Last week I wrote the post about practicing our interviewing skills so that we can conduct effective research meetings. How ironic that later that day, the sponsoring executive of the training joined us to share a story with the group. He had just finished being an interviewee in a research meeting. The interviewers - a group of sales professionals from one of the most highly regarded sales forces in the world (I won't name the company). Much to our executive's surprise, they did such a poor job. They brought too many people to do the interview, their questions lack continuity and creativity, they didn't follow the "95-5 Rule", they lost track of time... They made another classic mistake - they attempted to interview more than 1 person at a time. As a result, our executive, who had prepared for the meeting by outlining key insights he would like to share, shared nothing. This was a timely set of insights for a group that had just been practicing what many consider to be a "basic" sales skill. Turns out it's anything but basic.