If you’re looking to build a high-performing sales team, regular team meetings are a must to keep everyone connected, aligned, and on track to hit goals. But too often, managers waste time by running vague, ineffective meetings.
In fact, the University of North Carolina surveyed 182 senior managers and found that 70% of all meetings are a waste of time. That’s a lot of wasted time that could otherwise be spent selling.
So how do you prevent this?
By knowing how to run an effective sales meeting.
A great place to start is by using a tried and tested sales team meeting agenda. That way, you can run your next meeting smoothly and efficiently.
Let’s dive in!
The first step to running a productive sales team meeting?
Preparation.
Invest time upfront into planning out each aspect of the meeting. That way, you’ll know exactly how things will run when you get “inside the room” (or on the Zoom call). Follow these steps to ensure you’re maximizing you and your team’s time.
Every good meeting starts with a purpose. By explaining exactly why you’re meeting and what you hope to accomplish, you help ensure the meeting will be productive. Rather than letting the conversation wander in circles, you’ll set a specific goal to achieve during the meeting. And you’ll know the necessary steps to reach it.
Remember to tie every meeting back to your sales team’s overall goals. This includes any goals surrounding quota, forecasts, target, or employee engagement. Remaining goal-oriented keeps everyone aligned and moving in the same direction.
Follow the same general format for each sales team meeting you hold. That way, everyone will always know what to expect and how to show up prepared every single week. Be sure to block out time for ad-hoc items that are sure to come up throughout the year as well.
As you plan your sales team meeting, only invite people who need to be there. You might find that it makes sense to separate roles like BDRs and AEs into different meetings. Or you could divide sales reps targeting different regions. Either way, smaller meetings (8 people or less) are typically more productive and efficient. And no one wants to waste their time attending a meeting that wasn’t really meant for them.
Make sure all invitees receive meeting reminders, including the agenda, ahead of time. YouCanBookMe will send automatic reminder emails to meeting attendees for you—no need for endless back-and-forth emails. Simply schedule the meeting and then let YCBM send consistent, personalized email reminders so everybody shows up. Attendees will feel more prepared since they’ve had a chance to read the agenda already. And you’ll have more opportunity to prepare in advance, too.
By distributing the agenda before the meeting, team members will have the opportunity to add in their items ahead of time. But, be sure to add a cutoff time for new agenda items—for example, two hours before the meeting—so you’ll be able to show up with answers in hand.
Creating a comprehensive meeting agenda helps ensure you cover everything without unnecessary downtime. But you don’t want the meeting to be too full. Add a buffer that you can use for Q&A or brainstorming. If your agenda is overstuffed, you’ll likely feel rushed as you work to get through all the items.
Once you’ve finished planning your next sales meeting, remember to define what should happen after the meeting, too. Will you compile the meeting notes and distribute them to attendees? Who’s in charge of defining next steps and assigning tasks? Is another meeting scheduled for next week? You need to prepare to not only run the meeting itself, but to also walk your team through what’s going to happen afterward.
Ultimately, you want to leverage sales team meetings to propel your team forward. Let’s look at three ways you can frame these meetings and plan for success:
Discuss team goals and responsibilities to make sure everyone is aligned. Check in on your team’s progress toward their goals, and adjust where needed.
You can also use this meeting to share any company announcements or updates and how they’d impact the team’s day-to-day.
Does anyone have new insights to share? This information can help the entire team succeed. Whether it’s details from a great customer call, constructive feedback from a prospect, or takeaways from a conference, encourage all team members to share their knowledge so everyone can benefit.
Finally, weekly sales meetings are an important opportunity to further cement relationships among your team. Give shout-outs and public praise to sales reps who are doing a great job, increasing their confidence and motivation at work. Or extend the love even further, building relationships with other teams by featuring people as meeting guests. They can share an insight or provide details on an upcoming campaign.
By creating, distributing, and following a sales team meeting agenda, you’ll be equipped to run a more effective and enjoyable meeting. A strong agenda will help you:
Your agenda will house a list of topics and action items to cover during the meeting. It also provides a blueprint showing the best route to help you work through those topics.
Agendas can help you run a more productive and successful meeting. But you don’t have to build them from scratch. Use these sales meeting agenda templates as a starting point to plan out your next meeting.
Bring your team together with this basic customizable sales meeting agenda template.
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The goal of this meeting is to review progress on team goals, provide an update on recent changes in company policy, and open up the floor to learn from one another. Agenda items:
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Use this sales meeting agenda template for internal reviews with your Business Development Representatives.
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The goal of this meeting is to review your recent work, understand customer feedback you’ve received, and provide support as you continue seeking leads. Agenda items:
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Catch up with your field sales reps using this list of action items in your next meeting.
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The goal of this meeting is to discuss progress on goals, understand what your pipeline looks like, and understand what we can learn from these deals. Agenda items:
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Get your team on the same page about your current sales forecast using this simple meeting template.
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The goal of this meeting is to gauge our current sales forecast, including which deals we should focus on during this sales cycle and how we plan to do so. Agenda items:
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Use this meeting agenda to align your sales leaders on goals, forecast, and pipeline.
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The goal of this meeting is to discuss what adjustments we might need to make to our pipeline or forecast to more easily reach our targets and goals. Agenda items:
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A good sales meeting agenda should include meeting details (location, date/time, and attendees); a meeting objective; and a list of agenda topics to discuss in more detail.
It’s often effective to begin a sales team meeting with something that helps build relationships among your team—try a fun icebreaker, or praise an employee who’s done well. Next, review team progress toward your goals and quota. Finally, open up the floor to answer any questions.
Define an objective for the meeting—something specific you plan to accomplish. Then follow an agenda that walks you through action items to meet that goal. Allow team members to have a voice throughout the meeting, and remember to set next steps before leaving the call.