It might feel that sometimes, we have meetings for meetings’ sake. Team meetings shouldn’t be a chore or a matter of going through the motions. If your team meeting feels like that, then it’s time to take a step back and restructure the meeting, not just get rid of it. Here’s why.
When we ask sales leaders to list everything they do in a week, we usually hear a list of 25 tasks like sell, going on calls with people, going to leadership meetings, meeting with their teams, doing 1-on-1’s, and so on.
But then we ask what falls off when you’re busy? Consistently we hear these three things: 1-on-1’s, coaching, and team meetings. Then, we ask what the most impactful things for driving your teams are? Again, we consistently hear team meetings, coaching, and 1-on-1s. So, why do the activities that are most impactful to your teams fall off? Mind blown, right?
1-on-1’s, coaching, and specifically team meetings shouldn’t fall off the radar even if you are putting out fires all week. Team meetings are a time to set expectations, reinforce good behaviors, and update your salespeople on then team and company goals.
If your team meetings keep falling off the radar or you don’t think they are being received well, then focus your meeting on these four areas:
What are they focusing on? What is the plan for the week? The month? The year?
Ensuring that everybody has a plan with specific things that they need to accomplish can be extremely valuable. We have seen this direction alone, providing good value to your team members.
How is the team doing actually vs. the set goals? Do they have to adjust this quarter? Does the team need a little more direction? Do they know they are going to close specific deals?
People on your team must know whether they are winning or not. People like to see if they are making progress against the goal. Share this with them!
Did someone close a big deal? Did they exceed their number of calls this week? Did they set new meetings? Get into a new account?
We like to say, ‘Catch them doing something good.’ If people do something well and nobody notices acknowledge or recognize them, why would they want to do it again? Take this opportunity to reward them for the things they accomplished. This action goes a long way. For more about rewarding good behavior check out our blog on, “The ABC’s Of Managing Your Sales Team.”
At the end of each team meeting, touch on selling skills, or tips for better calls, or new products. Give them access to the knowledge they may not already have.
Team meetings may be the only time the sales team gets to explain their struggles and success as a group. This gives them the time to bond, learn, and help each other out. However, you don’t want the team meeting to turn into nothing but a free social hour or spaghetti meeting, read our blog on, “Stop Running Spaghetti Meetings.” Here are some Do’s and Don’ts of a good team meeting.
By the time you ask the second person about their projections, the first person has already lost focus and checked out. Not a valuable use of time.
DO NOT scold or punish in public – “praise in public and punish in private.” Do your corrections or adjustments during your individual 1-on-1’s.
If there’s no structure or agenda, and people don’t know what to expect, they don’t know how to prepare for the meeting. They won’t know what’s asked of them, and that’s going to be a less effective meeting.
Make sure to have structure in every meeting, but especially in this one. Again, the structure can be the format we outlined above.
Find out if the meeting is valuable. Ask your team what they gain the most value from in these meetings. Ask what they want more out of these meetings. Make the necessary adjustments.
Let your team share their own successes. A salesperson loves nothing more than talking and sharing how they landed that big account. So let them. Ask questions during this time to highlight the key things you want others doing as well.
These team meetings don’t have to be very long, just between half an hour to an hour. Ask your team about the time and frequency. Do they want to meet weekly? Bi-weekly? Let them tell you what’s valuable and what will make them successful. But, don’t let the meeting fall off entirely.
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