# Client Meeting Review ## Instructions Analyze this as a consulting or agency client meeting. "You" is the consultant or agency; "Client" is the client. Score the call against the six criteria in the playbook below, giving each a 1 to 5 and quoting the line from the transcript that earned that score. Never score a criterion you have no evidence for; mark it n/a and say what was missing. Judge only what was said out loud, never intent, never tone you cannot hear in the words. Flag every scope moment separately: mark each point where the Client asked for something new or changed something already agreed, and for each one, say whether You named it as out-of-scope, put a cost or a trade-off on it, and got a decision on the call. Where a score is 3 or below, write the exact line You should have said instead, in Your own register. ## What this lens is for A working meeting on a live engagement: a status call, a check-in, a review, a kickoff. A good client meeting ends with last week's commitments closed or owned, every new request either scoped or parked with a price, the decisions restated, and a dated next step with names on it. It does not end with a warm "we're all aligned" and a pile of quiet new work. ## How to read the call - Read once end to end before scoring anything. First-pass scoring rewards the warm moments. - Mark every point where the Client adds work or widens something: "also," "while you're at it," "one more thing," "can you just," "it'd be great if." - For each of those, check three things in the next minute: did You name it as a change, did You put a cost or trade-off on it, did a decision get made out loud. - Note every number anyone said: hours, money, dates, headcount. - Check the last two minutes separately. Most client meetings lose the next step there, not in the middle. ## The criteria ### 1. The meeting was framed and the frame was agreed **Listen for:** In the first few minutes, You say what this call is for, ask what is missing, and confirm the time. The frame is where the boundary of today's work gets set. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | No frame. Straight into "so, where are we?" and wherever the Client steers. | | **3** | A frame stated but not agreed. "I thought we'd cover the draft and the timeline," then moves on without pausing for what the Client wants to add. | | **4-5** | Purpose, gap, and time. "Three things today: the draft, the timeline, and one new request I want to size with you. Anything to add? And I have you till the hour, still?" | **Quote:** The first thing You said after the greeting. ### 2. Last meeting's commitments were reviewed before new business **Listen for:** You open on the open items from last time, by owner and status, before anything new starts. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | Straight into new business. Last week's promises are never mentioned. | | **3** | A vague gesture at progress. "Things are moving along on our end." No item, no owner. | | **4-5** | The open loop, named and closed. "Before anything new: the two items from last week. The draft is done; the API access is still open on your side. Right?" | **Quote:** The first item from a prior meeting that got reviewed, or note that none did. ### 3. A new or changed ask was named as out-of-scope, out loud **Listen for:** When the Client adds work or widens the ask, You name it as a change against the agreement rather than absorbing it silently. This is the criterion scope creep lives or dies on. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | The ask is absorbed with a reflex yes. "Sure, we can fold that in." Nothing marks it as new. | | **3** | A hesitation with no label. "Oh, um, yeah, I can probably take a look at that too." It is neither refused nor scoped. | | **4-5** | The ask is named as a change on the spot. "Quick flag: the blog migration is new, it wasn't in the statement of work, so let's treat it as a change, not a freebie." | **Quote:** Every sentence where the Client added or widened work, and what You said next. ### 4. The cost of the out-of-scope ask was made visible and the decision handed back **Listen for:** For each new ask, You say what it costs (hours, timeline, fee) and give the Client a real choice, so the trade-off is theirs to make. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | A silent yes, or a flat "sure, no problem." No cost is spoken; it appears on the invoice later, or never. | | **3** | Reluctance without a number. "That's a bit of extra work, but we'll see what we can do." No figure, no options. | | **4-5** | A cost and a choice. "That's about six hours. I can quote it separately, or swap it for the newsletter build we'd planned. Which works for you?" | **Quote:** The first sentence that put a number or a trade-off on a new ask, or note that none did. ### 5. Decisions were stated back and confirmed **Listen for:** Each decision restated in plain terms and agreed out loud, so it does not become four different memories by Thursday. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | "Great, sounds good." Nothing is read back; everyone leaves with a slightly different version. | | **3** | One decision confirmed, the rest assumed. "So we'll go with option B," then straight on, with three other open threads left hanging. | | **4-5** | The decisions read back as a set and confirmed. "So we're agreed: ship the draft Friday, blog migration becomes a change order, newsletter slips a week. Yes?" | **Quote:** The read-back line, or note that decisions were left implied. ### 6. Owners, dates, and a next step were set on the call **Listen for:** Every action assigned to a named person with a date, and the next meeting booked before the call ends. | Score | Sounds like | |---|---| | **1-2** | A vague forward promise. "I'll send some times and we'll go from there." | | **3** | Actions without owners, or a next step without a date. "We'll circle back on this soon." | | **4-5** | Owners, dates, and the next step, all on the call. "You send the API keys by Tuesday, I send the change order today, we meet Thursday at ten to sign off. Booked." | **Quote:** The last thing agreed before the goodbye. ## Scoring Score each criterion 1 to 5. Mark n/a where the transcript gives you nothing, and say what was missing rather than guessing. Report the average across the criteria you could score, to one decimal place, and report the scope tally separately: how many new asks came up, and how many were named, priced, and decided on the call. - **4.0 and up, and every new ask scoped.** The meeting advanced the engagement. Send the recap and the change orders. - **3.0 to 3.9.** Progress with leaks. Name the two lowest criteria; those are the next meeting. - **2.0 to 2.9.** A friendly call that decided little. Nothing scoped, nothing dated. - **Below 2.0.** The meeting cost you. Rebuild the frame and the follow-up habit before the next one. A high average with a 1 on criterion 3 or 4 is not a good meeting. It is a meeting where you gave work away pleasantly. Say so plainly. ## Red flags - **The pleasant yes.** Every new request is met with "sure, no problem," and no number is ever said. - **The buried ask.** A widening request slips by in a sidebar and never gets named as a change. - **Happy alignment.** You describe the call as aligned while no decision was read back and no date was set. - **The silent invoice.** Extra work is agreed to and only surfaces later, on a timesheet the Client never approved. - **The vague next step.** The call ends on "I'll send some times" instead of a booked meeting. ## How to report - Open with the average score, the strongest criterion, and the weakest one. One sentence each. - Under scope: list every new or changed ask, whether it was named, priced, and decided, and the running total of unscoped work if any slipped through. - Under what went well: each criterion scoring 4 or 5, with its number and the quote that earned it. - Under what to improve: each criterion scoring 3 or below, with its number, the quote that cost it, and the exact line to use next time. - Under decisions: only what was actually decided on the call, in the speakers' own terms. - Under action items: the owner, the commitment, and the date, plus any change order to send. ## Coaching notes - Work one criterion at a time. Someone asked to fix six things fixes none. - The order that compounds fastest: 3, then 4, then 6. Naming a change is a reflex you can build, pricing it is a skill, and booking the next step is a habit. - If criterion 3 or 4 scores low across four meetings with the same client, it is not a meeting problem, it is a contract problem. Renegotiate the statement of work, not the next agenda.