Make the Most of Your Meetings

Q: I have a team of 11 sales reps who have all been working for me for the past 5-10 yrs. I know I should be holding regular meetings with them, but I’m stuck on what to talk about each week.

– Bob Kelly

Austin, Texas

A: Bob, you’re right about the importance of holding regular meetings with your sales team. Building steady business growth is definitely a team effort. Getting better should be expected of everyone. Here’s a simple meeting structure that has been a tremendous help to me in the past to effectively motivate and inspire my sales teams. (I’ve also used this for my office staff). I have used this structure week in and week out for years.

Part I: RECOGNITION Whether you’re having a meeting with 11 people, 50 people or just 4, it sets a positive tone and energy to find something to recognize in some or all of your meeting attendees. I’ve even written them up and taped them all around the walls which always delivered a stronger message than just my words alone because they can read it longer than the time it took me to speak it. While it’s important to look ahead and communicate your vision, I believe it’s just as important to look behind and recognize how far people have come.

Part II: INFORMATION This is the housekeeping tid-bits of FYI stuff you want everyone to be aware of and note in their calendars, project folders, etc.

Part III: INSTRUCTION Never undermine the importance of ongoing training. I’ve heard from some business owners that they don’t need to train their top sales people because they’ve been doing their jobs for 10 years, and they know what they’re doing. I emphatically disagree! That’s like expecting pro football players to skip the training camp and send them right into the kickoff game – bad idea! Spend 30-45 min during your weekly staff meeting to help your people improve one specific skill they use and need to better perform their jobs. Trust me, even for your seasoned sales reps you’ll never run out of drill-for-skill content.

Part IV: INSPIRATION It’s always powerful for your people to be inspired by the milestones achieved by their own colleagues. So, invite one of your sales leaders to share for 5-15 minutes on how they achieved _____.

Part V: MOTIVATION I always found getting people to perform better to be a 2 step formula. While instruction trains their heads, motivation is about their hearts. They have to want to excel. Even the ones who said they were self-motivated still perform better with a deliberate dose of motivational words from you, their leader. Tell them why this week is different. What is at stake this month? Why should they care? What is the target you want them to stretch to reach? What’s it all for this quarter? How can you help your people get out of their comfort zone? What will it take to help them get their game faces on?

Bob, I hope that answers your question and gives you some very specific action steps you can take.