Meeting Agenda Strategies for Effective Follow-Ups

If you’re an AE and still sending “Recap Emails” after discovery calls, let me save you 12 months of frustration: You're making a mistake. You are confusing the buyer. You’re flooding them with everything you heard—but not what they need to do next. It feels helpful. It feels “consultative.” But in reality, it kills momentum. Here’s what I teach my AEs instead: Only one thing matters between first meeting and proposal: Progress. Forget the fluff. The notes. The recap. The follow-up should be this simple: “Great meeting with your team. Looks like there’s strong potential to help. As a next step, we’ll need to do a deeper dive into your environment so we can show you a tailored demo and proposal with implementation details and costs. Let’s schedule that session—it should take about an hour. After that, we’ll be ready to deliver a proposal.” That’s it. No persuasion. No selling. Just forward motion. Why does this work? Because: Buyers don’t read your bullet-pointed essays. They don’t remember action items buried in paragraphs. They don’t need more “convincing” before the demo. They need clarity. Ownership. Urgency. And when you stop treating every meeting like a closing opportunity, you’ll finally start getting to the point that matters: Proposal on the table.

One of the most frequently missed opportunities I’ve seen over the course of my career is the 1:1 meeting with leadership. Too often, these potentially vital touch points become mere status updates about ongoing projects. There are 3 things I do that truly makes these 30 minutes super valuable: 1. Set a crisp and clear agenda for the meeting. Share it beforehand with your leader, whether it's a weekly manager check-in or a skip-level meeting. Break it down into clear sections and start by stating your desired outcomes for those 30 minutes. 2. Tag, categorize, and stack rank each agenda item. I use these 5 categories in all my 1:1 docs: 📌 [Top of Mind] - Exchange of current priorities and pressing concerns 🔔 [Update] - Project progress and OKR tracking 🙏🏼 [Ask] - Where I need help, blockers, advice on tricky situations 📝 [Career] - Growth discussions, aspirations, and development paths 🏃♂️ [Ops] - Tactical discussions, escalations, challenges, and operational needs 3. Track action items. Document specific follow-ups for both you and your leader. These can range from immediate project needs to long-term career development goals. Make sure you don’t just let these go into the void and follow up on them during subsequent 1:1s or over Slack/email. 💡 Pro Tip: Type "@notes" in Google Docs to instantly generate a meeting notes template to help you track your recurring 1:1s. 📲 What is the one key thing you do during 1:1s with your leader (or subordinate) that makes the meeting worthwhile? 

“Let’s have a meeting to talk about meetings,” said no one ever. But maybe we should. A Microsoft global survey found the #1 workplace distraction is inefficient meetings. The #2? Too many of them. Sound familiar? Last week, I led a meeting effectiveness workshop for a team of 15 at the request of their practice leader—who happens to be my husband. His team’s meeting struggles? Rambling discussions, uneven engagement, unclear outcomes, and lack of follow-through. He thought a meeting AI tool might fix it. Nope. AI can help document meetings, but it can’t make people prepare better, participate more, or drive decisions. The fix? It’s not “Have an agenda”. It’s setting the right meeting norms. My husband was hesitant to put me in the late morning slot–worried the team would tune out before lunch. I told him, “Put me in, coach. I’ll show you engagement.” And I did. For 90 minutes, we tackled meeting norms head-on through interactive discussions and small group exercises. Here are 5 norms they worked through to transform their meetings: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. An agenda is a list of topics. A purpose answers: What critical decision needs to be made? What problem are we solving? Why does this require a discussion? If you can’t summarize the purpose in one sentence with an action verb, you don’t need a meeting. 2️⃣ 𝗕𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. Some discussions only need two people; others require a small group or the full team. Match the participants and group size to the topic and purpose.  3️⃣ 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲. Before the meeting, define the problem or goal. Identify potential solutions. Recommend one. Outline your criteria for selecting the solution(s). Back it up with data or other relevant information. Preparation = productivity. 4️⃣ 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. A good facilitator keeps conversations on track, reins in tangents, and ensures all voices –not just the loudest–are heard. Facilitation matters more than the agenda. 5️⃣ 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀. Summarize decisions. Assign action items. Set deadlines. Follow-up to ensure accountability and progress. A meeting without follow-through is just wasted time. The outcome of the workshop? 100% engagement. (One person even admitted she normally tunes out in these things but stayed engaged the entire time!) More importantly, the team aligned on meeting norms and left with actionable steps to improve. Want better meetings? Set better norms. Focus on facilitation. What’s one meeting tip that’s worked well for your team?

Reps put too much energy into landing the meeting and not enough into earning the next one. In K–12, your buyer’s calendar is a battlefield. If you get 30 minutes, treat it like gold. Before the call: Research their district priorities, funding sources, and current vendors Come in with 2 hypotheses about what might be broken or misaligned Prepare 1 success story from a similar district, and one funding alignment example During the call: Lead with questions, not slides Offer new insight tied to their role Frame the next step clearly and early After the call: Send a short, high-leverage follow-up with a summary they can forward Include a rollout plan or timeline that aligns with their calendar, not yours If your meeting ends with “thanks, we’ll think about it,” you didn’t drive the conversation. If it ends with “can you send that over so I can loop in my colleague,” you did your job. You’re not just trying to pitch. You’re trying to build momentum.

How I run sales meetings that lead to next steps 90% of the time. Running a successful sales meeting involves clear communication before, during, and after. Often, attendees aren't sure what to expect, so we have to make sure to set the tone before the call even happens. So I send an agenda 24 hours prior to the call and include the following. • What topics will be discussed • Questions to answer beforehand • Use cases if applicable Also, make sure to do some research about the company so you have context. No one likes an unprepared sales rep. During the call immediately set expectations. • Ask if they have a hard-stop • Refer back to the email to set the agenda for the call • Mention that you did some research and tell them what you found Be an active listener and ask deep discovery questions to uncover pain. As the call wraps up, make sure to leave 7-9 minutes to guide them through the next steps. Here is an example: "Typically, when we see a problem like this, we would most likely include (x person) and (y person) on the next call to discuss how we help in that area. Would Thursday at 10am EST work for you?" I book these meetings directly from Calendly's browser extension while still on the call because it's quick, smooth, and instant. Calendar invites are sent before we end the call so you remove the possibility of being ghosted after. We still have work to do after you nail down the next steps. We ain't done yet. Send a summary email, not to do more selling but to recap for accountability. • What their main goals/priorities are • Timeline • Next steps When you have a system to run better meetings, it leads to great results. P.S. Do you agree with this framework? #BetterMeetings