After attending one independent sales agency’s annual “all hands” sales meeting and talking to several other reps about their plans for company sales meetings there are a few thoughts that emerge front and center.

Where Makes a Big Difference

The nature of the facility and the quality of service provided by the place that is playing host to your meeting makes a huge difference. I have attended more sales meetings than I would like to count. The difference facilities and services make is huge.

Food Counts

Our armies travel on their stomachs. The quality of the lunch and break service is really important. There is no question that these amenities at our meetings add to the costs significantly, but it is impossible to understate the importance of making sure that the lunch especially is really good. There are many ways for soup and sandwiches and salads to be presented and served. It makes a huge difference if the quality of every element is clearly high and there is an abundance of food. It is amazing how hungry sitting in 3+ hours of meetings makes both men and women.

Service and Attitude

The quality of hospitality services at the facility is very important. At a recent meeting at a high-end country club the general manager and the chef took charge and were extremely visible throughout three days of hosting a rep meeting. This made a huge difference in terms of responsiveness when we needed something. When the rep attendees were reflecting on the meeting the comments were excellent. There was no question that our group was important and worthy of top-level attention.

At other meetings in large, anonymous hotels the meeting often feels like “just another meeting” and the rep attendees feel the same way. This reduces the impact and lessens the value.

Speakers Who Know What the Rep Business Is All About

No matter how interesting and/or entertaining a speaker is, it is vital that he or she know what the rep business is. At a recent meeting a highly-regarded speaker-consultant spent five minutes talking about balance sheet items and accounting functions that are absolutely irrelevant to the rep business. It was clear to everyone in the room that this high-priced, big-time consultant did not understand our business.

It is very important that every speaker understands what the rep business is all about and the terminology that applies to our business.

Bringing New Employees and Advisors Up to Speed

One rep group was keenly aware that there were several people attending the meeting after being involved with their business for only a few months. A special 90-minute session was arranged to help to educate these newbies on the rep business and terminology. A special glossary of rep business terms was created and presented to this group in a highly interactive session to help them understand the rep business better and be able to speak the language of the rep world.

High Standards of Accountability and Performance

One group has teams that work on specific projects or in specific regional areas. Each team was asked to report on their activity. They were given only 10 minutes to report.

It is obvious with these reports who has really prepared and organized and who has not. It used to be that a bit of humor or perhaps an overabundance of attempted humor could cover up poor presentation and performance — no more. The standards of performance have been raised over the years. Now, a team that is not well-prepared, equipped with solid, professional PowerPoint [not writing the Bible on the head of a pin on a slide] and well-rehearsed looks bad and feels worse.

Top Management Presentations — the Year That Was, the Year That Will Be

One of the key features of a rep annual sales meeting is the presentations by the leadership reviewing last year and forecasting next year.

This is where the management can really inspire or bore the troops. Just getting up and reciting facts and figures on the past year is not enough. The rep leaders and owners of the rep firm have to be especially good presenters. Simple PowerPoint will not suffice. The quality of the leader’s presentations must exceed the quality of every other presentation. If there is humor from “the boss,” it must be real humor. The leaders must not only speak well, they must be inspiring and exciting.

No Complaining or Negatives

The sales meeting is not the place to confront underperformers. The sales meeting is not the place for an owner to behave like a big shot to try to make him or herself seem important. The sales meeting is not the place to get into a shouting match or even fist fight with a particularly difficult employee. I’ve seen all of these things happen.

One sure way to have a disaster is to permit cocktails or beer at the meeting. Alcohol can quickly take people off their best behavior and bring out the worst.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Timing is everything. The agenda must be tight, but not so tight that the meeting is off-schedule after the first 30 minutes. It has to be regulated enough that the meeting gets to the breaks and lunch pretty close to on time every day.

How many days? It is awfully hard to keep the attention of salespeople for very long. A two-day, all-day sales meeting appears to be the physical and psychological limit for rep business sales meetings.

Watch Out for Revealing the Wrong Things to the Wrong People

Loose lips certainly sink ships when it comes to information given to principals as a part of a sales meeting. It is very important to make sure of who is in the room at what time. Principals are good to have involved in the meeting, but cautioning the employees of the rep firm to watch what they say around principals is vital.

Sales Meetings Can Be a Huge Boost to the Business

Sales meetings are vital to the success of a rep firm, but they can be a disaster if not properly planned in every detail. The best way to make sure your meeting is successful and accomplishes your goals is to start very early. A November or December meeting should be first planned in August or early September. The final agenda should be done at least 45 days before the meeting date. Everyone involved in the meeting needs to be rehearsed, reviewed, and carefully tutored in the approach, factual content and presentation quality that is expected.

The sales meeting can make a huge difference in the quality of the next business year. Make sure yours is 100 percent planned and organized to win.

Wishing you good selling!

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].