Many of you have weekly sales team meetings. During your next meeting, look around the room and observe the team’s engagement level. Notice the attendance of the next few weeks – do people regularly miss the meetings? Are the strong performers finding other things to do that excuse them from your session? How frequently are the smart phones being glanced at? Is anyone falling asleep?
What do you need to talk about every week that can’t be covered in other settings? Most weekly sales meetings are catch-all sessions and pipeline review discussions that leave 80% or more of the audience bored. They usually creep into the 90-minute time frame. If you’ve got the right people on your team, they go nuts in such a meeting. They get anxious about the competition roaming the streets while they’re trying to stay awake listening to someone discuss a quote they delivered two months ago and justifying why their opportunity hasn’t closed yet. If you’ve really hired the right people, they hate meetings.
Idea Tuesday: Reduce your sales meetings to being held monthly.
I know, it sounds insane. It was very difficult for me to embrace at first. However, think about the benefits of moving your weekly meetings to monthly:
- You’ll gain about six hours per month and each sales person will gain about four.
- Your sales team will be completely engaged in the sales meetings. Monthly get-togethers will seem more like reunions than mandatory meetings.
- You’ll have meaningful items to discuss. How much can you really talk about each week?
Thoughts to consider when implementing this idea:
- Perform weekly or bi-weekly one-on-one coaching and pipeline review meetings. These should last no longer than 15 minutes.
- Keep your monthly meeting to 60 minutes or less. I know that sounds impossible, but if you plan the agenda appropriately, you can do it.
- Don’t discuss opportunities or forecasting in this meeting, unless you’re reporting your company’s forecast to the team for their information.
- Unless you need the sales team’s input, do the work ahead of time and limit discussion. This meeting should be for you to report news and deliver value to them.
Try it. I know it’ll make you feel naked at first, but try it. Your sales people will love you for it.
