It’s September, so I’m guessing you, like most of us, had your annual or quarterly National Sales Meeting at some point in the last few months .
You know the meeting companies have early January, mid December or just randomly through the year. My company has fiscal year end in June so for us we just had that time of year when all the corporate folks decide you aren’t busy enough hunting, gathering, meeting, or cold calling.
Nooo they need to take up your time telling you how to do it better. Just when you were going to find one afternoon to play hooky by the pool.
You’ve been there, this is the meeting where the guy who’s never left the corporate office comes out to give you a 67 slide PPT telling you about what your prospects want to hear from you. This, mind you, are the same guy who’s never actually made a cold call and probably can’t name a prospect call point.
Or my favorite, someone emailed you a 81 slide deck the week before and you and your team members took turns reciting the script to each other while you clicked through slides you’ve never seen and never intend to use … while the guy in the back row hiccups through his hangover.
Or maybe you didn’t get invited to the meeting. Because you only support sales, you don’t actually sell. You have the sole job of doing everything they need in the demonstrations, technical discussions, product/ service deep dives, but you were, for whatever reason in your company, excluded from the meeting. (fyi – you are the lucky ones)
HEY ALL YOU SALES MANAGERS OUT THERE!
What this country needs now is SALES MEETING REFORM.
I’m calling for an end to Bad National Sales Meetings. Right here and now.
Let’s do this.
We can do this together. We can change the National Sales Meeting. We can make it worthwhile, We can make it appropriate. We can actually hold a meeting that brings our team value. We can actually do all that and have some fun.
So, if you’re a lucky one who hasn’t held your meeting yet, you still have a chance. And for those that have, there’s always next year. Seriously, I know some of you are thinking your meeting wasn’t that bad. Did you have more than 1 two hour PPT session?
Then it sucked.
The sober guys (and hell, even the hungover ones) would prefer to be trapped in their office cold calling while Megan Fox sunbathed by their pool than sit through another one of your meetings.
My recipe for a good sales meeting?
Let sales lead it. Now that’s a novel concept
Start by asking them or their managers what they need. Is it product? Sales process? Above funnel? In funnel? Remember – the purpose of the meeting is the purpose of the meeting – to help your sales team sell more .
Then prioritize it. And pick the top 3. The worst meetings I’ve been in is an attempt to to tell you everything you ever needed to know in 3 days. Everyone knows the law of diminishing returns. With sales folk, the diminishing returns start even earlier in the day. After the first 5 PPT slides I believe the research shows.
ONLY bring in the corporate resources who can bring value specific to those 3 topics. That’s it. Not everyone needs to hold court over the sales team. That isn’t going to help them sell more stuff. It’s selfish, self aggrandizing actually. End it.
Organize the schedule with a reasonable understanding that people aren’t going to take it all in. And, if you have to let the corporate bigwigs talk at them, make it after lunch on the second day when everyone’s falling asleep anyhow and have been drinking for 2 days. At least they probably won’t remember the pain that way.
Make it interactive. This does NOT mean each person doing the PPT prezo. This means team work on return demo’ing they can apply the training you’ve provided. Or sales guys presenting what worked (or didn’t work) for them in particular deals or whatever your topics are.
Hint: DO pick the reps that have the best presence you have (Funny, articulate, nicest butt, etc) for this part. At least you’ll have everyone’s attention. Then you can intersperse the facts and training while the rep has everyone’s attention.
DON’T pick the suck up, annoying guy who everyone already hates to stand in front and arrogantly detail his last win.
Plan some fun. Everyone needs it. It’s been a tough year. We have a tough job. Honestly, if it was easy, everyone would want it. Or there’d be a college major called sales. There’s not. This also goes back to not bringing in all those corporate assholes. They don’t appreciate what you or your team does. This is your chance to let folks blow off steam, have some fun, build some relationships with peers who can help them, share war stories and generally feel somewhat appreciated.
As the days of incentive trips to foreign countries and Alec Baldwin handing out Cadillacs have gone by the wayside, your national sales meeting is the only chance to recreate that win for your team. Do it up right.
Together, we can lead Sales Meeting Reform. Together, we can make a change that sales people believe in.
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Nicely put. Who’s Megan Fox?
If she was hanging out by your pool you’d know exactly who she was. And it’d be tough to work the phones.
Here’s a couple of pics
http://keenpompo.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/megan-fox.jpg
http://www.hollywooddeep.com/wp-content/uploads/megan_fox_maxim_01.jpg