I was driving the other day, catching up on some old Alan Weiss recordings (yep, I upload them into my own private podcast feed so I actually listen to them instead of letting them die in a Dropbox folder).
One simple but powerful Consulting 101 lesson hit me right between the eyes again: define your Min and Max before every conversation.
Alan calls it MinMax ā your minimum measure of success and your maximum. It sounds obvious, but most of us donāt do it. We just show up to a meeting thinking itās win/lose, binary. Either they ask for a quote = win, or they donāt = lose. But there are so many other outcomes that count as success ā building rapport, identifying the economic buyer, getting a referral, or just knowing the next step.
Hereās the kicker: without those guardrails, you canāt really steer the conversation. Alan uses the metaphor of a boat in a channel ā the tides and winds (aka other peopleās agendas) will push you off course unless youāre steering deliberately.
This applies everywhere: prospect calls, stakeholder meetings, even internal conversations. When you set your MinMax, you shift from āthat was a waste of timeā to āthat was a success on the continuum.ā
Iāll be sharing this idea in a workshop later this week, but wanted to remind myself (and you!) here first.
āØ In this episode:
ā¢ Why ābinary winsā set you up for disappointment
ā¢ Alan Weissā MinMax framework explained
ā¢ Practical examples you can apply to client calls and team meetings
ā¢ How to steer conversations back on track without being pushy
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