Once you sign on a client, you’ll be expected to have several project status meetings to update them. These meetings shouldn’t just be a status report, they should be used to work with them to ask questions, make decisions, and come up with solutions to any obstacles you are facing.
Sharing an agenda ahead of time sets the expectation for the meeting and allows them to prepare accordingly. They can gather any relevant information and share it before the meeting has even started. By doing this, you can brainstorm on what’s not working and come prepared to discuss it at the meeting.
When you don’t meet often, clients can use meetings as a time to ask a million questions or give you long updates on their business which can take the conversation down rabbit holes. Their information might be important, but it’s all something that can be shared ahead of time in an email, video, or voice recording.
This approach also takes some of the reactive emotions out of the meeting. When someone shares their data and it’s not what you or the client expected, rather than being blindsided and becoming angry, the whole team can take a few hours to calm down and think about the best approach forward.
