Sales Meetings - High Fives or One-on-One's?

The sales meeting. Loved by some, hated by many.

Making a success of a meeting with often many different characters is a challenge at the best of times for a Sales Manager but like it or not, sales meetings are an essential part of the working life of a sales team.

I have seen every method of scheduling possible from the MD who considered it vital to have a meeting at 9am each day with the sales team to "get them set up for the day" through to business owners that considered a chat over a cigarette next to the trash at the back of the building as being a meeting!

It is natural that some people will work well in a team and thrive from competition and some will have no interest in being part of a team and will simply be interested in earning money and having to do with any of their colleagues. Some Sales Managers like the big energy, high-fives and I even experienced one who literally through a leather gauntlet onto the meeting table and shouted "which of you is brave enough to pick that up?" he was met with silence.

I often found that the geographical location of the team made a big difference to the effectiveness of a meeting. If people needed to drive 200 miles to get to the meeting then it was never a good thing to ask for their attendance at 8am. With national sales teams I have always insisted that we rotated around the home towns of all attendees and they would then be responsible for selecting a venue for lunch.

With such a strong mix of characters and ego's there will never be a perfect meeting, what appeals to some will bore others and this is why a mix is good and the meetings should not be too long. I have learned over the years that the strongest teams are built through socialising together and not sitting around a meeting table discussing targets.

There is of course a need to talk about business but this can be fitted in during the course of the time together. I always used to meet with my teams once a month and never on a Monday or Friday. We would meet at around 10am for a meeting and there would always be a plentiful supply of pastries and hot drinks on arrival and then I would allow the first half hour or so to let the team catch up with each other and enjoy a chat together. When we would get down to business I would start with a very quick review of the previous months performance as a team with attention only focused on the top performers and not the people that didn't meet their targets.

After talking for around an hour about other issues and new products etc I would take the team out for lunch and I would then use this time for chats around the table about new business and problems that the team were facing. It is much easier to get the true feelings of the team when they are in a relaxed environment and not singled out at a meeting. 

The venue was very important as it needed to have a large table for us all to eat together but I also always made sure there was a standing area nearby as this is where I could talk to people on a one-on-one basis and typically everyone likes to get up from the table and stretch their legs after eating.

Overall I wanted Sales Meetings to be booked only when necessary and to be as relaxed as possible - salespeople need to have their ego's massaged and this should be done both at the meeting in front of their peers and also during a one-on-one chat afterwards.

I would love to know your thoughts or experiences on this topic so please let me know in the comments below.

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What is the working day for a field salesperson?

This question can be very challenging for a business to answer as the reality is that most businesses cannot be sure of where their salespeople are at any exact time.

I am a great believer in having no set working hours and having trust in the self-management skills of salespeople. If a salesperson finds it acceptable to go missing or "skive off" then their problems will generally be much more wide ranging than a few missed hours.

I have always encouraged my sales teams to ensure that when they work they work at 100% and if they need a break, even for a game of golf or a lie in, then they take it. As long as the targets were met and the customers were happy then I have always given huge amounts of flexibility to my staff. I am fully aware that the life of the field salesperson is very demanding. They don't get noticed when they leave home at 4am for an appointment 400 miles away or if they do not get home until 10pm because the motorway was closed. They do get noticed though if they dare to have no appointments after 1pm on a Friday!

Good salespeople want to perform, want to be out in front of customers and they will almost certainly be awake in the small hours at times catching up with correspondence. I don't think salespeople respond well to the "where are you now?" phone calls. If the balance is right then there should be little need to ask this question and your salespeople should always feel at ease to tell you when they are not working. If a good performer tells you at 1pm on a Thursday that they are going for a beer with some friends then that should be great news for you as they will feel they have earned it and are comfortable with their performance.

In addition, I have always tried to keep meetings with the teams to a minimum. Salespeople are impatient and often bloody-minded and sitting at a meeting room table for more than an hour listening to me congratulating their colleagues and offering high-fives is a sure fire way to bore them! 

A good salesperson will make sure their clients and prospects are well served. They will generally keep their mobile telephone switched on around the clock and will take the calls that really matter outside hours. It was rare for my salespeople to need to work at weekends and I was firm in avoiding all but vital contact with them between 5pm on Friday at 9am on Monday - I would not even send emails to my team during these times. An email received from the boss at 8pm on Saturday night discussing new targets etc is so demoralising and will receive much more interest if simply sent on the following Monday. By allowing my teams time to escape work completely they performed so much better when they were at work and this method was respected by all and rarely abused.

However, as a boss, I will ALWAYS be available for my team - if they call me with a problem at 4am on a Sunday I will answer their call and they will get my complete attention.

I have never insisted on holiday allocations for my sales staff either. They know and I know when they are in need of a holiday and with performing salespeople I have never been bothered if they take three or four holidays a year - the principle is always the same; deliver the targets set and what you do outside of that is up to you. There is little to be gained by setting levels of twenty days per year etc - some will need to take more and some will want to take less - go with the flow and all will generally be good.

Whilst these methods will not suit all and will probably even prompt anger with some business owners they have always worked for me and created a very close-knitted team of dedicated professionals who consistently perform. The only problems I have ever experienced with this method have been with non-performers who have invariably promised more than they have the skills to deliver.

Salespeople are easy to criticise and find fault with. Unless you have actually been selling in the field for a few years it is really hard to understand what is involved and the levels of concentration required to be successful. Make sure you are the boss who supports your team and sets them free to be achievers. A salesperson that performs constantly and gets the job done will likely be the type of character to be best left alone to get on with the job - I have never found a great salesperson who likes being micro-managed. 

Set them free, let them sell and just watch the results....

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Never forget

So sales is easy?

Sure it is - for anyone who is not in sales.

Sales is easy when you know how and absolute hell when you don't. It is like being a master craftsman - you will have spent years mastering your trade and learning the intricate skills required to be one of the best and you will have confidence in what you do - the problem is that salespeople rarely command respect.

I am constantly baffled why salespeople do not get the respect and admiration they deserve. I have been in sales for over twenty years and I still meet people in the commercial world who regard sales as being a job for the  loudmouth ego's. Persuading a business or individual to buy your product or service is hard at best and has possibly the lowest success rate of any trade. For every sale you make you may have been told "No" to the one hundred phone calls or emails you have made perviously.

If you are an accountant, lawyer, banker, doctor or professor you will have gained some respect for the effort and time you will have invested to be a qualified professional or expert. You cannot be a sales expert.

Without doctors people die. Without lawyers they feel wronged, without bankers they are putting their money at risk (maybe!) but without salespeople what is there? Who sells the drugs to save you? Who persuades you to buy things that results in businesses banking their takings? Who grows your business or the businesses of others that create the growth you need to be employed? Without salespeople most businesses will be nothing at all and yet the lifeblood of many businesses are given such little respect. 

Salespeople are needed and should be respected as professionals. You cannot get a degree of any value in sales, you cannot be qualified but an awful lot of salespeople have made their bosses an awful lot of money and yet these bosses will be much more likely to boast the merits of their business concepts and not the salespeople who delivered the paying customers.

I have experienced this first hand with an old business partner. We built a business over many years that we successfully traded and sold. We were very well served by some excellent salespeople who have now moved on to pastures new but ultimately they created the value that allowed us to sell. My ex-Partner now, despite having never actually sold or even met a customer, regards himself as being the key to the success of the business and will happily tell all he can about his business successes without a mention of the people that delivered the sales.

There is however a balance. I have been in sales for over twenty years and have seen all of the ups and downs. Salespeople are generally fairly arrogant, selfish, egotistical, greedy and are bad at accepting any criticism. They can be very difficult, stubborn and often lack understanding of the roles of others. I therefore do not put salespeople on a pedestal and am fully aware of their negative character traits but we all need salespeople in business - whether we are buying or selling, it's them who make the business world tick. Sure there are rogue salespeople who lie and twist the truth to get a sale, but there are rogue builders, accountants, mechanics, landlords - there are rogues in all walks of life.

The art of sales cannot be simply summarised as having the ability to talk and be persuasive. The sheer thought and strategic planning that can go into winning an order or contract can be immense. A salesperson will analyse every part of the contact with the client and will go over and over the detail trying to find, understand and solve any objections or concerns the client may have. They will need to understand where their product or service may be weaker than their competitors and what they need to do to counter that. They will need to understand the clients opinion of them and the business they represent. They will need to deal with the budget constraints of the client and may need to become very creative in finding ways that make their proposal affordable. This is a process that is often started in the car after an appointment and the salesperson will be going through every small comment and reaction from the client and trying to highlight anything significant. It is a hugely taxing process that takes years to master and will occupy much of the salespersons thoughts during the day.

I have taken on junior salespeople and made them brilliant, I have employed great salespeople and made them even better and there is one consistent fact I am constantly reminded of - good salespeople need to work very, very hard. They are grafters and they are hungry, yes they mostly want lots of money, a flash car and good luck to them. Boost their ego's, tell them they are amazing and watch them puff out their chests and go sell for you. They want to be the best, they want their peers to be jealous of them and they want to earn fortunes - you want the sales and they want the money so give them every incentive they could dream of and watch your business grow.

I would love to know your thoughts or experiences on this topic so please let me know in the comments below.

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How do your quotes or proposals look?

The proposal or quotation. For some businesses this is the most important document in their portfolio and they can spend hours or even days labouring over providing a personalised proposal for a client. On the other hand there are just as many businesses who will sing the merits of a single-sided A4 sheet of paper detailing the elements and a price. So what is the right way for you?

I think any business does need a mixture of proposals at its disposal. This is simply because no two clients are ever the same. Some will want chapter and verse on what you can provide and others will just want a price. The problem is that you won't be successful if you present a simple proposal to someone expecting detail and you certainly won't inspire a person who just wants a price with a fifty page bound presentation.

Reading the client is key and the manner in which you deliver the proposal can make a big difference. If I am unsure as to what my client expects and I have not felt comfortable enough to pose a question then I will deliver a well separated proposal that contains plenty of information whilst ensuring that the client can easily locate the pricing page(s) if that is what they want to see.

Whatever the size of the document I consider it essential to start with detailing the requirements of the client and the briefs of any meetings that preceded the presentation.  Your interpretation of what the client has requested is vital to ensure that you have clearly identified their needs and to avoid any misunderstanding about what is to be provided. I generally open most proposals with a positive comment about the client; "Bob Smith provided us with a well defined and excellently considered brief..." This often will entice the client to ensure your proposal is shown to the bosses!

A quotation that is based on a template is ok as long as there are elements that will be personalised. I think any quotation that does not have any personal input will be obvious and probably overlooked by the recipient. On the whole though I would suggest writing your proposals with large emphasis on personalisation to the client, it shows diligence, effort and an attention to detail.

Visual representations are often well received - a picture can be worth a thousand words so if you are able to illustrate any elements of your recommendation then do so. This will require a few design and graphic skills but all these are very simply applied if you or your salespeople have Apple's MacBook's rather than conventional PC's.

Your proposal is a very important part of the sales process and must be respected as such. As it is a printed document you are not in control of who reads it and hence you need to make sure that whoever is passed your proposal is able to understand and digest its contents. I invest a great deal of time into my proposals and always make sure I include something that nobody else will have added. Whether this be a visualisation or some data, additional benefits or a relevant case study - I will not allow a proposal to be submitted that I do not feel has an edge in some way.

Just for a final "plug" at the end I would add that SalesFriend will review, edit, create or rewrite your proposal content at any time :) You can email me directly any time at chris@salesfriend.co.uk

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