9 Keys to Leading Great Sales Meetings

2 months ago

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At nan extremity of a meeting, person you ever said to yourself, "That was a full discarded of time. It could person been an email." You apt have, since, according to MIT Sloan Management Review, only astir 50% of gathering clip is effective, well-used, and engaging.

That's a sobering thought because nan effect of ineffective sales meetings extends acold beyond wasted time.

One of nan galore roles of income managers is to lead squad meetings that thief build high-performing income teams. New research recovered that top-performing income managers are 42% much apt than different managers to excel astatine starring valuable income squad meetings.

Furthermore, really a income head is perceived arsenic a gathering leader contributes importantly to nan team's wide assurance successful their manager.

When income managers aren't successful here, nan team's capacity suffers. This translates into little triumph rates, much deals mislaid to competitors aliases nary decision, and missed targets.

Plenty of books, university-level courses and different resources committedness to thatch you really to tally successful meetings. But for illustration galore topics successful business, nan concealed to occurrence is to do a communal point uncommonly well.

To tally successful income squad meetings, you must do these 9 things:

Related: 6 Secrets to a Successful Sales Meeting

1. Create attendee value

Your meetings whitethorn beryllium valuable to you. You get what you need, find retired what's going connected and thrust nan actions you want. But to get these outcomes, you must make judge group want to be your meetings. For that to happen, give your attendees value successful each meeting.

One measurement to do this is to deliberation done "Learn, Feel, Do" earlier nan meeting.

What do you want attendees to learn? If they get thing valuable, they'll support coming back.
What do you want attendees to feel? Is it information to succeed? Pride successful their achievements? Confidence successful you? Encouragement to measurement up and perform?
What do you want attendees to do? This whitethorn beryllium thing general, specified arsenic staying connected apical of their plans to deed their targets aliases thing meeting-specific, specified arsenic completing a peculiar action item.

2. Have objectives and an agenda

You don't want group wondering what nan gathering is about. Make judge you explicate nan value of it successful a condemnation aliases two. Objectives and an agenda supply a compass and roadmap for successful meetings.

This doesn't mean meetings request to beryllium rigid. For instance, you mightiness group speech immoderate clip to brainstorm a peculiar topic. But group request to cognize successful beforehand nan intent of nan gathering and what you'll beryllium covering. Anything that could beryllium covered successful an email, a telephone aliases a video is often amended done that way.

3. Manage gathering hygiene

Start connected time, extremity connected time, make judge your exertion is group up and moving up of clip — person a scheme B for what to do if thing stops moving and truthful on.

And if you don't request each nan allocated time, merchandise group and gift them their clip back. They will convey you for it!

4. Grab and support engagement

As nan leader, it's up to you to drawback attraction astatine nan opening and support it throughout. Remember to:

Start well: Use an icebreaker. Engage people early. Tell a speedy story. Do thing to commencement nan gathering pinch bully energy.
Involve people: The much a gathering is collaborative and has aggregate voices, nan much engaging it tends to be.
Remember nan 30 + 3 rule: You person astir 30 seconds to drawback engagement astatine nan opening of a meeting, and you request to guarantee it stays precocious each 3 minutes — particularly successful virtual meetings.
Take notes: If it's an in-person meeting, usage a whiteboard aliases flip chart. In virtual meetings, surface diary cardinal points. It'll thief support people's focus.

Related: 5 Tips to Make Your Meetings More Effective

5. Stay MOSTLY on track

As nan leader, it's up to you to guarantee nan meeting stays connected track. Assuming you person an agenda, you tin ever say, "I'm going to extremity present to make judge we're capable to screen everything connected nan agenda."

Meeting leaders that don't do this let others to divert nan discussion, taking clip distant from captious topics. But beryllium observant not to embarrass nan off-topic person. Just jump successful and support nan gathering going. Do it right, and you'll summation nan assurance of each nan attendees.

6. Facilitate, collaborate, and beryllium inclusive

Successful meetings are interactive. Facilitate. Ask questions. Draw retired nan discussion. Include squad interaction.

Before nan meeting, springiness group roles to play aliases things to contribute. Allowing group clip to hole is adjuvant for immoderate introverts connected your team. Collaboration and relationship thief make meetings more successful and engaging.

At nan aforesaid time, retrieve that meetings are a position arena. When group person roles, stock ideas, inquire questions and are involved, it builds their marque and reputation. Give group abstraction to do this, and you'll person a high-performing and engaged team.

7. Motivate (and don't demotivate)

Research shows that nan No. 1 capacity of top-performing income managers is motivating nan squad to execute apical performance. Give affirmative feedback, and item successes successful meetings. When you do this, you summation motivation.

Be observant not to demotivate. This doesn't mean you can't dive into problems and challenges — you tin — but build a safe abstraction wherever group tin opportunity what's connected their minds and consciousness they won't beryllium attacked aliases judged harshly. Otherwise, they won't participate successful your meetings. Focus connected issues, not people, erstwhile discussing problems. Save captious feedback for one-on-ones.

8. Be prepared, and show you're prepared

Imagine yourself arsenic an attendee astatine a meeting. The leader shows up somewhat frazzled from erstwhile meetings, shuffles done notes for a reminder of what this gathering is about, and past says, "Okay, what's connected people's minds for coming to cover?"

Imagine nan leader shows up connected clip arsenic usual, has nan schedule posted for attendees, and past says, "Okay, folks, for today, I'd for illustration to commencement pinch a question" — and past engages nan squad connected thing worthwhile earlier moving into a group schedule pinch easiness and efficiency.

Most group get worth from nan 2nd type of meeting, but not nan first. And astir group person precocious assurance and opinions of nan 2nd type of gathering leader, but not nan first. If you are prepared and travel across prepared, you put yourself successful a stronger position to lead nan team.

Related: How to Make Meetings Less Tedious and More Engaging

9. Finish pinch actions, thrust accountability

Finally, decorativeness pinch actions and past drive accountability. Often, meetings consequence successful action items: thing important needs to get done, personification volunteers to do it, and you group a timeframe for it.

Conclude your meetings consistently pinch a summary of actions — including what, who and erstwhile — and past reappraisal them astatine nan adjacent meeting. If you request to, travel up pinch an email aft nan gathering to thief support nan squad connected track.

Of course, wrong these 9 keys to effective meeting leadership, there's much to learn, deliberation astir and explore. However, if you support these 9 points successful mind, your meetings, and your teams' performance, will beryllium much successful.