5 Steps To Run A Productive Sales Meeting

While the world of business is fast paced and frantic there are times when the entire staff comes together for the purposes of making succinct plans for the future. These conferences, or sales meetings, are important to the employees as well as the employer. It is during these meetings that goals are set and techniques are refined. If you are responsible for setting up sales meetings in your company, then there are several things that you need to remember at all times.

The following information is meant to serve as a guide to help you lead a more productive and professional sales meeting.

Make An Agenda

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you need to have a specific agenda for the materials that will be covered in your meeting. Having a plan is the first step in making your business meeting more productive. If you fail to have a proper agenda, it will become obvious to the other employees that you have not devoted adequate time to your craft. This is the breeding ground for sloppiness and for apathy. Make a plan and stick with it.

Get Everyone Involved

Every sales meeting needs to embody the salespeople. This means your meeting needs to hold information that can be beneficial to the people who are actually doing the selling. This is a great time to inject new people and new ideas into the conversation. Encourage your people to share and bounce ideas off of each other. This meeting is about making them more productive. Allow them to learn.

Related Article: How To Brainstorm With A Group

Collaboration

This meeting is not about hearing you lecture. The number one mistake in many sales meetings is the dominance of one person. It is important that this meeting is a time of collaboration. Make sure that you are not the only one speaking. This is not the time to monopolize the conversation. On the flip side, it is important that you do not allow another individual to dominate the conversation as well. In order to foster a good environment, it is important that everyone have a chance to share. It is equally important that everyone feel his or her opinions are being listened to.

Related Article: Stop Pitching and Start Solving Client Problems

Measure Results

It is important that your meeting has measurable results. This does not mean you should take a poll of the people immediately following the meeting. What it does mean is that a sales meeting is meant to offer encouragement as well as fine details.Recognizing the individual performances during meetings promotes improvements throughout the sales force. A properly run sales meeting can energize your team and set your week on the right path. A poorly operated sales meeting could undermine your leadership.

Make A Comfortable Environment

Perhaps the most obvious aspect of a sales meeting is that it should be fun. This is not the time for carnival rides or balloon animals but it is a time to make your employees comfortable and loose. Allow for creativity in both the atmosphere and the tone of your meetings.

The Sales Coaching Institute offers effective instruction when you want to learn more about how to run a sales meeting efficiently. Get more great tips by visiting SalesCoach.us today.

June 20, 2017February 8, 2019

Why Creating Great Memories & Experiences During the Sales Process Will Engender Greater Client Engagement

Often sales representatives forget that their customers, even the C-suite clients, are people and have the same basic needs as everyone else. Finding ways in a sales meeting to create positive relationships, experiences and memories are essential to engaging those clients during the meeting and during critical future interactions.

In order to develop these positive experiences, there are several things that any sales rep can do. These should be considered in advance of your sales meeting, but can also occur based on what is occurring in the room if you can think on your feet. The best sales professionals are able to highlight these moments as part of the sales presentation, not impeding the flow of the meeting but rather enhancing the engagement by creating a personal interest for the customer.

Prior to the Sale

The key to being able to create positive memories and experiences during the sales process is to know about the person or people across the table. What do they enjoy, what recognition do they value, are they passionate about an organization or an event in their community? Today, it is easier than ever to find out what people show interest in by looking at their social media accounts. There is bound to be something about them online that you can use to open a conversation and build rapport.

Being able to recognize these unique attributes, interests or recognition given to the various individuals in the room in a natural and authentic way during the initial introductions creates increased engagement.

Don’t Be the Expert All The Time

Selling to anyone means respecting their experience and expertise in their industry. A sales rep that comes across as an “expert” is a good thing. However, if you always come across as knowing everything you are going to turn off more clients than you will engage during the sales process. This will also create negative memories of the event if they felt “upstaged” by the sales rep in their own area of expertise.

Instead, be collaborative with the buyer or the buying team. Ask an open-ended question, get their opinions and be seen as someone coming alongside to help to solve a problem or a challenge. Show interest in their business and ask them questions about their business. After you ask questions, make sure to listen! Most hard working business owners treat their businesses like their children. If you show interest in their business, you are building rapport and an emotional connection which is key to developing a trusting relationship with your prospect.

Related Article: The Power of Positive Sales Habits

Be Authentic

Being authentic is also critical for any positive meeting. Avoid being robotic and respond to the people in the room in a way that adds to the shared experience and generates a feeling of similar goals and interests. Staying true to yourself by showcasing your genuine personality will create a comfortable environment. The more people feel “alike,” the more engaged they are in discussions, and the more open they are to considering your product as a viable solution.

The science behind sales and the sales process is the focus of training, courses, and workshops offered at The Sales Coaching Institute. To find out more, click here.

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June 5, 2017February 8, 2019

A Beautiful Sales Mind

How To Grow A Beautiful Sales Mind

Many people think that selling is not their strong suite, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t get better. You can learn and establish strong sales attributes if you don’t already have them. If you look at selling as a methodical and engaging profession, you’ll realize that it takes years to perfect yourself. If you want to grow a beautiful sales mind for yourself, here are a few tips.

Ask Pertinent Questions

Good sellers know that everyone wants something, even if they think they don’t. One common method of salesmanship is to ask what color car they want instead of whether or not they want one. If you ask them if they want a car, they will probably say no and leave. If you ask them what color they want, it opens a new way of communication that can get you that sale. You still have your work cut out for you, but you’ve already established that they want a blue car or particular features and can work to help them find it.

Related Article From Dummies.com: 10 Tips To Help You Ask Good Questions

Compromise Everything

Good salespeople are likely to find a compromise for everything in their lives. There are two sides to an argument because no one starts off thinking about compromising or negotiating. Understanding ideas from the opposing side while sharing your own builds successful listening skills that allow you to spot important issues within the conversation. However, there is always room to give something up. For the customer, they may not get the latest model but may also not spend as much money. You sell them something, but it may be lower in price than originally posted.

Understand The Customer

In some cases, the selling pattern goes on forever or just ends up fizzling out because you don’t consider their point of view. You want them to buy something and may go over the benefits and features until you’re blue in the face, but until you take a moment and step into their shoes, you’ll never have a beautiful sales mind.

The Sales Coaching Institute prides itself on offering the most robust sales training and coaching programs that focus on the entire sales process. Visit SalesCoach.us to find out more.

May 22, 2017February 8, 2019

Are You Suffering From SDD – Sales Deficit Disorder? If You Are, Here’s The Cure

Sales is not an easy job. It requires a lot of different skill sets and abilities to really be effective in this career. Often those new to sales or those transferring from one type of sales to another find themselves suffering from SDD.

SDD or Sales Deficit Disorder is not an incurable condition. In fact, by reviewing your current sales practices and making a few changes, you can actually cure yourself. Bad habits, lack of sales process and simply not having the experience are often at the heart of SDD, along with the following:

Missing The Business Question – selling a product isn’t just about product knowledge. It is about asking the business for their business once they understand the value of the product or service. If you aren’t asking this direct question, don’t anticipate any response from your customers.
Finding a Need – are you providing your customers with an answer to their problems, needs or challenges? By highlighting how your product resolves these issues in their life rather than on discount pricing or monthly promotions, you create an interest and a solution. Inform the client of how beneficial the service or product would be for them personally.
Not Listening – while you are there to make a sales pitch, some very well worded, open-ended questions to find out what the buyer is looking for. Try to find the challenges they are facing or find the current deficit in their supplier, which will allow ] you to tailor the presentation to their needs.
Being Easily Shut Down – the perception of the chance to make a sale will influence how much effort you put into the pitch. If you don’t think it will happen, you don’t try as hard and walk away on the first “not interested.”

By thinking of every sale as a strong possibility, you are more confident, better prepared and more resilient to those mixed messages that buyers may be sending.

May 15, 2017February 8, 2019

Learning How To Overcome Sales Objections Is Key To Your Professional Growth

There is nothing more disheartening for a sales professional than to go through what looks, feels and sounds like a well-received sales presentation only to end up with an objection.

A sales objection can take on many forms depending on the relationship the customer believes he or she has with the sales rep. A good relationship may result in a more gentle type of objection such as “maybe next month” or “we don’t have the budget right now, but it is an interesting product.” For a more distant relationship or no relationship at all you may get a “not interested” or “your competitors offer better pricing, perks, service, etc.”

The key is to remember the type of objection doesn’t matter; it is all a way to say “no.” How you react after a sales objection is going to be critical to turning an objection into a successful sales closure. Learning how to overcome sales objections can help you make more sales and can also give you more confidence going into your sales calls.

Silence is Golden

Most sales reps go into hyper drive when they hear a sales objection. They immediately begin repeating key factors, sales points, and benefits of the product or service.

This is usually accompanied by the customer shaking his or her head in the negative and immediately moving to wrap up the meeting. This effectively shuts down the discussion and leaves you fumbling for a way to ask for another meeting.

A better option is to avoid this impulse completely. Take a deep breath, keep your face neutral and make eye contact with the customer. Count very slowly up to five.

Most customers will immediately move to provide a reason for the objection. That reason for the objection is a starting point for the next part of your sales presentation. In other words, they are telling you just what has to change for them to be able to make the purchase.

While silence after the objection may seem counterproductive, it is very helpful. This additional information provided by the customer allows you to ask a few more questions, getting a full understanding of the objection and allowing you to make another sale offer to eliminate the objection and move the sale forward in the right direction.

Learning how to overcome sales objections is key to your success as a sales rep. It is your responsibility to get past the standard objections that you come across in order to take your sales to the next level.

The Sales Coaching Institute is here to assist sales professionals and managers to become more effective at what they do. Visit our website to see our list of courses, coaching, and training option.

Author: salescoach