"Damn…I didn’t find out about X" is the worst possible reaction after you’ve left your pitch meetings.

You can easily avoid that horrible feeling through proper prep.

Head into your meetings with the premise that you may never see or talk to the customer again for a long time. Ask yourself, "What must I accomplish in this meeting?" And, "What must I ask?"

Pre-script your one agenda item and associated questions for your customer and you’ll never hit yourself over the head after a pitch meeting again.

In addition to getting requisite tactical questions answered in your next pitch meeting, think about covering these core categories to your meeting musts list:

1. Value proposition: how much time do you need to spend on your VP for this particular customer?

2. Possible objections: what questions will you ask that surface the truth about how your prospect is really thinking about your offering?

Meetings go fast. Orchestrate them with tight agendas.

If you are as sharp at running meetings as Rainn Wilson is in this SNL Short, you won’t need to prepare agendas and questions before your meetings.