Copyright National Research Bureau Dec 2004Salespeople have been alternately entertained, pampered, bored, frustrated, chided, cajoled - you name it - since the beginning of time. Some attempts have even been made to educate them. A few have succeeded brilliantly; others have failed miserably.
With years of experience behind the corporation, why do so many of them "blow it" when the annual sales meeting rolls around?
Let's examine 10 of the more common misconceptions about sales meetings.
MISCONCEPTION No. 1 - The salesperson is just an employee. Too many sales managers are guilty of this mistake in judgment. Actually, the sales rep is a company's best customer. He/she is the highest leverage audience a company can reach. The sales manager is fighting a losing battle if he/she believes reps will pay attention to everything that is said at a sales meeting because it is their job to do so; because they are paid to be where they are.
The salesperson is a born cynic. He/she has seen and heard everything already ... from X-rated movies at the local theater to a fair weather report after being drenched running from the car to the door.
They're not going to believe anything one tells them until you prove it's true. Chances are he/she didn't come to your meeting alone; he/she brought along a pretty big ego. A good salesperson knows what's important ... and if you are going to motivate them, you had better recognize that fact.
A corporation spends a lot of time and money on its consumer advertising and corporate image campaign. It's about time it began taking as much care and preparation with its employee communications and sales meetings as it does for the public.
MISCONCEPTION No. 2 - A sales meeting should be a celebration. Your company tripled its sales last year. Everyone is in a good mood. Someone decides to take the salespeople to Honolulu for a week ... lots of golf, surfing, etc. Just the thing to say they've done a good job. Right? Wrong. Everyone loves a free vacation. But they would have loved the cash even more. Talking with sales reps over the years has led to a conclusion: Salespeople enjoy meetings that are planned for fun; while they remember sales meetings that taught them how to increase their commissions.
MISCONCEPTIONNo. 3 - A sales meeting is a place to blame them for a bad year. Many companies that find themselves in the red because of a bad sales year often dispense with a meeting altogether. Some companies will have everyone at the plant for a few days so they can see how they have contributed to the red ink.
The most important time to hold a sales meeting is after a bad sales year. Unfortunately, it is often one of the first things to go. Logically, it should be the first thing planned.
Keying the sales meeting to the sales year that just ended is a mistake made by too many companies. A progressive company plans a productive sales meeting focusing on the year ahead. Something more constructive than the theme of the meeting should be forward looking on the agenda.
MISCONCEPTION No. 4 - A sales meeting is the place to produce a five-year plan. A vast number of corporations rely on the five-year plan for their meetings but they forget the all important one-year plan.
If a company's sales were down 34 percent last year, it will not be able to generate enthusiasm for a five-year plan. The company must make progress on a year-to-year basis.
MISCONCEPTION No. 5 - A sales meeting can be planned in a few days. The task of planning a sales meeting usually falls to an executive who is really too busy to bother with it, so he/she passes the chore ... and a copy of last year's agenda - to an assistant. The assistant may be a bright person, capable of doing their regular job in every way. But he probably knows little or nothing about communications, meeting facilities, visual equipment and the thousand and one details that go into a smooth functioning meeting.
How much time is given? Three weeks? One week? The executive reasons that he managed to plan one sales meeting in 48 hours, thus, three weeks should be enough for his assistant. The fact is three months wouldn't be enough for a neophyte meeting planner.
MISCONCEPTION No. 6 - A sales meeting can be held in any room that can hold all of the people. Large blocks of hotel rooms must be booked a long time in advance. Thus, as soon as the location of the meeting is decided, reservations are made at the closest hotel or motel ... hopefully the one with the best recreation facilities. Not until the day of the meeting does anyone bother to check the logistics of the meeting rooms. The hotel might be a charming resort. But it might have only one meeting room the right size - decorated with giant crystal chandeliers at the front and back and big columns down the center. That's fine for a ball, but it's not so good if you are planning a presentation with six projectors, three screens and a product booth with live models.
The first consideration in selecting a meeting site should be the type of meeting you are planning to hold. hotels for obvious reasons are going to sell every room. Don't leave anything to chance. Never book a room without conducting a thorough survey of the entire facility.
MISCONCEPTION No. 7 - This year's meeting must follow the same lines as last year and the year before that. Are you holding a ritual or a sales meeting? Must every meeting open with remarks from the chairman of the board and close with words from the president ... spaced by pitches from department heads? A wit once remarked a meeting opened at 10:00 sharp and closed at 12:00 dull. How many meetings have you attended that fit that description?
Remember that a salesperson is an active person. He/ she is competitive, learns by doing things. Involve them in your meeting. Make them become an active participant. Don't talk at them so much. Talk to them. Allow them to talk to you. Now you can have a meaningful "dialogue" which is implied in the word "meeting."
MISCONCEPTION No. 8 - Anything goes. A few old slides will "serve the visual purposes" of the meeting. Common thinking among many people is the slides, films or what-have-you will be used only once, so why spend money on them?
One line of thinking goes: With the slides on hand, the rest of the meeting is easy. The hotel's brochure said it would provide screens and projectors. Thus, we don't have to worry about those things.
Did you ever stop to think how many other people might be counting on using that equipment? Or how much equipment actually exists? Or what condition it is in?
Remember, today's salesperson is visually sophisticated. He/she was brought up on television, accustomed to highquality movies. They're not going to be the least bit impressed with hand-drawn slides projected on a screen not meant for the size room in which it is located. Nor is he/she going to be enthusiastic about tables and charts that look like logarithms from the back of the room.
The one saving grace for the audience might be a broken projector without a spare in attendance. It will end the session painlessly. But the salesperson won't be especially inspired to run out and sell more widgets.
MISCONCEPTION No. 9 - Pick a great big general theme for the meeting: Growth or motivation. What do they mean to the average salesperson? Nothing. You are holding the meeting for inspiration. That's the task you face.
Be specific. Your salespeople are selling a product... don't you try and sell them a generalization. You'll be left with a big inventory. Before you plan a sales meeting, do research among this important audience. Consult and question them. Find out what they want to know about the company - what they must know. Plan to educate them. Motivate them. Make them better salespeople.
But consider who is asking the questions. You might have an independent firm pose the questions. If a salesperson wants to criticize the boss, he/she can do it anonymously. Questioning by management is virtually a waste. No one will damn his/her bread-and-butter - at least not to the manager's face.
MISCONCEPTION No. 10 -You must have a sales meeting. Probably the biggest misconception of all is to hold a meeting because it's a tradition; because you had one last year, everyone is expecting it. What if you don't have anything important to say? Why hold the meeting in April, when your new product won't be released until October. It would certainly be better to hold the meeting in the fall when you have something exciting to talk about, rather than in the spring just because April is meeting month.
If you have nothing to say, don't hold a meeting. Pick up the tab for a dinner at a well-known restaurant. The salesperson will appreciate it more.
If you have something to say, then by all means go ahead and hold your meeting.
The very best way to treat these popular misconceptions is to plan. Plan your next sales meeting the moment the last one ends. What you learn by this follow-up can help shape the next meeting. If all you learned is nothing happened, that should help to shape the next meeting, too.
Successful sales meetings just don't happen. A lot of time must be spent on details in order to translate the specific objectives of the corporation into personal goals for each salesperson.
Pick your speakers because they have something to say. An executive might be more effective as a "guest" than as a poor "speaker."
Pay careful attention to the location and facility. Choose the best methods of communicating your message. Select the best equipment. In other words, plan everything down to the last extension cord.
A sales meeting is the optimum act of sales leadership. A sales manager who has carefully planned a meeting shouldn't stumble into one of the 10 basic misconceptions.
Salespeople will react to competence. They will be motivated to earn more for themselves and for the company. Everyone will benefit! TAS
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