Prepare the People, (not the slides)

People spend hours preparing slides for the meeting (or minutes in Gamma or Genspark or Co-pilot now), but very few spend time preparing the people in the meeting.

The best sellers and leaders I’ve worked with don’t rely on the meeting to get the approval. Before the meeting they’ve already done the bulk of the work; in side conversations; by understanding where the resistance sits; by shaping the message for the people who matter; by testing and evolving the idea. They’ve understood where the resistance is. They’ve shaped the message for the people who matter. They haven’t just built a solution. They’ve built alignment. And by the time they walk into the room, their ducks are in a row.

For them the meeting isn’t a discussion. It’s a decision.