"Brief" and "De-brief" in the sales process

Major "AB" Bourke

I was fortunate, recently, to be present at a keynote address given by Maj. "AB" Bourke, fighter pilot and motivational speaker.  He stated that he had two concepts to discuss in his speech: 1. "Briefing" and 2. "De-briefing" and to show how these they were essential to achieve peak performance in our jobs.
The ideal of the "briefing" is obvious: what is the mission?  Everyone involved in a mission needs to know the purpose and intended outcome. 
In the military, the de-brief is when all involved in the mission take off their name tags and rank insignia and get together as "equals" to assess the mission and evaluate every component of the process.  According to Bourke, the de-brief is the most powerful way to accelerate results.  The de-brief is "a sacred learning environment and a path to getting better".  
Without these two components (brief and de-brief), peak performance is not achievable.
I asked him how this concept applies to an individual sales person who works alone.  His response was that we must create a checklist of outcomes that we want to accomplish for the week and for each meeting during the week. This is the "briefing"; this is the mission. We know we're going to be thrown off track during the week, or during the meeting, be we need to continuously refer to the list to put ourselves back on track.
Then, most importantly, at the end of each meeting and at the end of the week, we need to evaluate our performance--the "de-brief". Did we accomplish our overall objectives?  If not, why not.  Be brutally honest with yourself.
How essential is this?  Bourke gave an example of the Blue Angels flying group. At the end of an air show, the pilots land and walk from their planes. The crowds want autographs; want to touch them and talk to them.  But the pilots all head to a quiet room for the de-brief.  It is never, never skipped.
Sales people who aspire to peak performance should never skip the brief and the de-brief; should always have a "mission" for the week and for each meeting and then evaluate the success of the mission with an honest de-briefing.