How to Turn More 90 Minute Meetings Into Focus Days

You've had five 90s this year that didn't turn into Focus Days, and you don't know why. You're doing the Monday calls and the business development work. You're getting at bats. You're just not connecting.

I've been there. Nine years in, I hold roughly 25 clients at a time, and I teach boot camp, so I hear this from newer Implementers all the time. When someone brings me this issue, these are the things I go through with them, in this order.

Go back over every one of those 90s and ask: were they target market? Demographic and geographic, you can decide pretty quickly. The psychographic is the one that matters most.

Were they open, honest and vulnerable with you? Do you think they were growth oriented? If the answer is no, it's likely not you. Don't rebuild your whole approach around a team that was never going to be a fit.

Run your 90 Minute Meeting™ for an EOS® Implementer who's been doing this longer than you. Do it exactly the way you'd do it with a client, and have them sit and watch as if they're the client.

I've done this for a few Implementers. There are always little things, blind spots in how you deliver the 90, that you can't see from where you're standing. A lot of Implementers in the community will do this for you. Take advantage of it.

Some people think entering the danger is only for the Focus Day, VB1 or a quarterly. It starts in the 90 Minute Meeting™, and when you do it there, you'll convert more.

I got a client once because of a phone. One of the people around the table was on his phone, texting, doing his thing, in the middle of step three. So I stopped and sat there quiet. It was probably 30 seconds, and 30 seconds of silence is a long time when you're presenting. When he looked up, I told him to go ahead and finish what he was doing: "I just don't want you to miss any of this." Then I told him that in our sessions we operate without phones, and asked if he'd be willing to wrap up and participate with the rest of the team.

They moved forward with me, and they told me that was the reason. The other five people around that table were dealing with it in every single meeting. Finally somebody was going to say something.

Another time it was a dad who owned the business, a bulldog, with his daughters on the team. I don't remember exactly what I did, but afterwards they told me "nobody's ever stood up to my dad." Somebody needed to tell him when he was wrong, and I was willing to do it.

For me, this was instinct. I didn't know it was entering the danger until other people pointed it out. But the reason it works is simple: the team is watching how you're going to be in the session room. If you see something in the 90 and don't call it out, why would they believe you'll call it out in a Focus Day?

This is the part people get wrong after hearing stories like mine. Don't copy the words other Implementers use. What we say is real and genuine to us. Be real and genuine to you, and accomplish the same thing.

There are Implementers in the community who would have been far more direct than I was with the phone. I can't do that. It's not my style, and I still got the same result. If someone hasn't said a word all meeting, one Implementer might ask "You, do you talk?" I might ask "Hey, do you have anything to add to this?" Both call it out. Pick the version that sounds like you, and then use it.

When a team decides to move forward and we schedule the Focus Day, they always ask what they need to do. The very first thing I tell them is: come with an open mind, not a preconceived notion of how the day is going to go.

That's what I'm coming in with too. The minute you assume you know how the Accountability Chart™ exercise is going to go, you're done. None of us knows exactly how the day will play out, but we're going to do great work.

Then I tell them the tactical things and walk them through what we're going to cover, and I leave it at that. I don't over-teach or pile on instructions.

Blaming yourself for every 90 that doesn't convert. Sometimes they just weren't target market. Run Step 1 before you take it personally.

Borrowing someone else's style. If the line isn't yours, the team will feel it. The goal is the behavior, not the script.

Asking for warm leads after every session. A few years ago I asked for a warm lead at the end of every session once a client was past their first quarterly, and I wasn't getting any. My ratings were great, so I asked another Implementer what I was missing. Her answer: "Stop asking." Just keep delivering amazing sessions. About five sessions after I stopped, one of my leadership team members said, as I was wrapping up, "Aren't you gonna ask us for a warm lead?" I'd asked so often it had become an expectation, and they weren't even hearing it anymore. Now I mention my availability in casual conversation, and that's it. Other Implementers ask and wait for a name, and that works for them. Find your way.

The teams you work with become your advocates, and not only the Visionary and Integrator. I have advocates across the whole team, finance leaders included, because everybody knows people. But that only happens if you get them results, and entering the danger in the 90 is where they first see that you will.

I never expect a warm lead. Nine years in, the majority of mine come from my current clients.