A client meeting at a coffee shop taught me to use a simple checklist before every pitch

I was sitting at a Starbucks in downtown Austin last month, going over a campaign proposal with a potential client. We had everything ready - timeline, budget, creative samples - but halfway through I realized I forgot to bring the signed NDA from our initial call. The client got a bit hesitant, and it almost killed the deal. Now I have a laminated checklist I run through 30 minutes before any meeting. It covers things like contracts, attendance confirmation, and even making sure my laptop is charged. Anyone else use a pre-meeting checklist to avoid embarrassing slip-ups?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric35915d ago

Checklists saved my bacon more than once.

charlie_stone7215d ago

Take the time to think about what a checklist actually does for your brain. It's not just about remembering steps. It offloads all that mental clutter so your brain can actually focus on the problem instead of keeping track of what you already did. That's the real magic. Once you write it down, you can spot gaps or weird logic in your plan that you'd never catch just thinking about it.