Running good sales meetings is CRITICAL to your team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But 99% of companies do them completely wrong\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n They waste tons of time with unnecessary details and ultimately miss the one thing that actually matters in sales team meetings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you want to be part of the 1% of sales teams who have meetings that actually make a HUGE difference in results, then you need to do things differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what I\u2019ll show you how to do in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through Closers.io, I\u2019ve worked with hundreds of sales teams over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in almost every case, their sales meetings were absolutely horrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when we helped them rethink their meetings, they began seeing incredible growth. Many of them started hitting 7, 8, and even 9 figures for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they haven\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I\u2019ve already alluded to, there is ultimately a single purpose for every sales meeting. And most companies completely miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coaching<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Top 1% sales teams use their meetings to coach their reps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Closers.io, we do this with our internal sales team by literally running through recordings of sales calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire team watches a recent sales call one of the reps had and I give direct feedback and invite the rest of the team to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t necessarily have to do this exact thing, but you do <\/em>need to use your sales meetings to coach your reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll fill that time with something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And most of the time that means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This puts a cap on your team\u2019s potential. You can\u2019t expect them to grow, stay engaged, and stay motivated<\/a> without good coaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that means you need to center your sales meeting agenda around coaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Come to each sales meeting with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the best sales meetings are essentially coaching sessions, that means your \u201cgoal\u201d is a specific area you want to coach your reps on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And to identify that, you need to gather relevant sales call recordings, trainings, and other material before the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create a game plan for each sales team meeting as if you were Nick Saban preparing for a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think this is overkill?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the quality of your meetings directly impacts the quality of your team\u2019s results<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your reps are only going to achieve up to the bar you set for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best ways to start a sales meeting is by getting everyone on the same page regarding your numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I recommend doing this differently than most sales teams (where the leader reads off a spreadsheet everyone already has access to).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set the expectation with your reps that they must review your key metrics before every meeting. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because this part of the sales meeting agenda has nothing to do with everyone reading the metrics together as if you were giving a PowerPoint presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This first portion of the agenda is specifically for quickly gathering qualitative feedback<\/strong> from your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If someone is off track with their numbers, you want them to tell you why and how they plan on fixing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give everyone a few minutes to give their assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where you\u2019ll get incredible insights and opportunities for direct coaching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you opt for simply reading off metrics as most sales team leaders do<\/a>, you\u2019ll waste tons of time going over things everyone should already know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you hear what your team is seeing from the front lines, this gives you a natural transition into discussing big-picture trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick a handful of the most critical trends that apply to everyone on the sales team call and discuss them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, this gives you an opportunity to coach your reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walk them through how they should think and approach these trends so they can begin to address them in their context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On one of our recent sales team meetings, this agenda item uncovered a HUGE and easily fixable trend<\/strong> that was killing our conversion rates\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prospects\u2019 phones were constantly dying because they were using them to do Zoom calls and didn\u2019t have a charger nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we never heard back from 99% of them after their phone died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This part of the sales meeting agenda allowed us to build a simple note into our scripts that reminded our reps to get prospects to plug in their phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s not necessarily a time limit with this agenda item. Use your best judgment to determine if the trends you uncover are worth spending the entire sales meeting on from this point forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes these trends will allow you to knock out the next 2 agenda items naturally. Other times, you\u2019ll need to move on to bigger fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where I like to walk through a sales call recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many companies are scared to do this because they think it\u2019ll make reps who get singled out uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s a fair concern\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you have a great culture it won\u2019t be an issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With my team, my reps know I have really high standards. Each member of the sales team also has high standards for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re all striving to be top 1% sales reps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So even if it makes someone slightly uncomfortable to be singled out, they\u2019re okay with it because they know it\u2019s not to \u201ccome down on them\u201d but to provide coaching opportunities for the entire team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why we pick particular calls to critique on our sales meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t necessarily have to do the same, but don\u2019t run away from coaching an individual rep in front of their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they trust and respect you as a leader, they\u2019ll know you aren\u2019t trying to embarrass them\u2013you\u2019re providing a great growth opportunity for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Helping everyone solve problems and giving feedback to a specific sales rep can easily be a \u201ctraining for all reps\u201d depending on what the subject is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where you need to use your judgment as a sales leader. This doesn\u2019t need to be elaborate. It can be some dialogue, some quick slides, a video, or whatever else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main consideration here is tailoring it directly to your team\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one wants to watch videos or listen to a lecture on random, high-level sales advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make it specific, direct, and to the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – if you determine while you\u2019re in the meeting that you already did some great training during Parts 2 and 3 of the agenda, skip it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I always recommend a daily sales meeting in the morning. This helps your reps start their day off right and have clear directives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And we follow this up with a quick written report at the end of the day. This gathers some of the qualitative information you\u2019ll need for Part 2 of the sales meeting agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this might not work for you and your team. That\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just be sure to determine a cadence that works for your situation and stick with it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your team needs this structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re training your team, don\u2019t make a long PowerPoint and read off the slides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lectures don\u2019t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You need a dialogue-driven approach that engages your reps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, avoid any long videos, presentations, or lectures from anyone. Sometimes bringing in an outside expert to talk for 30 minutes is fine, but that should be the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your reps won\u2019t remember everything you say. If you unload tons of information on them, they\u2019re even less likely to remember what you tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, try to stick to one topic for your training\/coaching and have your reps take notes of small things (like making sure prospects plug their phone in before running a Zoom call).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want your reps to walk away from sales meetings with direct and actionable information they can apply immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Protect them from the info dump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re giving feedback\u2013whether to specific reps or the entire team\u2013don\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell them what they need to hear and pinpoint exactly what\u2019s holding them back.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But do so from a posture of kindness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This posture comes from your tone and the words you say during the moment, and is also developed based on your ongoing relationship with each rep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they trust and respect you, they\u2019re not going to take your feedback the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Avoid shying away from saying what needs to be said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s better to say something that\u2019s hard to hear (in a kind way) than to avoid it completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Avoidance makes the problem worse and eventually makes your team lose respect for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is radically different than how most sales teams run their meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe 1 Thing Every Sales Meeting MUST Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The 4-Part Sales Meeting Agenda That Can Take Your Team to the Top 1% of Performers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Preparation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1. Quick overview of your key metrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Trends since the last meeting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Direct coaching to specific reps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Training for all reps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Come prepared with a quick training that would help everyone on your team if you end up having time for this last agenda item.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHow to Successfully Run a Sales Meeting with This Agenda<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Find your cadence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Dialogue > Presentation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Avoid the \u201cinfo dump\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Be kind and direct<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Change the Way You Run Sales Meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n