Does your sales team enjoy your sales meetings? Or have you caught the telltale glazed eyes that let you know the stacks of work back at their desks are looking a lot more attractive than your meeting right now?
Done right, your sales meetings can boost your profits, help your team bond, and bring you the insights you need to drive your business forward. So what makes for a great sales team meeting?
Follow these five tips to turn your sales team meetings from boring to brilliant:
1. Keep Your Focus Narrow
As the article “Ideas For Sales Meetings – Sales Skills Development” points out, cramming too into too little time leads to dull meetings that drag on and bore your sales team.
By picking a focus for each meeting – such as a specific skill or product – you’ll make your meetings more effective.
Your team will have time to digest the new information and learn from it. You can’t cover multiple topics effectively, so narrow your focus.
2. Offer Something to Take Away
If you want your team to get something from your meetings – offer them something!
The goal of your sales team meetings isn’t to give your team an info dump and then send them back into the field. The goal is to make your meetings count, improving your sales and getting the most from your team.
To do that, add fun and interesting skill building exercises, team bonding activities, or even bring in an expert to teach something new.
Use your meeting time to strengthen your sales team and you’ll see the benefit in your business turnover.
3. Give Everyone the Floor
Being talked at for the duration of a meeting really makes it feel like a drag for your team.
Instead, get them engaged by making sure at least some of the meeting time is dedicated to giving everyone a chance to have their say.
Keep the conversation productive with direct questions and great time management to make sure everyone gets a chance to contribute without the discussion getting too far away from the key point.
If you make the conversation about everyone, your team will be more engaged.
4. Presentations? Make Them Pop
Presentations can be an engaging way to get your point across during sales meetings. Or they can be the point when your sales team starts surreptitiously checking their smartphones.
To make presentations work for you, keep them sharp and relevant. Try adding multimedia such as sound bites, video or images, and inject something new, unexpected, humorous or interesting to keep your team’s attention.
Make time in your presentation for interaction, such as questions or even a simple show of hands.
5. Make Time for Motivation
Adding motivation to your team meetings adds an element of fun and competition that encourages your team to do better.
You can offer rewards, for both a job well done, and for excelling at in-meeting activities. The rewards can be as simple or as impressive as you like. Don’t forget the simple act of thanking your team, praising the team as a whole and any particularly outstanding performers.
Make sure your team knows you appreciate them, and give them a reason to give you their best.
Your sales team meetings don’t have to be a chore.
Following these tips will help you build meetings that your team will benefit from, leaving them feeling valued, motivated, and with new skills ready to bring to the table.
Photo credit:Â Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a wide variety of topics, including social media, SEO, sales skills and team meetings.
