📚 – Making Discovery Calls 10x Better
BEST FROM LAST WEEK
📝 – Thread: Most unexpected ways to use Gong
💸 – How to get past level 1 pain
Ask to Own Your One-to-Ones
Most one-to-ones are run by the manager. They set the agenda. They own the calendar invite. They decide what gets talked about.
That’s ass backwards.
The one-to-one should be a resource for the rep.
And if you want it to actually be useful, you have to take ownership of it.
Like actual calendar ownership.
The Simple Ask That Changes Everything
Last year I made one small shift: I asked my manager to hand over the calendar invite and the agenda doc. That’s it. One conversation, two minutes, done.
Now I control what goes on the agenda every week. And the quality of the meeting went up immediately because I actually had skin in the game.
If you haven’t done this yet, just say it plainly: “Hey, I want to start owning our one-to-one agenda. I’ll update it before each meeting so we’re always covering what’s most relevant for me that week. Cool with you?”
Most managers will say yes. Great managers will love you for it.
What to Actually Put on the Agenda
Here’s a simple three-category framework to rotate through depending on what’s going on that week:
1. Deal Strategy Bring your two or three most important deals and get specific. Not “here’s an update” but “here’s what I think the risk is, here’s my plan, here’s where I want your input.” Use the meeting to think out loud with someone more experienced.
Example: “I have a $60K deal that’s been stuck for three weeks. The champion is on board but I can’t get the economic buyer in the room. Here’s my proposed multi-threading play…”
2. Skill Development Pick one thing you’re actively trying to get better at and bring a real example from the week. A call recording, an email thread, a discovery question that flopped. Make your manager a coach, not just a forecast checker.
Example: “I listened back to a discovery call and I think I rushed past the impact questions. Can I get your take on how you would have handled it differently?”
3. Career Conversations This one gets skipped the most, and it’s the most important. Use a slot every few months to talk about where you want to go and what you need to get there. Your manager can’t advocate for you if they don’t know what you want.
Example: “I want to be in a senior AE role by end of year. What’s the gap between where I am now and what that requires?”
The “No Meeting” Rule
This is the part people miss: if there’s nothing valuable to cover, cancel it.
If you’re heads-down in a big deal push or deep in an outbound sprint, just remove it and give the time back. A blank agenda is a sign the meeting shouldn’t happen that week.
If your manager owns the invite, you’re stuck showing up to a meeting that shouldn’t exist.
This only works because you own it.
Why This Matters Beyond the Meeting Itself
Owning your one-to-one builds a skill that compounds over time: managing upward.
Reps who manage upward keep their manager informed, get more support when they need it, and tend to get promoted faster.
Not because they’re playing politics but because their manager always knows what they’re working on and what they need.
The one-to-one is the easiest place to start practicing that.
Take the calendar invite. Own the agenda.
Random thought – Long standing sales theory of mine.
Every rep is one large clawback away from leaving their company.
If you were forced to pay back the largest deal you closed last year, you’d be out of there.
Am I wrong?
