Marketing
Make Your Sales Meetings More Valuableby Don Cooper
One of the most frequent complaints we hear from salespeople is that regular sales meetings are, um….er….not the most productive use of their time. (Okay, that’s not typically the way salespeople describe them, but you get the idea.) Here are some ideas for turning your sales meetings into can’t-miss events.
Arm Yourselves Against Objections
Each meeting, bring up a common objection. Spend ten or fifteen minutes brainstorming answers to it.
Dissect Your Competition
Collect your competitors’ sales and marketing literature. At least one week before your meeting, give a salesperson the information from one of the companies. Have the person deliver a presentation on their strengths and weaknesses. Have a different salesperson review another company each meeting.
Conduct Your Own Training Seminars
Purchase a book or audio tape album on sales. (You’ll find lots of recommendations at my web site.) Assign a chapter or a cassette to a salesperson and have them present a summary of the most applicable ideas. Again, give people at least a week to prepare.
Practice Your Introductions
Brainstorm ideas for effective fifteen, thirty, and sixty-second introductions. Practice them each meeting, so salespeople can recite them smoothly and easily at networking functions.
Share Success Stories
Give everyone an opportunity to share good news, an accomplishment, a discovery, a new tactic, or anything else positive. Celebrate everything with prizes, candy, or at the very least, wild applause.
Understand Your Real Value
Double the price of any one product or service in your line. Then justify why it’s worth so much to the customer. Now your original price will seem like a bargain, giving your salespeople the confidence to maintain price integrity.
Share Customer Feedback Have salespeople relay what they’re hearing from customers. Compliments, complaints, requests, and industry scuttlebutt are all valuable. This is an excellent opportunity for upper management to discover street-level information.
Tackle Challenges
Allow each person to share some challenge they’re experiencing, whether in general or with a specific situation. Spend a set number of minutes brainstorming ways to overcome it. Follow up at the next meeting to determine what worked and what needs enhancing.
Make Commitments
Have each person make some kind of commitment. Record them all and be sure to follow up on each commitment the following meeting. Again, reward people who follow through on the commitment they made.
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Don Cooper is a partner in The Guerrilla Group, Inc., and is a contributing author of CONFESSIONS OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTERS, published by Success Showcase Publishing. You can reach him at 800-247-9145 or Don@GuerrillaGroup.com. Get your FREE subscriptio
