Excuses
Time – more often than not the primary reason or excuse of parties not attending such meetings is that they are too busy and simply don’t have the time. Strange enough, I find that they are often the same people who will say that they don’t have time to exercise. Let’s go back to basics – if something is important enough you should, and most people do, make the time.
As I will illustrate in the rest of this series of articles, attending such meetings are absolutely essential for your business. One of the big mistakes owners make is to think that they have to attend personally every time – why not rotate the staff attending so that in one calendar year at least each staff member has attended one meeting?
The benefits are obvious: it is fun (and let’s face it, if your job is not fun you should get another job), they get to meet their counterparts and the customers who they often have only spoken to over the phone or via email – they get to see the bigger picture and it will give them better insight into your business. Life and business are the same: what you get out is directly related to what you put in (Return Of Time).
Get nothing out of it – as per the previous section you have to put in to get out. I will deal with how to prepare for a meeting so that you get the most out of it, as failing to prepare is preparing to fail. You will not get any results if you don’t put any effort in. Be positive, look at the glass half full, be prepared to and do have fun. Even if it is just an opportunity to get out of the office and blow off steam.
However, it is more than likely that with the correct preparation and effort you will get a lot from attending.
Better things to do – as the saying goes, ‘if you want to hit a dog you will find a stick.’ Excuses, excuses. Once you see attendance as a branding, advertising and networking opportunity and you prepare in that context, you will soon see that attendance once a month or once every quarter (depending on the frequency) is in fact the better thing to do.
By being strategic and co-ordinating your attendance with clients you have to see in any event and who may be at the meeting or who are located en route/close to the meeting venue, you can kill two birds with one stone.
Too busy – we are all busy but busy with what? Doing things right or doing the right thing? I am sure once you’ve read and apply my series on attending meetings, you will end up doing the right thing and attend.
