When I was selling as a rep in an agency, I found sales meetings a pain in the backside. I guess it was because I was always busy and had no real plan. It felt like I never had enough time and a sales meeting just seemed to get in the way of trying to do my job. Also, our sales meetings seemed boring and lacked stimulation and inspiration. They were more dictatorial rather than collaborative. I understood they were important, but they were certainly missing a few things and lacklustre.
When I bought the office a few years later I realised I didn’t want my agents to feel the same way I did about sales meetings. So, I started to do some research to find out exactly what a sales meeting should be about and what it should and shouldn’t contain.
Not every Wednesday at 9
I totally disagree with meeting for the sake of meeting so the first thing I needed to figure out was how often we needed a sales meeting.
After a bit of trial and error I discovered the ideal gap between meetings with all departments was two weeks. One week is too soon and monthly is too far apart. Two weeks gives the team time to implement their action plans and be able to give feedback on whether the activities are starting to work. It is also enough time to figure out who in the team is diligently following through, because if they haven’t implemented the change or task there really is no excuse, after all they have been given two weeks to achieve it. This way you can weed out those that are trying to avoid accountability and trust me there will be a few.
I’ll have a latte
Next, there has to be something in it for the team, like barista coffee and some cupcakes or something similar. Agents love to be spoilt and valued and usually don’t eat breakfast because they are burning the candle at both ends. So, if they have morning tea to look forward to, they are upbeat and motivated to attend. The law of reciprocity works wonders.
Keep on track
For a sales meeting to be successful you are going to need an agenda and you need to stick to it. You should email it to each attendee prior to the meeting, and the minutes need to be sent afterwards with everyone’s action plan included so there is no confusion as to who is doing what.
The same person should take the minutes every meeting because they will get to know the story and you can always look back on them or get an opinion on who said what. A meeting without an agenda and minutes is like game without a plan and a scoreboard.
The agenda needs to have a combination of:
- motivation/inspiration
- recent wins and achievements
- recognitions
- challenges
- stock review and adjustments
- what’s getting listed (pipeline listings)
- what’s cooking (pipeline sales)
- rental drive
- auction focus
- social events
- charity drive
- community activities systems
- market share
- multi-layered prospecting and marketing system (office & personal)
- what’s working and what’s not.
This seems like a long list; however, you could break them into two agendas and focus on some on one fortnight and the balance on the other. For each topic, whatever actions are identified need to be recorded in the minutes and the person or group who is actioning the task needs to be notified. It is essential that it is explained HOW the task should be done and WHEN it should be completed.
It is also very important that everyone has an opportunity to talk and share their opinion and view. This way all members of the team feel valued, that their point of view has at least been considered and that they have some say or at least have a voice.
New faces
Last but not least, mix things up. It is great idea to get outside speakers or trainers to come in and chat to the team. They can be leaders and sales champions in other industries, because the principles of success are all the same. You could also get affiliated company owners like brokers, commercial, auctioneers, conveyancers, marketers and social media people, or you could even ask each member of the team to present or contribute a discussion that would add value, skill and knowledge to the team.
One thing is for sure, if you do them right, sales meetings can be the backbone of the sales team and the catalyst for building a great culture and team environment.
If you’d like to learn more about how to manage yourself and your team, make sure you tune in for my upcoming FREE half-day Real Estate Brilliance webinar.
