Make Sales Meetings Produce Results

In a very challenging economy, your sales meetings, whether they occur weekly, monthly, or yearly, provide multiple opportunities to bolster your team’s spirits and sales. Here are a number of ways to make your sales meetings pay off now and later.

"Every sales meeting should equip the sales team with information to compete more effectively," says Jill Myrick, owner of Meeting to Win LLC, a company that provides sales team meeting content to help sales teams compete and win every week. "If you aren’t doing that, then you shouldn’t call it a sales meeting."

To get the most out of your quarterly or annual meeting, Myrick suggests dividing it into different segments, making sure you have an agenda with set time limits. Begin the meeting by quickly reviewing the agenda to set the tone for the day. For example, open the meeting with "This is our objective for today," or "At the end of our time together, you should all be able to…"

The first item on the agenda should be to review where your company stands in the marketplace and how sales are going. "We recommend sharing the information about your company and the marketplace [by starting with the question]’What does this mean to you [the rep]?’" says Myrick. "Sure, tell them how the company, your competitors, and the overall industry is doing, but make it relevant. Help the reps understand the company’s position in the marketplace and also how others – especially customers – perceive your company."

Myrick then suggests holding a short breakout session for groups of four or five team members to talk about how your company’s market position will apply to their future customer conversations. "No matter what information is shared about your company and the market at this meeting, salespeople should get the opportunity to discuss what they can do with this information once they leave," says Myrick. "They need to talk about what they anticipate happening and what questions and objections customers may raise as a result."

The next part of the meeting should involve goal setting. Revisit your goals and determine whether you have achieved them. Then analyze your long-term goals to make sure they’re still applicable in today’s economic environment. For example, perhaps last year you were helping your customers grow their businesses, and this year your customers are just trying to stay afloat. Based on this new information, your goals may have to be realigned.

"If you achieved the goals, discuss how you did it," says Myrick. "Was it because you brought in two large accounts, or was it because everyone across the sales team was able to bring in the right amount of percentage growth? Then look at where you fell short and discuss why.

"Every company has set high-level strategic goals," says Myrick. "In order to reach those goals, the sales managers or VPs will usually hand reps goals that are aligned with the high-level goals. For instance, they may tell reps, ‘We need 8 percent growth from you this year to reach our strategic goal of…’ At this meeting, salespeople will have to determine ways to achieve that eight percent growth, taking into consideration today’s market, what I call the ‘new normal.’"

Once again, Myrick recommends dividing reps into smaller groups to discuss all where that growth can come from – new products, marketing, activities, or a different group of customers. Then the small group needs to set detailed, achievable, and measurable goals. Reps should figure out what they have to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to reach these goals.

"They should work their way back from the existing high-level, long-term goals to figure out what they need to do to achieve their goals," she says. "What are the signposts along the way that will provide the right direction? Maybe it’s setting a goal of at least five appointments a week or getting a certain number of referrals."

Next, discuss problems and solutions as a large group; however, Myrick first recommends laying some ground rules. To begin, make sure the discussion is solution-oriented, because it can easily turn into a complaint session. She suggests listing the problems, prioritizing them, and then selecting some to discuss – maybe the top five priorities or most common problems. Tackle these challenges one by one and set a timeline (five to ten minutes per topic) for discussion. Assign a timekeeper to keep everyone on track.

"Have reps take a real look at the problems," she says. "What objections are they hearing? What’s not selling? Is it taking their customers longer to pay? Do they consistently get requests to lower their price? What are the problems associated with this new normal? What solutions can you find?

"It’s really a brainstorming session for reps to offer ideas on how to solve particular problems," she says. "For example, someone on the team may have already dealt with this situation successfully and can offer others a solution. The session gives salespeople an opportunity to fix the problems, and it lets them know that they aren’t the only ones going through this. After this meeting segment, your team should walk out and immediately have solutions to some of their problems. They will have best practices."

A great way to end your meeting on a positive note is to share reps’ success stories; however, Myrick reminds us that there are many ways to define success. "Success doesn’t just mean that a rep landed a big account; it also can mean how he or she successfully dealt with a customer whose needs have changed over the past year," she says. "Make it relevant to everyone in the room. Ask reps to share how they were able to help a customer make money or save money in this economy. Take success stories from all angles, such as, ‘Here’s how we were creative on a contract,’ or ‘Here’s how we were able to retain an existing customer.’ These are ideas that people can use every day.

"Even when people do win big deals, ask them to share the three things that helped them win the deal and what challenges they had to overcome," Myrick adds. "Then, if reps want more detail, they can call the salesperson after the meeting and ask him or her more specific questions."

Visit www.meetingtowin.com for more information.