First-week talk with the owner

15 questions for your first conversation with the owner, plus goals for day 30 and day 90.

The first conversation with the owner sets the goals you will be judged on

Use it when: You are in your first week and have not yet agreed on what success means.

It is your first week as sales manager, and nobody has said out loud yet what success means. The owner already has a picture of what will change. Yours is probably different, and until someone writes it down, you both think you agreed.

An owner who dislikes formalities is no reason to skip the talk. You get the words for that kind of conversation, plus a short version with five questions instead of fifteen.

It prepares one conversation. You will not find a full plan for the first month in it. Once your first month is behind you and the goals are agreed in writing, you can do without it.

Early in the week, Monday if you can, read page 2 (about five minutes) and page 8, on what not to promise in your first week. Then pick the full conversation or the short one, questions 1, 2, 5, 12 and 15, and book 60 minutes with the owner.

In the meeting, write the answers straight onto pages 3, 4 and 5. Any answer that worries you gets a tick in the red-flag box. On a laptop, use the fillable version.

Do the follow-up the same day, while it is fresh: move the result to the 30- and 90-day agreement on page 6 and email the owner a summary. Page 7 covers that email.

Before Friday, put day 30 and day 90 in your calendar as check dates.

Questions