A successful business meeting agenda is one that has a good balance of communication, discussion and follow-up. If you are planning on holding a sales meeting soon, the following tips will help ensure your success.
Every sales meeting has an agenda. Is your sales meeting agenda right? Sales meetings are essential for staying on track, discussing important topics, and following up with customers.
The right sales meeting agenda will result in increased sales by keeping reps engaged and on track to meet their sales forecast. In this guide you’ll learn how to run productive and engaging meetings that your reps are excited about.
What is the purpose of a sales meeting agenda?
Let's start by defining a sales meeting. An internal check-in between sales leaders and practitioners within a corporation is known as a sales meeting.
Unlike a sales call or a sales pitch, this meeting is only for internal attendees and is intended to provide sales team members with the information they need to accomplish their jobs properly.
The meeting is usually led by a sales leader (such as a sales manager, director, or vice president), and sales reps attend. The following are some of the most notable updates highlighted by the leaders:
Whether you're holding a weekly sales meeting, a quarterly review, an annual sales kick-off, or something else, your meeting agenda will be different.
However, no matter what you're addressing that day, the following ten recommendations will help you stay on course, show respect for your team, and be as effective as possible in your sales meetings.
1. Make the agenda and goal as simple as possible.
Make sure you and your team understand exactly what you're meeting about. Is it, for example, a fast standup to discuss progress on a certain key performance indicator (KPI) or a pivotal end-of-quarter meeting to determine who requires assistance closing deals?
Do not gather your salespeople without a clear plan and a few specific goals in mind. Pulling salespeople into a meeting takes them away from prospecting, preparing emails and presentation decks, and, eventually, increasing revenue.
Decide who will be the ideal person to talk on each topic after you've set your agenda and goals. Answer these questions in advance with the presenters:
Every meeting's agenda should be sent to attendees in advance. It can be a hazy outline, but it will demonstrate to everyone that you're serious about getting the most out of their time.
2. Troubleshoot technology
Work out any technological glitches in advance, whether you're presenting in today's increasingly distant workplace or in person. Complete computer updates, download applications, and close any superfluous apps or conversations.
Ask meeting presenters to meet a few minutes early to test the whole set-up.
You don't want bugs eating into your time and derailing the meeting, so ask them to come a few minutes early to test the full set-up. It may just take ten minutes of pre-work, but it pays off handsomely.
If you're the only one in charge of the meeting, you can do the following: Test your equipment and go through the steps of presenting as if it were the real deal.
3. Begin and end on time.
Keep the meeting on track to respect your team's time. Establish the tone so that your meeting cadence consistently stays to its time slot.
Sales reps methodically organise their days so that they may fit in the greatest amount of customer calls and emails, so set the tone so that your meeting cadence reliably sticks to its time slot.
If you discover that meetings are running long, consider storing questions or comments for specific times during the meeting or limiting the number of topics covered in each meeting.
Re-evaluate your sales meeting agenda by soliciting feedback from attendees to determine which themes are most important. You don't want to rush essential conversations, but you still need to keep track of time, which is a difficult balance to strike.
4. Select the appropriate cadence
Make the most of every meeting opportunity. "I survived another meeting that might have been an email," we've all heard the joke.
When it comes to brief corporate updates or plan modifications, email can be an effective and concise way to communicate with your employees.
When it comes to sales meetings, the timing and tempo are critical. If you have a daily standup or another recurrent meeting, try switching to a less-frequent schedule if you find yourself discussing non-essential topics.
Alternatively, don't feel obligated to meet at the time you originally scheduled.
If you cancel a meeting because you don't have any critical information to provide, those extra minutes can be dedicated to meaningful work, and your team will appreciate the fact that you're not merely meeting.
5. Inform the team
It's your obligation as the leader to keep the team up to date on anything you've learned that hasn't been handed down yet, especially if it's been a while since you last met.
Any pricing changes, sales forecasting updates, product announcements, leadership shifts, or other critical information that could affect how they sell should be shared with everyone.
Also, follow up on any issues or questions raised during previous meetings.
This part of the sales meeting may run for different amounts of time, and if the topic has the potential to run too long, consider having a special sales meeting with only that item on the agenda.
6. Invite the team to talk about their progress and challenges.
When everyone is in the same room for a sales meeting, it's typically beneficial to have everyone express what's working and what isn't.
Check in on leads and accounts, see how critical discussions are progressing, and get a status update on everyone's quotas and KPIs.
Keep an eye on your progress and keep an ear out for any potential stumbling obstacles.
If members of your team are encountering difficulties, you must be informed as a manager so that you can assist in clearing the way for success.
You can construct an action plan with individual team members or a bigger group after you know what's going well and what needs more attention.
7. Emphasize noteworthy victories
Is there a team member who recently closed a significant deal? Six months in a row, they've exceeded their quota?
Set up time in your sales meeting plan to express gratitude to them. Not only do people appreciate it when they are honoured, but it is also beneficial to the organisation as a whole.
Both the individual being recognised and the team as a whole benefit from recognition. "68 percent of HR professionals agreed that employee recognition has a good influence on retention, and 56 percent said such programmes also help with recruitment," according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Globoforce.
Be specific in your praise, too. Saying you appreciate that someone took the time to onboard a client who needs more attention than usual will mean more than a generic “good job.”
Of course, not everyone likes being publicly singled out, so make sure you’re giving team members credit in the formats they prefer. You can vet this with each rep in one-on-one meetings.
8. Allow for the exchange of ideas, inquiries, and collaboration.
Your sales meeting agendas should always contain time for group brainstorming. These sessions aren't only for communicating; they're also for team members to learn from one another and build on each other's best practises.
For instance, you may hold brainstorming sessions or idea exchanges on:
9. Make a decision about the next steps.
Clarify any action items and who is accountable for following up on them as you go through each item in your sales meeting agenda. No one should walk away from the meeting with any questions about the next steps.
Individual team members may be in charge of following up with their own leads and consumers.
You should select a point person if other department-wide issues are mentioned during the discussion, such as talking to the finance team about a new promotion or discussing a new lead generation campaign with marketing.
Important stuff will not fall through the gaps in this manner. Make it very clear the updates you'd like the team to present to the next meeting.
10. Inspire the team
It can be difficult to sell something. There will be a lot of rejection and patience in this job, and you will make blunders from time to time. When the market slows down, and prospects aren't biting, it's time to be creative.
Whatever the reason, the organisation as a whole — or individual sales reps — may suffer from time to time.
During these times, you have the opportunity to confront issues head on and engage openly with your team as a leader.
Others will be motivated if you tell why you're still enthused and motivated by the team's work. Make time in your schedule to do so when things get rough.
Even in difficult circumstances, there are numerous entertaining and constructive ways to motivate your employees. You can use games and tournaments to highlight what's working well, and you can give out different prizes for different milestones.
Tough times don't last, but hard-working salespeople do.
Remember- asking someone if they would like more information about your product is not the same as asking them for a sales meeting.
You have to be proactive, and you must give the person a strong reason why they would want to go in-depth with your team on a sales call right now.
Create a list of questions that will help you determine if someone is interested in speaking with sales reps or not—this will save time for both parties when it does come time for sales meeting.
You can also create a sales prospecting campaign plan that shows how you're going to move the sales process forward through each stage of your sales cycle, including creating opportunities, qualifying prospects and more.
Sales meetings are not an opportunity to pitch or sell anything; they are intended as a way for both parties to discuss sales opportunities and the next steps.
You can vet this with each rep in one-on-one meetings.
Allow for the exchange of ideas, inquiries, and collaboration. Your sales meeting agendas should always contain time for group brainstorming. These sessions aren't only for communicating; they're also for team members to learn from one another.
How sales meetings are held can also affect sales reps' motivation. For example, it's important to be clear about the purpose of sales meetings and what is expected from each person who participates in them.
If your sales meeting agenda includes activities that don't require everyone present, you may want to consider splitting up attendees so they aren’t wasting time.
This sales meeting agenda also needs to include activities that are valuable for each sales rep, whether it's a certain task or an activity related to your company goals.
This will encourage them to attend sales meetings more often and provide their own input into the discussion topics at hand.
Adding new sales reps? Make sure they're aware of sales meeting expectations and goals. This sales training should include the sales process, sales meetings and other company-wide initiatives that can help them succeed in their new role.
"Don't be afraid to ask for a sales call," says Mike Schultz of Ascendify Consulting Group . "You never know who you might meet."
It's important not to assume that sales meetings are "off limits" for prospects who aren't ready to purchase.
At the same time, don’t assume everyone is ready just because they're interested in your product or service—it doesn't mean you will move on to the next stage of the sales process.
Take things one step at a time and use these sales meeting tips to create a successful sales process for your reps.
