Secrets to a Successful Sales Meeting

Are your sales meetings productive? They probably aren't as productive as they could be. Too many sales meetings are nothing more than a series of individual updates designed to help the sales manager do their job.

Since sales managers are not involved each individual's day to day activities, it is often hard for them to keep up with every one and every thing that is happening. Ultimately, the salespeople in these meetings dread taking time out of their schedule to attend the same old boring meeting. Worse yet, they often leave such meetings less motivated than they were BEFORE they attended the meeting.

Below are my top 10 secrets to kick your sales meetings to the next level.

• Spend your time focused on only one key issue
  

Don’t try to cover every single issue in the office. If you try to cover everything, you really won’t be digging into the important issue like you need to. This means you need to control the agenda and the flow of the meeting by keeping it really simple. You’re time is much better spent discussing one item that needs immediate attention rather than five items that you are trying to change all at once.
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• Recognize Performance

Salespeople love recognition and they love being told they are great at what they do. Have a process in place so that people can look forward to being given their lime light. Be consistent with recognizing performance though. Don’t make it something you get to cover only if there is time left. By being consistent and acknowledging their hard work every meeting, your sales team will look forward to attending future sales meetings.

• Announce ahead of time the agenda and topics to be covered
  

Make people come prepared and hold them accountable for contribution to the meeting. Just as your people expect you to come prepared to discuss things, so too should you expect them to come prepared to do the same. Most importantly, let people have some time to think about what needs to be brought up and discussed.

• Start on time, end on time

Salespeople are expected to respect their customer’s time, right? You should do the same with your sales staff. Sales meetings are a reflection of how much a manager values the employee's time. Not starting or ending on time sends a signal to the team that you don’t value their time as much as your own. If you want to build loyalty among your staff, respect their time.

• Follow up on items after the meeting
  

Don’t waste everyone's time at a meeting by spending precious minutes dealing with one person and their specific issues. Nothing will cause people to check out of a meeting faster than if they see it as nothing more than a going around the room and everyone giving updates on their progress.

• Allow time for discussion and feedback
  

A sales call without input from the customer isn’t a good sales call. Same goes for a good sales meeting. Allow people an opportunity to discuss things related to the one main topic. Steer the conversation back to the one main topic if it starts to get off course. Allow time for discussion and encourage it.

• Keep issues and updates to a minimum
  

Salespeople will see these type of meetings as nothing more than a waste of time. If it can be said clearly via email or conference call then it doesn't require a meeting.

• Reach a consensus on the specific next steps
  

Don’t leave things hanging around. We ask salespeople to be precise with how they close a sale to ensure the customer knows what they will and will not be receiving as part of their deal. The same thing goes for how we run a sales meeting. Make sure everyone is clear on what will and what won't be happening.

Also, be sure to recap for the team via email what the next steps are for anything decided upon in the meeting. The sooner you distribute this information and recap it, the more salespeople will view it as important.

• Allocate time at each meeting for a “personal growth/training” activity
  

Use the precious little time together as an opportunity to help people improve their selling skills in some capacity. Think about a guest speaker or a hands-on activity that helps them get better at what they do all day.

• Motivate the team and build culture
  

For most salespeople, the sales meeting is their biggest interaction with and the company as a whole. Make sure they leave with a positive state of mind. Remember, the meeting is for their benefit, not yours.
The most amazing thing of all is that not one of the 10 things are out of reach for any sales manager. There is little reason for any sales meeting to ever be unproductive for you as a sales manager or for the sales team.

Examples of Sales Performance Goals
Although a typically accepted method of measuring success for your salespeople is in dollars or units sold, other sales performance goals may help your business achieve that ultimate financial reward target. Meeting a minimum number of clients per week or achieving a high retention rate may be just as important as counting sales dollars.

S.M.A.R.T. Approach
A typical approach in sales goal setting is the S.M.A.R.T. approach. A goal must be specific, meaning it's not so vague that it prevents your salespeople from focusing on that goal. It also must be measurable in order to easily determine if the goal has been achieved. A goal must be achievable, as in not so unattainable that it is impossible to reach. It must be relevant, meaning your salespeople should be able to relate their line of work directly to the goal. Finally, a goal must be time-constrained, where salespeople are given a target date for accomplishment in order to stay on track.

Phone Calls
If your salespeople's success depends on getting in front of people as much as possible, a typical sales goal might be for each of them to make 100 phone calls every week. Although ultimate success depends on the ratio by which calls are converted to appointments and ultimately to sales, much of your business's long-term sales success can depend on how many potential clients your salespeople can get in front of or speak to on a regular basis.

Appointments
In sales, potential success generally relates to getting a chance to talk to people face to face. You could make a goal for your salespeople of meeting 30 clients per week, for example, which amounts to an average of six per day in a five-day workweek, or five per day during a six-day workweek.

Training
our business may be in a field where training is a requirement of maintaining a licensed or a condition of employment. Therefore, you could set a goal for your salespeople of setting aside so many hours per week for study, going to classes or attending sales seminars. Start with two hours per week and if that goal is achieved, increase t by one hour each time until you feel your salespeople have reached the level required by yourself of a professional association.

Sales Numbers
Your business's ultimate success depends on your salespeople's ability to close. Therefore, an important sales performance measure could be to make one sale every day. This goal should not focus on the amount of the sale; rather, it should simply stress making one sale, allowing each salesperson to become more confident.

Retention
Do not overlook the importance of keeping a client once a sale is made. Clients are good sources of referrals and may lead to repeat business. An example of such a goal could be to maintain a 95 percent retention ratio, meaning a client is only lost once in 20 times during the one or two years following a sale.

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