Running an early-stage startup and my calendar is getting destroyed by call requests.
Investors want intros. Potential partners want to “explore synergies.” Vendors want to demo. Everyone wants 30 minutes.
The frustrating part: most of these calls could’ve been a 5-minute email. But saying no feels rude, and you never know which random call might actually matter.
How do you all handle this?
Do you just take everything and accept the time loss?
Do you have some kind of filter?
Do you push back to async first?
Trying to find a balance between being accessible and protecting actual work time.
How do you handle constant “let’s hop on a quick call” requests?
byu/harshXgrowth inEntrepreneur
Posted by harshXgrowth
17 Comments
I personally only set meetings for new clients consultations and rarely for anything else. I’m not sure this is a good plan for an early stage startup. I have found that people usually respect a message like “Sorry, but I’m not available for meetings right now. Can you please share the information through an email?”. You probably need balanced approach that’s less rigid than mine. Potential partners want to “explore synergies” would be on my no meeting list.
I’d highly recommend reading the book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. See what all you can adopt from this book it can be a life changer.
Hmm. Yes it’s hard but I think calls help to get that client.
I’d suggest starting by creating time in your days for calls. (Maybe it’s between 10-11 or 3-4pm) this way you can schedule them in for that time, also ensure they know it’s a 15 minute call, and when on the phone with them hold them to it, by saying you have another meeting to go into etc so the call doesn’t go over.
Maybe for a demo you can create a demo video that you can host on YouTube. It can be sent as a link as a “starter demo” for those who request it, at the end there can be FAQS. And they can follow up if they want to move forward with a more in depth demo (depending on your product).
I’d say time blocking your call times and holding yourself accountable to that set time will be your best bet
I point them to my calendar to schedule a call. On my calendar, a payment is required to book time. Problem solved.
Time is money. Time I spend talking to people, particularly salespeople, is time not spent on billable work.
Alternatively, get an assistant who can act as a gatekeeper to control access to you.
Or be blunt and tell them to send an email that you can review on your own time when you are free.
You should do what gives you the most potential value, if it’s not taking calls then you should not prioritize it.
I would say learn to say more no, try to figure out who is ”worth” having meeting with.
Also you could hire a sales person to handle all demos etc.
But it’s great that you have a lot of traction it’s often a very good sign. Keep up the good work and try to be better to say ”no”. 🙏
Setup dedicated office hours, 2-3 hours of the day you accept being interrupted. Make it so anyone can schedule a 15 minute block. Use calendly or outlook, but then decide who has to use office hours and who can interrupt your work time.
Learn to qualify vendors/partners etc as quick as possible. Cut calls short where you can see there’s no value.
I’d aggressively filter out the inbound sales requests. Unless you are actively seeking a solution similar to what they’re selling, you don’t need it.
Business is simple… if it’s worth doing, do it. If you don’t want to do it, pay someone else to do it.
If it’s not worth doing.. then you shouldn’t have made this post.
Do the ones that actually move the needles.
Investors keep vendors keep.
Investors = capital
Vendors = cash flow.
Partners finding synergies is like the hippy crap of business what the fucks that even mean?
Reading through all these replies, it’s clear everyone has their own way of handling meeting overload. The common thread seems to be the same though, meetings work best when intent and outcomes are clear early.
Appreciate everyone sharing what’s worked for them.
If there are consistent themes people are asking for/about, create polished decks/pdfs to send to them that answer most of the questions they have. You can update a single slide for anything audience specific and then send with a “read this first and let me know if you still need a 15min connect”
People also default meetings/calls to 30mins. Start making them 15mins.
No free consults I stopped those I realized my brand value goes up and into a different category when I stop those. Maybe 1/8 free consults would go somewhere and many abused them. People are not the respectful smart people with a conscience we are.
As for the call requests the therapist in me says boundaries. Therapy isn’t just for personal life it’s for business too. For communication patterns repeat across personal and professional domains. I recommend doing what your gut is telling you. Saying no and we can talk over email. I have my voicemail set up with a message instructing people to email in a very calm chipper manner.
Psychologist in me tells me if someone is truly interested in something they already know that before requesting a call. Vacillators insist on calls. They want to be fed. They want reassurance. They want to be fed attention to feel they’ve done something. Stand your ground, async only Is what I’m doing. It’s the way the country is headed. It’s the way I prefer to do business and I make my money off being smooth in person.
I push asynch, most calls are a waste of time
This is my strategy at my job. Same context (work to do, disturbances slow me down, but people still want to talk to me).
I quickly assess the person making the demand and react accordingly:
1. Very unimportant people get the “tell me your problem by email and I will reply very shortly, much faster than if we have to schedule a meeting”.
2. People who may turn out to be useful get the “I would be delighted with a meeting. I’m available [some slot in 2 weeks] and [some slot in 3 weeks, in the afternoon]”.
3. Known-important people are able to book a meeting for today or tomorrow.
Basically, my rule is simple: the less important you are, the more free time I keep in my agenda before talking to you. This way, either people decide not to wait and send an email, or they really want to talk, and my scheduling approach ensures a low rate of low-importance meetings. It also keeps about 80% of my agenda meeting-free so I can do actual work.
I built an AI screening system that saved me 15+ hours/week on this exact problem. before any call, I send a quick form asking: specific outcome they want, what they’ve already tried, and their timeline. you’d be amazed how many “urgent” requests disappear, and the quality ones come through with way better context. the key is positioning it as “helping me prepare better for our conversation” rather than a barrier
Always point to a calendar link to have them book a few 15-20 minute call/zoom whatever. At 20 minutes I work to excuse myself as there’s work to do and invite them to book a dedicated call which has a payment link associated. Options for 30, 45, and 60 minutes are available. If there was any BS rambling from my side, as there can be, I give them the time back and extend a bit more, same for the paid meetings. I want people to get the value, and see if we are the right company to work with.
Why not just money from the beginning?: well, my theory was that the 15 min is great for me to understand if we want to work with them and vice versa. Rather have them find out one way or another for free and not have to refund or something like that, as certainly people would try and argue for their money back if they didn’t like the outcome of the paid call.
I hard limit at 20 minutes. Gives me a bit before my next meeting to keep things clean. The booking links also have buffers built in and such, it’s a decent system.
I should caveat though, we are primarily b2b, b2g, and b2e, so we don’t often get calls for meetings and such. I can understand in a b2c high throughput environment how this would not work. You’d fill your day with free calls that have a lower chance of netting a sale and that sucks.