James Meincke[activecampaign form=92]Meetings are necessary for every sales team, but can often get derailed and become unproductive. This might be because the topics you’re covering in your weekly sales meetings are not the most important things to be focusing on.
Sales meetings are the time when you should be delivering the most important, top-of-mind information to your team. If your sales meeting topics are missing the mark, here are some to consider:
Team Bonding and Motivation
1. Introduce new team members
All new sales reps should be introduced to the team. Ask new reps to introduce themselves briefly, including a few words about their non-professional lives. Team members who are well integrated into the existing team are more likely to ask for support and succeed.
2. A (short) motivational talk
Most weekly meetings take place on Monday when a small pep talk can be sorely needed. Bestselling author Grant Cardone recommends starting with a brief motivational talk or video. Before each meeting, prepare motivational content to get the ball rolling. To spice things up, rotate responsibility for this between employees.
3. Discuss roadblocks and how employees can overcome them
Instead of leaving reps to deal with problems in isolation, provide them with an opportunity to discuss challenges in a supportive environment. In your 1:1 meetings, ask everyone to talk about a current struggle. Then, ask around for suggestions about how a team member might conquer the challenge.
Updates from Around the Company
4. Discuss new products
Any time a new product is rolled out, the sales team should be prepared. Discuss buyer personas for each product, and perhaps suggest existing clients who need to be contacted with the news. With help from the marketing department, have team members brainstorm how to effectively sell the product to prospects.
5. Updates from the marketing department
Strong communication between sales and marketing are essential for the success of both departments. InsightSquared suggests that a Marketing team member should attend sales meetings, so try inviting a marketing representative to your meetings. Sales representatives should be informed of all new campaigns and changes in policies.
6. Discuss internal changes in policies and tools
To keep all members of the sales team in the loop, provide relevant, regular updates to them. Here are some items that should be covered when relevant:
- Internal hiring priorities and process changes
- New company-wide policies, especially those related to employee compensation and benefits
- New technological tools. Whenever changes are planned to the CRM and other particularly important tools, sales reps should have opportunities to ask questions.
Set Goals & Develop Plans
7. Review the state of the pipeline
Sales representatives should not be lone wolves out scouring for deals all by themselves. In fact, sales teams can act most effectively when everyone is on the same page. For this reason, weekly meetings should provide updates on new sales, potential new clients, and other issues of common interest. Go around and provide every team member with an opportunity to discuss the previous week.
8. Set goals and assess progress
Meetings are a great opportunity to discuss goals. Sales representatives will be more comfortable with monthly and/or quarterly goals if they play a role in setting those goals. Use meetings as an opportunity to discuss and determine goals for the sales team, collectively and as individuals. During the meetings, sales members should provide updates. If a sales representative is on track to meet or exceed a goal, offer congratulations. If a team member is falling behind, the team can discuss how they can catch up to meet the goal.
9. Acknowledge successes
Being a sales representative is hard work. Amidst the everyday bustle of work, there isn’t always time to offer praise for a job well done. Set aside time in the weekly meeting to congratulate individual sales representatives on their successes. Provide an opportunity for sales representatives to share good news during every meeting. Salesforce.com experts say that consistently acknowledging successes will make sales representatives more eager to attend meetings.
10. Review networking opportunities for the upcoming week
Prospective customers are everywhere—if your team is taking advantage of all available opportunities. Every week, one member of the team should prepare a list of events and other opportunities to meet and network with prospects. Assign one or more members of the team to every event so that everything is covered.
Ongoing Educational Content
11. Provide one area of focus
You can’t cover every aspect of sales during a single meeting, so don’t try to. But weekly meetings can still be a valuable opportunity for education. Set a single priority for the week and set a goal for everyone to put new knowledge into practice. For example, you might choose to focus on learning an advanced CRM feature or contacting a previous customer. Set manageable learning goals so that it sticks.
12. Share best practices
There’s always more to learn. Regular presentations about best practices can help even senior sales representatives to improve their performance. However, don’t bore employees with long lectures. To encourage hands-on learning, use interactive activities. For example, hand sales representatives an example scenario and do a roleplay with them about the situation.
While not every meeting will have room for every item on this list, implementing a few of these sales meeting topics can transform weekly meetings from dull to germane.
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