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How can we spruce up our weekly sales meetings? I am running out of ideas
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5 Answers
Great question. Most sales meetings revolve around pipeline/forecast updates which you should not forsake in the name of making your sales meetings more engaging. In addition to the weekly update format, there are some simple tactics that you can use to "spruce" things up:
1. Invite speakers from other parts of the business to present to the sales team. Marketing, engineering, the CEO, product management, etc all have interesting things to tell your organization. These can be 15 minute presentations designed to inform that sales organization about what's currently happening in the business, as well as future plans. I find this to be a powerful tool because individual salespeople often feel disconnected from the rest of the organization once they are out in the field/on the phones.
2. Creating a competitive environment within the sales organization is also effective. You should recognize key achievements by individual sales reps on a weekly basis, keep a running leaderboard, etc. This provides both positive and negative reinforcement to sales people, something that works well with competitive personalities (which sales people generally are).
3. You can also have individual reps present to the rest of the team. Maybe that means presenting the sales pitch or educating the team on a recent sales cycle or tactic that worked well. The subject doesn't matter so much as the idea of making the meeting participatory.
Hope that helps.
My favorite topic! I could write volumes on the sales team meeting topic, but I'll stick to one idea - Sales Book Clubs. A great way to build business and sales acumen, generate new ideas and improve sales skills is to take a business book chapter-by-chapter.
As a team,
Choose a business or sales book. Cover one or two new chapters each week during your weekly sales team meeting. Assign the chapters to the members of the team. Each week give them a time slot on the agenda to lead the team on that chapter’s topic.
They can:
•Lead a discussion on the information in the chapter.
•Ask the team to apply the lessons to their own business.
•Practice skills or ideas from the chapter.
•Pull one or two key lessons from the chapter.
•Set one action item based on the work done during this meeting.
•Get creative – give them the chance to do whatever they want with the chapter. You’ll see a new side of some team members.
Hope this is helpful!
Jill Myrick
Meeting to Win, LLC
Hi Rosemarie,
When you say that you're looking to, "spruce up," your meetings, are you looking specifically for more ways to motivate your sales reps? Are you looking for team building activities? A little more detail about your needs will help get you the right answers.
Best of luck,
Caty
For outside teams – incorporate videotaping into your training. Pair your reps into buyer seller teams to simulate a typical meeting between your reps and prospect. This allows your reps to critique their presentations at all levels.
For inside teams – Incorporate audio recordings of a typical buyer seller meeting. Position your reps so they have their backs to each other. In doing so, tonality is how the prospect reads the seller on the phone. Or use a tape recorder that is connected to the phone so your reps can actually make calls from two separate locations. Keep it as realistic as possible.
Be creative and vary your meeting content…first meeting, second meeting, crisis management, Service issues, pricing negotiations etc.
This video/taping program works best when the taping is done in a separate room from the rest of the team. Create as close of a realistic meeting environment as possible. Throw some twists in where another manager pops into the meeting unexpectedly. Make the process challenging and fun. Once the taping is complete you can conduct a team sales meeting where the entire team views, listens, critiques the tapes.
Critique should include:
Tonality, body language, engagement/questioning/ problem solving execution, listening skills, closing ability and general presentation skills. Each team member should rate each component with a monetary prize going to the best presentation.
Some of the best sales meetings I've attended recognized sales leaders publicly. For example, we would announce weekly contest winners. Simple prizes and awards go a long way. Once the prizes and/or awards were given out, the energy seemed to go up and the rest of meeting was interactive and motivating. I am huge believer in treating sales like a game and promoting internal competition amongst sales reps.
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