with a personal agenda to damage this potential relationship. It could be for a variety of reasons, but they are dominating the meeting early with distracting questions and points all meant to de-rail you and cast you in a bad light.

Time — The time of the meeting gets moved at the last minute, the meeting gets cut-short, key members declare that they are going to arrive late or leave early.

Distraction — Jack-hammers outside of the window, a fire alarm, an office party for a retiring employee . . . we have seen it all.

There are more, but they all have a similar result: they make the outcomes of the original meeting under these circumstances almost impossible. In the case of the presentation we were on, we had the wrong people in the room, the meeting time had been cut in half, and we were in a room with 6 working chairs for 8 people. You cannot make this stuff up.


What do you do?

Identify your leader — Start with your preparation. Before you get to the meeting, all of the way back in your preparation, decide who is Shaman, (leader of the boat for the hunt, typically the senior person from Business Development/Sales). It is the Shaman's job to call time out when he or she clearly sees that we are not going to be able to accomplish the agenda outcomes as agreed upon prior to the meeting based upon the circumstances in which the meeting is being conducted.

Declare in the room — You got to this meeting at considerable expense and time investment so you have rights. These cannot be demanded, but they can be declared. The Shaman needs to say,

"I am sorry, we all agreed upon some outcomes for today's meeting and based upon the circumstances I think it will be difficult to get achieve them. Let's agree to the outcomes that we all think we can achieve and will make our mutual time spent valuable."

Change the circumstances or the expectations — You can either agree with the people attending the meeting that the circumstances can be changed, allowing the meeting to achieve the original outcomes, or re-set the expectations of this meeting's outcomes.

Secure expectations agreement — Do not allow the conversation do devolve into- "Well, let's just see how far we can get." This is a weak answer and does not show respect for you or your efforts. Worse, a well-developed presentation requires all of the materials that were designed, not just a SportsCenter highlights reel. You have to make certain that you have come to a specific definition of outcomes that everyone believes are possible, or you have to cancel the meeting and re-schedule.

In the case of the meeting that we attended, because of the level of people who showed up, (one level below those committing to the meeting), because the meeting had been cut in half, and finally, the lack of a decent room to present, we cancelled the meeting and re-set for another time. Why? Because the results that would have made the meeting valuable to us were not possible. A half-presentation to an under-qualified audience in a little room would have resulted in us not getting the deal and probably not getting another meeting.


— Tom Searcy







Tom Searcy, The Whale Hunters Company, Large Account Sales, Business Growth, Sales Process Development, Fast Growth Strategies, RFPs, Key Account Management, Current Account Growth, Sales Management, Breaking Business Growth Plateau's, Prospecting System, Business Acceptance Process, Sales Management Development, Big Sales, Big Deals, Deal Coaching, Transform your company, Explosive Growth, Whale Hunting

FOOTNOTE: 1 COPYRIGHT 2006-2008, THE WHALE HUNTERS, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.