What You'll Discover In This Episode:
There are few things I used to hate more than ending conversations.
I mean, that can be super awkward, right?
A client dives into a long, personal story at 2:57pm and you have another client scheduled for 3pm. Uh oh.
Do you…
Cut them off abruptly? They might feel disrespected.
Let them continue and apologize to your next client for being late? But then all your meetings today would run several minutes behind. Ugh. That’s a lot of apologizing.
Tell them you’d love to hear that whole story at your next session but are out of time now? It might seem like you don’t really care.
I used to have all those questions and thoughts run through my head when wrapping up a conversation was necessary and I dreaded voicing what I came up with.
Not anymore.
I realized that for others to respect my time, whether they’re family, friends, vendors, or clients, I needed to show them that I respect their time as well as my own.
And an important way I could show that was by effectively communicating the time I have available to talk, as well as the agenda for what we’re going to discuss BEFORE the conversation begins.
That way, everyone is on the same page with a clearly defined start time, end time, and objectives.
Then, when it’s time to wrap up, I provide the cues and there’s no awkwardness.
I just turn to my go-to phrases and politely and effectively end the conversation.
Easy peasy. The other party is content, and my schedule is not hijacked.
In this episode of Productivity Straight Talk, I provide my favorite tips for wrapping up conversations effectively so both parties’ feel their voices were heard and their time respected.
