How to Run an Inspiring Sales Meeting

Effective sales team meetings are critical, yet many salespeople find them to be a waste of time. The sales manager marches down the pipeline, deal by deal, and it’s so dry and boring— and most of it doesn’t apply to the majority of people present.

My philosophy is that every sales meeting should have four goals:

• Update the team with necessary information, such as a new hire or new product, or where the company’s year-to-date numbers are
• Share ideas, resources, and bestselling practices
• Improve sales skills
• Maintain focus and morale

I suggest a weekly 90-minute sales meeting, preferably first thing on Monday to get everybody focused for the week. The agenda, while not being rigid, should have the same structure every time (more on that below), and should be posted in advance so employees can be prepared and have the option to add discussion items.

The sales manager shouldn’t be the only one who ever runs the meeting. As manager, you might want to run the first meeting of the quarter, or even every other meeting. But rotate responsibility for running the meeting among your sales staff. They’ll be more engaged if a peer is in charge. Also, for each meeting, assign one of them to be the facilitator to record the action items that are agreed on.

At Criteria for Success, I never run a sales meeting, because I don’t want to get bogged down in the logistics of keeping it on track and moving it along. This way, I can be free to listen to comments and focus on the issues.

Here’s a sample 90-minute sales team meeting agenda that accomplishes each of the four goals you’re aiming for. None of the individual components should last more than 15 or 20 minutes.

Sales team update.

Share important accomplishments since the last meeting. These might include the firm’s revenue to date, deals won or lost, as well as any other significant events. Conduct a brief review of key sales activity such as leads in play, leads that need to be contacted, and possibly one or two more. (Staff members tend to accept these numbers more easily when it’s a peer, not a boss, presenting them.) Have one or more staff members share a lesson learned—perhaps something they discovered about your firm, your competition, or your customers.

Market update.

Give the latest data and get the team’s input on what’s happening in the region and industry. Tell the team about something they might find interesting about their market, not just numbers and data. For example, last week, one of my salespeople shared with the rest of us a story about some research he did on cold calling for a prospect. He discovered some really good tips and even emailed links to some articles.

The hot list.

These are opportunities that have something specific or special worth discussing. All other opportunities should be discussed individually with staff members during the week.

The hot list is a relatively short number of deals that have been posted in advance on the agenda. The person who owns each one will talk about it. The issue may be that the client is “radio silent;” no messages are being acknowledged or returned.

It may be a problem with getting a quote or proposal to a client, and the company’s internal resources are not acting with appropriate urgency. It may be that we’re up-selling a deal to our biggest client and all of a sudden we have a competitor in the mix. If there is a strong team culture, whatever the issue, in this meeting the salesperson’s peers as well as her manager will give great coaching.

Goals.

Each person on the team should establish one key goal for each week. Everyone tells his or her goal for the week, as well as what was committed to last week, and whether it was accomplished. The goal could be to close a specific deal, or to get three references, or to come away with 20 business cards from an industry conference or event.

Sales training topic of the week.

It could be about writing stronger follow- up emails, running an effective sales call, or any other topic that will help the sales staff sharpen their skills. You might also do a trivia quiz about your industry, products, or services. Since information changes all the time, the salespeople really need to be on top of their game, and this is a fun way to do it.

Weekly recognition.

The sales team agrees each week to recognize someone within the organization who has provided support. For example, someone might nominate John in shipping because he stayed overtime to ship out 50 boxes to a particular client. When a recognition of the week is agreed on, the sales manager notifies the recognized person and his or her peers in the company.

This process forces the sales staff to work as a team to agree on a winner. It’s also important to recognize that the sales team is always asking for resources from the company, and sometimes people get a little resentful—“I busted my hump, and they get all the glory.” This helps dispel the resentment. It’s not a bad idea to come up with a little prize, as well.

As an option, you might want to occasionally invite a guest speaker from another department within the company to give a brief talk. It would be a good opportunity for the head of professional development, or a product manager, or the CEO (or another C-level executive) to give the sales team a new perspective.