One of the most difficult skills I had to learn was how to manage entrepreneurs during the leads meetings. It seemed as though they all wanted to talk at the same time or they didn’t want to talk at all.
At first it was exhausting! I struggled to find ways of being encouraging yet not let one or two of the most enthusiastic members control the entire meeting. I used to refer to them as my “3 year olds!”
Then one day one of the more outgoing members was way over the top telling stories which didn’t relate to the meeting or anyone else while the rest of the group wanted to get on to the point of exchanging leads.
I looked up from my task of writing leads and said, “Jeff, maybe you should take Ron for coffee and talk more.” Then I turned my attention to Ron sitting next to Jeff and asked, “Do you have any leads for anyone today?”
The look on his face was priceless. It was like he realized he had been rescued and he was so relieved he didn’t have to hear “the rest of the story.”
It was not as difficult as I thought! As long as I was courteous, I merely had to keep control of the conversations to keep the energy moving.