It’s confession time! Does it ever amaze you how we can implement things for our clients but still have huge holes in our own business? I had a huge one – and it was wreaking havoc in my time management.
My clients rely on my to implement systems in their business. These systems usually revolve around marketing automation, but business system processes are always involved as well. The irony is I had one area of my business where I had not implemented a system and it was truly affecting my business!
Client Meetings
Imagine the scene… I am getting ready to have a call with a client to discuss a current project and I grab the nearest notebook to take notes. Yes – I am an old-fashioned girl who still likes to take handwritten notes in a meeting. (I am also picky as to what pen I am using!) What is the problem then? I have approximately 10 different notebooks sitting on my desk and I just grab whichever one is nearest.
The call ends, my notes are taken and my to-do actions are written down as well. The next day I go to assign the action items to the appropriate person, but where are my notes? Are they in the client file? Of course not! They are still in one of 10 notebooks piled on my desk. Imagine how much more hectic that gets when I need to refer back to my notes in a week or two weeks? How do I complete tasks for clients if I can’t find the list! The chaos is mounting and it has to end.
Knowing that I need to find a system for this one task (which doesn’t seem like it should be that hard), I reach out to a group of other business women in a Facebook group I belong to. I ask if someone has a simple way to keep track of client meetings and guess what? Most of them post back that they do the same exact thing!
Small Change – Big Results
It was time for a change – and it need to happen immediately. In under 30 minutes, I created a form in Word that has the bare basics of what I needed:
- Client Name
- Date
- Meeting Notes
- Action Items – including who they are assigned to and the due date
I now have a stack of these printed and sitting next to my phone – ready to grab before every meeting. The notebooks are hidden and not accessible. This simple form can now immediately go into the client file upon completion.
Simple, right? Why didn’t I implement this any time in the last 5 years? Who knows. But the amount of time I have lost as a result of not implementing this simple change is huge.
Get your copy
If you are struggling with organizing your client meeting notes, I invite you to download a copy of this form. It’s basic, it’s clean and it’s yours for the taking. I even left it as a Word doc so you can customize it to fit your needs. At least it gives you a place to start.
If you have an idea for something that should be added to the form, please comment below! I would live to hear your ideas.