101 Best sales and Marketing Ideas
IDEA 83:
USE THAT SALES MEETING
As a consultant I find that asking staff about sales meetings gives me a good idea of the likely quality of a company’s sales team. If the response is dismissive (“What wastes of time why don’t they just let us get on and sell?”), the company probably holds ineffective meetings, and misses the advantage that comes from good ones.
Idea
From Prudential Assurance (in Singapore)…
Sales meetings should be catalysts to maximize effectiveness. They may review progress and performance, and they should have a positive impact on motivation and team feeling. Dave Tiang, senior unit manager with Prudential Assurance, is quoted as saying, “Team building and bonding can be achieved only when the majority of [the] sales forces are running in the same direction. We also take this as a learning experience when we discuss some unique cases”.
In other words sales meeting should be constructive occasions. They provide a chance for members of the team to compare notes, for training in sales techniques and product knowledge, and for links to be made with the motivational initiatives. While admin is important, as is checking progress against targets, a key area should be to stimulate ideas. How can the team open more accounts, get over an objection that keeps cropping up, respond to initiatives by competition, or secure more prompt payment? These and many other questions can be debated. Several heads an often be better than one – new ideas may surface, and good experience can be passed around.
Of course the responsibility here is with sales management, but the contribution of individual sales people is vital. The moral for the individual is to take sales meeting seriously, read the agenda and do any necessary preparation, and participate in a way that stimulates others. Everyone can gain from a creative airing of views, and it can be amazing how something that one person mentions as puzzling prompts a ready answer from someone else who has cracked the problem.
In practice
- If you have sales meeting to attend, make suggestions. Ask for an agenda in advance if one is not offered (perhaps demand one), ask questions, lay problems and solutions on the table, see how such gatherings can be made to work and to contribute to achieving sales effectiveness and the results that are targeted.