LEADERSHIP SERIES: Research suggests that Sales Leadership is the difference maker between good performance and superior performance. And how sales leaders embrace five essential roles is critical to the success of their teams. We hope you find this series of short informal discussions around sales leadership useful and thought-provoking.
Weekly Sales Huddles: What They Are, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help Your Sales Department Find New Revenue
As salespeople and managers go, few things are as dreaded as regular sales meetings. Very frequently, they are a hassle for supervisors to put together, and often a waste of time for the producers who have to attend. Couldn’t there be a better way to stay in touch with your sales team and train them on the things that matter?
It turns out there is, it just takes a little different way of thinking. Over the course of our decades of experience working with sales departments, we have found that meetings can work, but only when they have the right tone and format. To turn your once-a-week get-together into a more dynamic exchange, we recommend you try something we call the weekly sales huddle.
Here’s how it works:
Set your weekly sales huddle for a time when you’re salespeople would have difficulty reaching their clients prospects anyway (we like Monday mornings, but your timing may vary). This is to discourage producers from skipping out on them because they have other important work to do.
Limit them to 20 minutes, no longer. These are meant to be a “shot in the arm” for your sales team, not a full-blown training exercise. Besides, keeping things short will encourage you and your team to be brief and crisp, which is good for your energy level.
Give each sales person in your team the opportunity to talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and the challenges they are facing in the field. Having the chance to share opportunities and problems with each other and in their own words is a great way to not only identify potential problems, but also to get your salespeople sharing ideas and solutions with one another.
However, ask each person to speak for two minutes or less. Again, you don’t want your weekly sales huddle to disintegrate into a chat over coffee, or a two-hour complaining session. Raise ideas, get feedback and solutions, and then move on. If the problem is really that big or important, you can always schedule another meeting for later or talk about it next week.
If you’ve been looking for a cure to the common sales meeting, the weekly sales huddle could be just the thing to re-energize your team. Bring up the concept with your producers and give it a try – you might be shocked at what 20 minutes can do for their energy level and enthusiasm.
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