One-to-one (1:1)

A one-to-one is a short private meeting between the head of sales and one seller, on a fixed day. The team meeting covers the whole pipeline. The 1:1 covers one person: their deals, the skill they are working on and what blocks them.

It lives in two places. The calendar holds a recurring slot that nobody moves without a reason. The CRM holds the material: the seller's open deals, overdue next steps and recent lost deals. Keep a short shared note per seller with each meeting's agreements. The next meeting then starts where the last one ended.

For example, a seller's proposals keep stalling. The meeting goes through one stalled deal and agrees on a call to the decision maker by Thursday.

Hold it every week or every two weeks, for the same length each time. Start with the seller's agenda, then yours. Look at two or three deals in depth, not the whole list. End with one or two agreements, each with an owner and a date.

The 1:1 changes decisions about the person, not the deal. You see whether a seller needs coaching, a lighter load or a different type of deal. Compare their numbers against their quota, then ask what is behind the gap. Bring one recording from a call review if a skill keeps slipping.

It sits inside the management rhythm next to the weekly pipeline review. The review asks where each deal stands. The 1:1 asks why this seller's deals stand there. Keep the two apart, or the 1:1 turns into a second status meeting and the coaching disappears.

• Turning it into a status report. If you read deal stages aloud, you repeat the pipeline review. Ask about one stuck deal and what the seller would try next.
• Cancelling it when the week gets busy. Sellers learn that coaching is optional. Move the slot if you must, but never drop it without a new date.
• Talking more than the seller. You learn nothing about their thinking. Ask questions first and give advice only after you hear their plan.
• Agreeing on things nobody writes down. Next time, both sides remember differently. Write the agreements in the shared note before the meeting ends.

By Friday, the head of sales books a recurring 1:1 with each seller for the next four weeks. Before the first one, open the seller's deals in the CRM and pick two that look stuck. Create a shared note per seller with three headings: their topics, your topics, agreements. Use the same note every time. After four meetings, read the agreements back and check which ones were kept.

A weekly meeting on stuck deals that ends with a decision and an owner for each.