As a sales leader, meeting with a whole team of reps is a challenging task. Isn’t it? It can be valuable for your business but it can also waste salespeople’s valuable selling time. So, make sure you make the time to develop the right agenda, share critical updates, and nurture group discussion.
Follow these important tips in this article and prepare for, refine, and polish your next sales meeting agenda. You’ll be running efficient meetings for your team in no time.
What is a sales meeting?
A sales meeting is a group of discussions between sales leaders and sales reps at a company. Typically, sales leaders – sales manager, director or head of sales, and chief revenue officer run the meeting, and sales reps will attend. Leaders highlight important updates that could include:
- Current sales performance
- Future projects for leaders
- Competitive Insights
- What the sales team’s next priorities should be
Your own meeting agendas will differ based on whether you’re running a weekly sales meeting, a quarterly review, an annual sales kick-off, or something else. But these 10 tips will help you stay on track and create an efficient sales meeting agenda.
Tip 1 – Setting Goals
Make sure you and your team know what is to be discussed in the meeting. For instance, if your sales team couldn’t hit the target of this month, your objectives like weakness points, future actions, etc. should be clearly defined for your sales meeting. Whether you want to have a conversation regarding a specific key performance indicator (KPI), or a critical end-of-quarter performance, you should know what you must discuss with your team in the meeting.
Don’t schedule a meeting with your salespeople without a clear agenda. Once you’ve developed your agenda, work with presenters on the following questions:
- Who will kick off the meeting?
- Who will present their screen, if needed?
- Is there a key call to action (CTA) you want every meeting attendee to take away?
Tip 2 – Ensuring Smooth Operations
Whether you’re handling your team remotely or in person, you must ensure smooth operations. Computer updates should be completed, software should be downloaded, and unnecessary programs or chats should be closed. Make sure there are no glitches that can waste your and your team’s time and derail your meeting.
Tip 3 – Following Time
Respect the time of your team by keeping the meeting on schedule. Tell about the meeting’s time to your team in advance so that they can plan their respective agendas timely. This is also because they can wind up their work accordingly. Regularly review your standard sales meeting agenda by asking for attendee feedback to learn which topics are most valuable. You don’t want to cut important conversations short, but you also need to keep an eye on time and balance it accordingly.
Tip 4 – Choosing the Right Agenda
Selecting the right agenda is important. Here is a template:
Meeting info
- Meeting date and time
- Attendees
Brief the team: 5-10 minutes
- Company updates that affect the sales team
- Follow up on questions from the last meeting
Team discussion: 10-15 minutes
- List potential hurdles
- Status report
- Break down current metrics
- Discuss major leads
Appreciate key wins: 5-10 minutes
- Give recognition to sales reps who do good work
- Allow others to share appreciation
Welcome ideas, questions and innovation: 5-10 minutes
- Exchange ideas and thoughts
- Motivate and encourage the team
Decide on next steps: 5-10 minutes
- Appoint individuals to take ownership of action points from the meeting
- Set expectations for the next meeting
Close meeting
Tip 5 – Finding the Right Frequency
Make every minute of your meeting count and teach your team about another meeting that could have been an email. Indeed, email can be an effective, concise way to communicate with your team when it comes to quick company updates or plan changes.
Tip 6 – Sharing Updates and Addressing Challenges in Sales
Brief your team about the latest updates and address challenges involved in sales. From pricing changes and sales forecasting updates to product news and leadership shifts. Follow up on any issues or questions from past meetings, too.
Tip 7 – Recognising Successes
Did a team member close a big deal? Surpass their quota six months in a row? So, what are you waiting for? Openly praise his or her hard work in your sales meeting. Most people appreciate being recognized, and it’s good for the entire organization.
Tip 8 – Setting Open for Ideas, and Questions
Your sales meeting agendas should always be open for group discussions, ideas, and questions. These meetings aren’t only about what you want to communicate; they’re also a way for team members to learn from each other.
For example, you exchange ideas on:
- Better sales and marketing or sales and service alignment
- Remote selling tips
- New positioning of your products or services
- Partnering with other peers or vendors in your industry
- Your competitors’ marketing strategies or pricing of their products
- Shaping goals for the next quarter or year
Tip 9 – Motivating the Team
Sales can be hard. This profession requires patience, salespeople need to handle a lot of rejection, and mistakes will be made from time to time. So, always motivate your team members when times get tough.
Tip 10 – Decide on Next Steps
As you work through each item on your sales meeting agenda, clarify any action items and who’s responsible for following up on each. Make sure no one should leave the meeting feeling confused about the next steps.
Even in easier times, fun and positive ways to motivate your team abound. However you’re going, remember this simple fact – tough times don’t last, but tough sales teams do.
