"There are people out there that love putting out fires so much that they'll set them unconsciously."

Most sales managers live in firefighting mode. Mark McGraw shares the weekly 90-minute Kaizen meeting he's protected for nine years — and the seven rules that make it work.

Every sales manager knows the feeling: the week disappears into urgent requests, and by Friday nothing in the business is actually better. Mark McGraw breaks down the three types of sales managers — the firefighter, the arsonist, and the fire marshal — then hands you the system that moves you into the third category permanently.

The Kaizen meeting is 90 blocked, recurring minutes each week devoted to constant and never-ending improvement. The key distinction: you don't make a list of what needs to get better, you actually make it better inside that block.

What you'll learn in this episode:
✅ The three types of sales managers and why the default you fall into defines your sanity
✅ Why firefighting feels validating — and how it builds unnecessary dependency on you
✅ Reduce friction, increase velocity: the two-part filter for every improvement
✅ How to run a Kaizen meeting: the block, the pick list, and the "do the work" rule
✅ Real examples — a client resource hub built in 40 minutes, a hiring scorecard, a documented onboarding sequence
✅ Quadrant-two time blocking (Eisenhower matrix / Stephen Covey) and why this never happens by accident
✅ The seven guidelines that kept this meeting alive for nearly a decade — including making it 100% optional
✅ The quarterly math: 13 weeks, 10 sessions, and a business that runs itself

🎙️ Host: Mark McGraw — Building Your Sales Engine

👇 Timestamps below 👇
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LINKS:
Sandler: https://www.Sandler.com
Episode page: https://www.BuildingYourSalesEngine.com/
Show links: https://linktr.ee/buildingyoursalesengine
Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcgraw/

Chapters
0:00 — Cold Open: The manager who sets the fires he puts out
0:40 — Three Types of Sales Managers
1:20 — The Firefighter: Busy, Needed, and Stuck
2:20 — The Arsonist: When Chaos Feels Like Value
3:08 — The Fire Marshal: Good Code and Prevention
4:28 — Reduce Friction, Increase Velocity
5:40 — The Kaizen Meeting: 90 Minutes, Every Week
6:45 — Why the Same Fires Keep Coming Back
7:52 — Do the Work, Don't Just List It
8:25 — Example: A Client Resource Hub in 40 Minutes
10:30 — Examples: Onboarding, Hiring Scorecards, Proposals
13:00 — Building Your Kaizen List During the Week
14:30 — Quadrant Two: Important but Never Urgent
16:42 — The Math: 13 Kaizens a Quarter
17:50 — The Seven Rules for Running a Kaizen Meeting
21:10 — Celebrate the Wins and Compound the Progress
22:10 — Start Your Own Kaizen This Week

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