7 Tips for Productive Client Sales Meetings

According to a recent report by Industry Week, Americans attend more than 25 million meetings each day—and we waste approximately $37 billion on unproductive meetings annually. The reality is that client sales meetings are essential; and when approached with thorough planning and preparation, they can be incredibly productive.

I spent years as a straight-commission sales rep. Now, as an executive, I see the meeting challenge from both vantage points. This type of structure is what I appreciate when a salesperson calls on me:

1. Reconfirm the start and end time. This helps to keep the meeting on track and sends the message to your customer that you value his/her time.
2. Reiterate the reason for the meeting. Are you reviewing project status? Introducing a new product or solution? Be specific. And above all, be flexible: The client might have more pressing issues that have come up since you scheduled the meeting a week ago; be ready to pivot and redirect to best meet your customer’s needs.
3. Create an agenda. This helps to keep you on track and will direct you back if the discussion veers off topic.
   
4. Be prepared. Do your research! This is particularly important for first-time client meetings. Not only should you spend time learning as much as you can about the company, brand and industry, be sure to research competitors to see how they market their products/services.
5. Ask questions. To maximize meeting productivity, prepare questions in advance. And then set the tone for your meeting by letting your customer know that this isn’t a one-way sales pitch: “I’m sure you’re going to have questions for me—I know l have questions for you.”
6. Identify next steps. Make a list of actionable items throughout the meeting. Identify what needs to be done to move the sales process along—maybe there are benchmarks that you’ll need to hit to move the process forward. Remember: Not every meeting results in a sale. It could be that there is no future—and that’s ok, too. Either way, you want to know where you stand before you leave the meeting.
7. Follow up within 24 hours. Whether you’re sending an email that identifies action items, next steps and deadlines, or hand-writing a thank-you note, be prompt.

Sales is all about serving the customer: Let them talk about their needs and expectations—and really listen to what they have to say. The rest is all about following up with quality products/services and personal service. At the end of day, regardless of our industry or market, we all want to work with a sales rep who really gets us—and then gets it done.

Good luck,
Tim Connor

6 Tips For Productive Sales Meetings

Like many sales organizations, Shamrock gathers our team for an annual sales meeting to provide updates, share new ideas and build team camaraderie. For companies like ours with geographically dispersed locations, it’s even more important to bring the entire team together at one time, in one place, to create connections and allow for face-to-face conversations: These interactions are essential to our team-centered culture. 

Over the years, we’ve developed our own formula for managing engaging, productive sales meetings. We start by creating a theme for our annual sales meetings to frame content and messaging. And we bring in vendor partners as guest speakers to provide timely, insightful presentations about marketing solutions relevant to every sales rep.

While Shamrock usually opts for an offsite venue, this year we held the meeting at our corporate headquarters, which allowed sales reps to connect and integrate with the rest of our employees at the home office. More than 30 years in sales has taught us: Change is good and mixing things up helps keep the entire team energized.

If you’re preparing for your team’s meeting, consider these tips below from Entrepreneur magazine for organizing a productive sales meeting:

1.    Start with an energizer. Engage the group right from the start to set the tone for the meeting…introduce a motivational speaker, a video, or a group ice breaker.
2.    Keep it simple. As you build your agenda, ask yourself: “Does this need to be included as part of the group meeting…or is this best managed as a sidebar?”
3.    Manage individual updates. Give yourself a time allotment for updates—and stick to it.
4.    Motivate and reward. Build motivation into the team meeting by making sales reps feel supported and appreciated. Use awards—funny, team challenges, performance-based—or simple hand-written thank-you’s.
5.    Capability activity. Make sure reps walk away with new information that they can use to better manage and grow their business—whether that’s a new CRM platform or tips for bolstering social media presence.
6.    Keep to a standard agenda. By following the above steps, you’ve created your agenda: Use it to keep you focused and on track.   

Do you have unique elements or program features that are part of your annual sales meeting? We’d like to hear from you.