Successful Team Phone Meetings

When you’ve got sales reps scattered all over the U.S. – or the world – keeping in touch can be tough. Frequent in-person meetings are not possible. Even if you were all within driving distance, you wouldn’t want to pull salespeople out of the field to hang at the office. What are your options? Email check-ins, which tend to be a bit impersonal; videoconferences, which can be expensive and difficult to arrange for salespeople on the road; and teleconferences, which tend to be the default option.

To make phone meetings efficient and effective, Rebecca Blythe, national sales manager for HealthSouth’s diagnostic division, has created some effective practices to keep in touch with her 70-plus salespeople around North America. Here are her tips for making phone meetings successful:

• Make them frequent. Once a month or once a quarter isn’t enough to establish a regular relationship with your team. Blythe talks with her salespeople weekly, enough so she can stay on top of any concerns and address potential issues before they get out of hand. “I am very close to my reps,” she says.
• Make them manageable. A conference call with 70 people would be chaos, so Blythe has broken her team into four regions and talks to each region individually. Depending on your organization and industry, you may find it more effective to group your calls geographically, by industry, by market segment, or by product line.

Make them structured. Blythe structures the calls so participants know exactly what to expect and how to prepare. Within that structure, there is plenty of room to address concerns the reps bring to the table.

Make them useful. Even if the calls only last half an hour, make sure those 30 minutes add to your team’s effectiveness, relay new information, or offer some other benefit. Blythe starts off by having reps give their numbers, which not only allows her to track their progress, but also makes them accountable for their performance. A rep can’t keep coming to the table with sub-par performance, week after week, and not realize they have to do something about it, Blythe explains. She also offers a sales lesson and provides time for individuals to bring up any frustrations they’re having.

Make them upbeat. Blythe says she always includes a short joke or humorous story, and ends with a success story. “We try to end the call on a positive note,” she says.