How To Run A Great Sales Meeting

1. Consistent Time

Consistency is key to a great sales meeting. Setting a consistent time allows everyone to avoid scheduling conflicts. Attendance will improve when the meeting isn’t a surprise. Start with an hour-long weekly meeting, especially if you are implementing a new sales process, methodology or sales tool. There will be more questions and a need for guidance and best practices during these times of organizational change. Consistently end your meetings on time and you won’t have resources bailing to their next commitment.

2. Consistent Expectations

Send an agenda for each meeting so you don’t gain the reputation of being unprepared. There is nothing worse than a sales meeting where too much time is spent freewheeling. If you consistently screenshare in your meetings there will be no question that attendees will have to do more than just call in to the conference number in order to participate.  Zebra users consistently share their opportunity screens in sales meetings.

3. Be Collaborative

Sales meetings should be collaborative. Keep the tone positive by having an attendee share their recent success. Don’t ask for volunteers live. This always ends up creating a lot of dead air. Prepare users ahead of time and use that moment to recognize and encourage them. There is always a natural inquisition to understand key moments of the sales cycle that moved the deal forward.

4. Strategize a Deal

Leave theoretical situations at the door. Talk about and strategize a live deal with your team. Make your agenda specific, decide who’s going to lead a discussion about one of their deals ahead of time. This is a great time to let seasoned employees set the stage for newer employees and establish a culture of continuous improvement. Tap into the creativity and expertise, you’ll be surprised where some of your best ideas come from

5. Consistent Language

Your sales meeting should be a place where you can establish a consistent language to talk about deals. This is where your role as a manager is to gain adoption of the sales methodology. Some examples out of the Zebra methodology would be talking about who Power was at the last deal that closed, or what was the Cost Savings proposed? You should also try scoring your deals. Scoring gives you a framework to strategize and identify holes or obstacles in a deal.

6. Record the Meeting

Record every meeting. If someone isn’t able to attend or even has to leave during the call, they will want to hear what was discussed. If that one rep has trouble dialing in to the call, you can always start on time and refer them to the recording to catch up. If you question the need to record the meeting, you should question your agenda. If the meeting isn’t worth recording, is it worth having? You don’t need to save the meetings forever, just make sure to send the recording out after the call.