Most fumbled calls are prep problems

Okay, story time.

In the early days of Circa, my co-founder and I were operating out of our living room in Denver, Colorado. Two desks in the living room. It was very official.

We were hungry for every dollar. Despite our focus on higher education, we took every deal we could get.

One particular morning, we had a call that could be a game changer: a large OPM interested in our SEO work.

The call started off great. Pleasantries, agenda, the first few slides.

Then I froze.

Nothing. I completely blanked. Felt like an idiot.

Luckily, my co-founder jumped in to save me, and it didn’t impact the end result.

But it stuck with me. I never wanted to feel that unprepared again.

A big reason I fumbled the call was simple: I hadn’t prepared enough.

Ever since, I’ve made time every morning to prepare for the day’s meetings.

A few things that help:

1. Use BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front). I started using this method to improve my executive presence and be clearer, more concise, and more direct in my thinking. Before a meeting, I ask myself: What’s the main point I need to get across? Start there.
2. Use AI to pull the context together. I have a Grok bot review my Granola notes, Notion notes, emails, and more to help me prepare for the day’s meetings. It saves me time digging through past conversations and brings the critical information and talking points together. This is especially helpful for sales calls.

Meeting prep template you can steal: