“No one wants to sit in a meeting where you are being talked at for 30 minutes, especially via video,” Colin Callahan, the director of sales at Reonomy, said.
He’s not wrong. After months of grappling with Zoom fatigue and stuffed schedules, even a once enjoyable weekly team meeting can quickly become a dreaded chore for sales teams. For leaders hoping to see fewer glazed expressions while they run their meetings, Callahan said there are some things meeting leaders can do to inject extra productivity and fun into their syncs.
“Encouraging the team to problem-solve their own blockers by bouncing ideas off one another creates autonomy in the role, leads to higher engagement and morale, and instills confidence in individuals as they continue to develop their skills,” Callahan said.
Other sales leaders agree. By allowing their teams to share their best practices, wins of the week and bond with their peers, meetings don’t have to feel dry. In fact, they can be used as a valuable tool to boost job satisfaction and ensure each rep’s week runs a little smoother.
To learn more about how to pull off a productive sales meeting, Built In talked to sales leaders about their best tips for running engaging meetings.
How to Make More of Your Sales Meeting
- Create an agenda
- Share documents with the team beforehand
- Choose a theme of focus for each meeting
- Keep videos on
- Don't try to accomplish too much in one meeting
- Leave room for questions
- Survey the team often to find out what's working and what's not
Tribune Publishing
Kyle Menczynski
MEDIA SALES MANAGER
Tribune Publishing Media Sales Manager, Kyle Menczynski said in order to have productive sales meetings, he creates a specific agenda prior to each meeting. This helps ensure the team touches on all relevant points as well as keeps the conversation focused in case they get sidetracked by conversation that may arise.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
On average, my team and I are involved in two to three staff meetings, at various levels, on a weekly basis.
At a department level, we hold a weekly Monday meeting. During these meetings, we discuss company initiatives, team progress and “big wins” for the week. This allows reps the ability to share insights on how they won key deals, overcame objections, and gives them the opportunity to highlight others in the department that may have aided in their success, i.e. marketing and sales support. All of this helps to boost morale and builds a winning sales culture based on teamwork and collaboration.
At a regional team level, we hold weekly team meetings on Monday mornings where we discuss a variety of topics similar to the departmental call, but at a more granular level. These topics include team performance; period and quarterly pacing; team CRM usage and how to use new features; upcoming sales initiatives (special sections, new business programs, etc.); and how to apply them toward our existing and prospective customers. We also cover companywide updates (workflow process changes, new systems, new products) and their impact at the regional team level. Once we cover our agenda items, I turn it over to the team to elicit their feedback, questions or concerns.
Allowing my team the opportunity to shape conversations during the meeting provides me with a better understanding of what is working and where there are struggles.”
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
Prior to the team meetings, I create an agenda of items that I’d like to discuss. This helps ensure we touch on all relevant points and keeps the conversation on track should we get sidetracked by conversation that may arise. Since most of the agenda items are pre-set, we usually run through all the items, but along the way, I will make sure to stop to address feedback and questions. I will usually conclude the meeting by turning the floor over to the team in the event they have anything that they would like to add, or if there are any questions that they’d like to ask in a group format.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
In the team meeting setting, the staff often share best practices on how to approach an account or a specific industry and how to successfully prospect and connect directly with decision-makers. They may also lead discussions around specific initiatives, challenges or concerns. Allowing them the opportunity to shape conversations during the meeting provides me with a better understanding of what is working and where there are struggles. I can then address these items in the team meeting or during my individual one-on-one meetings.
HomeAdvisor
Laura Nord
SALES DIRECTOR
In order to promote a sense of teamwork and camaraderie among sales managers, HomeAdvisor Sales Director Laura Nord holds daily meetings. During the meetings, sales managers and representatives are encouraged to share best practices and communicate company initiatives or policy changes.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
I hold sales meetings with my team every morning at 8:00 a.m. The key objectives of these meetings are to promote a sense of teamwork and camraderie among my managers. They are also used to share best practices and to communicate company initiatives and/or any policy changes. I make sure to celebrate at least one accomplishment of the team or of an individual member during every meeting.
The key objectives of these meetings are to promote a sense of teamwork and camaraderie among my managers.”
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
I take notes before each meeting on topics to discuss and record any specific statistics that I will be sharing with the group. To ensure my meetings are productive and engaging, I require every participant to have their video enabled and distractions minimized since we are currently fully remote due to the pandemic. I ask that everyone pay attention to the screen and that their Zoom app be fully maximized so no one is tempted to check email throughout.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
When I propose a question to the group I always expect contributions from at least three to four people before moving on. I am really consistent with this so my team knows that it is an expectation and they are usually quick to volunteer their thoughts or feedback. I am intentional about leaving the last 10 minutes of the meeting open for discussion or for questions that the team may have.
Matillion
Nick Tierney
SALES DIRECTOR
At Matillion, the goal of each sales meeting is for representatives to align on changing priorities, learn any new market changes or product announcements, and hear from the field on what’s working and what can be improved, Sales Director Nick Tierney said.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
Transitioning to a remote working culture has given us the opportunity to have a lot more regular sales meetings. As a team, we do three informal sessions a week, as well as more formal monthly review meetings.
In any of these meetings, the goal is always the same: to align on changing priorities of the business and what we need to be focused on as a team, educate the team on new market changes or product announcements, and to hear from the field on what is going well and what can be improved.
I have found that keeping a more regular cadence of shorter meetings leads to more productive sessions.”
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive, useful and engaging?
I try to make sure we are not trying to accomplish too much in any individual meeting — any meeting that goes too long runs the risk of losing engagement. I have found that keeping a more regular cadence of shorter meetings leads to more productive sessions.
We also try to keep the content relevant for the whole group. An in-depth pipeline review of an individual rep’s business has its place, but shouldn’t be the focus of a regular team cadence. Highlighting wins, sharing knowledge and new ideas are what resonate with the entire team.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
It’s important in formal sales meetings that every rep has a voice. We have incorporated a section in our monthly pipeline reviews and quarterly business reviews where reps can present their top priorities to management and potential solutions to those challenges. This balances the request from management for comprehensive pipeline and deal reviews, with an expectation that management is going to take the feedback from the field seriously.
Aleysian
Matthew Garms
HEAD OF GROWTH
To make the most out of their sales meetings, Aleysian uses a custom-built Salesforce report that provides insight on any given deal’s close date, the next steps needed to win the deal and any foreseeable hurdles, Head of Growth Matthew Garms said.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We hold our sales meeting once a week and they are 100 percent driven off of data we pull from Salesforce. The key objective of our weekly meeting is clarity around the status, timing and hurdles of our opportunities. To do this, we built a custom Salesforce report that covers the forecast and close date, the next steps needed to win the deal and any foreseeable hurdles.
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
The day before a sales meeting, I will sit down and run through our Salesforce reports, and individual performance KPIs to familiarize myself with the information. Our Salesforce reports allow me to understand trends, come up with specific questions and/or insights to share.
During the meeting, I use and share the pipeline report to drive conversations. We only discuss opportunities that have the correct data in them. If the data is not in Salesforce, it doesn’t count.
The key objective of our weekly meeting is clarity around status, timing and hurdles of our opportunities.”
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
Salespeople play a key role in meetings. By keeping their key opportunity information up to date, we give reps a platform to provide feedback on what they are encountering day in, day out. It also allows us to use their data to drive decisions. Salesforce helps streamline while doing the heavy lifting when it comes to understanding the collective teams’ data.
SmartAsset
Alvin Artha
DIRECTOR OF ADVISOR REVENUE
What they do: SmartAsset wants people to make better decisions around retirement, mortgages, student loans and more. The company’s tech, which helps put financial tools into the hands of 65 million people monthly, includes calculators, content and a service that matches users up with local financial advisors.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We have a specific method for how and when we schedule meetings for the SmartAsset direct sales team. We generally have a kick-off meeting in the first week of the month to review the last month’s performance, recognize our top performers, compare results to KPI goals and celebrate big wins for the firm. We then present the strategy for the current month and outline our training program, which entails about three internal training courses and how improvements in these areas will impact the bottom line.
The first two weeks of any month are crucial for a fast start for any sales team, which is why we schedule our training sessions at the beginning of the month. We schedule one 30-minute training session per day after lunch when we know our reps are fully locked into the day and ready to absorb information. We then do reinforcement training with smaller groups to ensure that we have everyone’s attention and active participation.
For the remainder of the month, we reinforce these training topics once per week on Wednesdays after lunch. We specifically chose Wednesday because it’s the halfway point in the week, which allows us to course-correct if we’re falling behind our success metrics or to keep pushing forward if we’ve surpassed our weekly goals.
In this remote working environment, we understand that salespeople need more camaraderie and socialization to thrive.”
In this remote working environment, we understand that salespeople need more camaraderie and socialization to thrive. Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we end the day with a social virtual huddle that we’ve coined “EOD ALL AE CHAY” (“chat” turned into “chay” so it can rhyme). This way the reps can catch up, talk about their day and unwind.
What specific actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
Before a meeting, I always share my presentation to a few of my top performers on the sales team to ensure that the content is sharp, accurate and set up to resonate. I also encourage our top performers to participate in the meeting to share success stories, sales tactics and examples, since the rest of the sales team looks up to them. I rely on their participation to build momentum throughout the meeting and get more engagement from the rest of the team.
When I present to the sales team, I don’t overload the deck with words. Rather, I summarize my talking points and ask pointed questions to increase engagement among my peers and direct reports. Asking questions and waiting for responses is crucial to getting buy-in, because questions demand responses.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in those meetings?
The trainings that are the most productive and helpful are typically held by our top performers. I don’t shy away from utilizing these key players because they are the ones in the thick of it. They are the ones who are constantly taking phone calls and exceeding sales goals. We make a collaborative sales effort to let our top performers shine and share valuable insight, tips and tricks in these training sessions.
Meetings are also a place where I can uncover any shortcomings. At SmartAsset, sales reps participate avidly in meetings, so we’re able to see that if one person is unclear about something, there may be others. I do my best to create an atmosphere that nourishes a strong feedback loop between reps and leadership so that reps can feel comfortable opening up in these meetings.
Wix
Danny Hodge
HEAD OF SALES
What they do: Wix’s user-friendly platform makes it simple for anyone to build and launch a website. So far, the company has helped 182 million users create personal or professional sites.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team? What are the key objectives of those meetings?
Since we’ve been in quarantine, we’re meeting every morning to start the day. We’ve branded the meeting as our “daily sales education” and cover topics from industry trends to sales psychology to new Wix product reviews. The objective on leadership’s side started simply as an accountability check, but it has really evolved.
A huge dynamic every team is missing while working from home is an informal channel to disseminate information, which used to take place with conversations between teammates walking to get coffee or pick up lunch, or a casual exchange of sales tactics and ideas over a drink at the end of the day. Those things are gone, but the value of information-sharing is not. The objective of our daily meetings has really been recreating a culture around information-sharing that allows everyone to make their teammates better.
The salespeople are the drivers of our daily meeting.”
What specific actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
One of our sales managers is responsible for the programming of these meetings. Each day has a different theme and within that, we either assign a member of our team to present something or ask a member from a different part of our organization to join.
For instance, every Tuesday, an account manager joins us and shares a win about one of the clients we passed over to them. On Fridays, we are joined by a product marketing manager to review the roadmap and new features our product team is releasing.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in these meetings?
In many ways, the salespeople are the drivers of our daily meeting. When a salesperson is assigned a day to present something and is given a theme to help with inspiration, they are free to run in any direction they find relevant. It's often illuminating for leadership to see what topics the reps select as relevant: it's unfiltered feedback on where the team might be struggling or might see new opportunities that we should be acting on.
A sales manager can only listen to so many call recordings and join so many demos. When we have salespeople taking the time to decide what they want to share with their teammates, it allows us to keep an accurate pulse on what's going on across the floor.
Once or twice a month, we ask the team to run a meeting without leadership on the line to have a “players-only meeting” where they can discuss anything they would like to bring to our attention. In general, the involvement of the salespeople gives them real ownership of how the sales organization is run.
Contentsquare
Matt Elders
SVP, NEW BUSINESS NORTH AMERICA
What they do: ContentSquare is a SaaS company helping brands increase engagement across digital channels through its user analytics platform.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team? What are the key objectives of those meetings?
There are a few types of meetings I hold with my team.
During weekly team meetings, the objective is focused on communication to ensure everyone on the team continuously feels connected to our mission, which increases motivation to achieve more. One large aspect of this meeting is to educate everyone on how the team and business is performing and share best practices. Also, recognitions are given to team members to encourage and celebrate each other.
I constantly encourage my team to think outside the box.”
Monthly team meetings with departments outside of sales are where we bring our collaborative culture into the mix by inviting every function with a direct impact to the sales team for a monthly meeting that focuses on key business updates, accomplishments and challenges. The purpose here is to break down silos between departments and focus on being one team that aims for the same goal.
What specific actions do you take before or during these meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
The objectives mentioned in the previous question help the meetings stay on track. In addition to those, I introduce more philosophical ideas on how we can potentially do better as a team by addressing themes we are seeing in the organization.
I constantly encourage my team to think outside the box. I refer to a book called “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck, where she speaks to the criticality of having a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. I want my team to focus on a growth mindset for us to strive for the best.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in those meetings?
My team is very involved in shaping the content and conversations during these meetings. I depend on my team leaders to guide some topics, as they are closest to what is happening in the field. Those include topics like wins, challenges, approaches and more.
Reonomy
Colin Callahan
DIRECTOR OF SALES
What they do: Reonomy aims to provide the commercial real estate industry with better insights on properties, which can lead to more opportunities for individuals and companies alike. Using data, machine learning and industry partnerships, Reonomy is looking to enhance property intelligence.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team? What are the key objectives of those meetings?
Given the current work-from-home environment, the entire sales organization at Reonomy meets on a weekly cadence. In addition, we meet twice per week with each regional account executive team and once per week with the sales development representatives team. The overall objectives of these meetings are to provide internal updates, understand roadblocks the team is facing and establish an open dialogue where our team members can discuss best practices and ask questions.
We try our best to keep things fun over video calls, especially as we continue to hire new members of the team. Our favorite way to start a meeting is by asking ice-breaker questions like, “If you could meet any historical figure, who would it be and why?” This keeps things interesting, the conversation is light and we learn more about one another. Additionally, we love to highlight a “win of the week” in our meetings, so everyone feels recognized for their hard work and accomplishments.
What specific actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
Prior to the weekly meetings, we choose a different theme of focus, based on current challenges the team is facing, which ensures that the conversations are relevant and actionable. We send the chosen theme to the group in advance so they’re prepared for a thoughtful discussion. My goal during the meeting is to act as a guide to ensure the group stays focused by asking open-ended questions, allowing the team to brainstorm and create their own solutions.
Encouraging the team to problem-solve their own blockers by bouncing ideas off one another creates autonomy in the role.”
As our team continues to grow, especially with multiple open roles for our SDR team, we want to ensure we’re fostering a community that promotes engaging conversations, solutions for challenges the team or individuals are facing and as much interaction as possible as we continue to work remotely.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in those meetings?
Salespeople are essential in shaping the conversations and decisions. No one wants to sit in a meeting where you are being talked at for 30 minutes, especially via video. Encouraging the team to problem-solve their own blockers by bouncing ideas off one another creates autonomy in the role, leads to higher engagement and morale, and instills confidence in individuals as they continue to develop their skills.
Ogury
Evan Rutchik
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER
What they do: Ogury is an advertising engine aiming to create better ways to reach users on mobile devices. Powered by consumers’ choice data, the engine provides targeted ads that are relevant to what users are interested in.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team? What are the key objectives of those meetings?
In these unprecedented times, I believe it’s important to stay connected and over-communicate to maintain high morale on my teams. Therefore, I’ve implemented multiple cross-region and cross-functional calls, which have resonated very well with my team.
I aim to accomplish a few things for these meetings. I use them to motivate, roll out new processes, set goals and review where the business currently stands in the quarter to meet our goals. Additionally, I recognize top performers and their teams as well as provide updates on any new products and/or objectives that we are setting.
Also, we try to have a little fun.
It’s important to stay connected and over-communicate to maintain high morale on my teams.”
What specific actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
Typically before these meetings, I write out everything that I plan to present and create an agenda to make sure that I share all of the major points and updates that are necessary to keep our teams productive.
Additionally, I ask that if anyone on the team has any questions, they share those with me ahead of time so I can address those questions on the call anonymously. I like to keep an open-door policy for my team and I want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable enough to share their thoughts and feedback.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in these meetings?
Our sellers play a significant role in shaping the conversations that take place for our strategies. They are the ones who see what’s happening in their markets and gather the best insights from our clients to help influence the course of our strategies and goals.
They also play a huge role in positively motivating the rest of the team. Bill Belichick, the legendary coach of the New England Patriots, my favorite team, said it best: “On a team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together.”
realtor.com
Elizabeth Larkin
MANAGER OF DIGITAL SALES
In order to better serve their customers, realtor.com holds short team huddles twice a day and longer, more in-depth meetings once a month, Manager of Digital Sales Elizabeth Larkin said. These meetings allow for team members to connect and build a sense of community.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
At realtor.com, we hold team huddles every day, twice a day, and then hold a monthly meeting that is more in-depth.
In the morning huddles, we motivate for the day with key information needed, including special promotions or details related to product launches. Then the huddle at the end of the day takes a pulse on what worked well and where we have opportunities for training. We go more in-depth in the monthly sales meetings with presentations related to marketing campaigns, product and service rollouts, and how we are mapping to our quarterly goals.
It’s critical that the sales team has insight and transparency for what is going on in the business. We want every member of the team to feel that they are set up for success. Taking this time to connect intentionally allows us to share and build an internal community. Aligned with our company goal to “build, reconstruct, build better,” we know that everything we do is a process of continuous growth and delivering excellence.
Taking this time to connect intentionally allows us to share and build internal community.”
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
I am constantly checking in with leadership to make sure that what I’m sharing is up to date and aligned with the company initiatives. Between the meetings, if there are any topics that come up that could use further training, I’ll take those topics and work with the learning and development team. We then collaborate to include what was learned, work with marketing to position the messaging and create a process to improve. This enables a system of information in, education out, and informs the lifecycle of the sales rep and enhances our product.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
Our salespeople have a huge impact on the day to day at realtor.com. Whether we are remote via Zoom or face to face, it’s the conversations that we have that shape how we show up to be our best. They are the frontline. They hear our customers’ voices upfront and on full blast. I take their feedback and figure out how we can improve to make them and our company thrive. It is my job and my joy to secure their success.
Modernize Home Services, a QuinStreet vertical
Jeff Barnes
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER
At Modernize, peer-to-peer participation from sales reps is an important component of each meeting. Barnes encourages open communication throughout the meeting so reps can learn from each other and better serve their customers.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We hold weekly meetings with the sales team. First up is a one-hour meeting on Mondays. During this meeting, we review team results from the previous week, i.e. deals closed, contract value, forecast versus results versus targets, and any other critical learnings or updates across the business. After, each rep explains their results from the previous week, highlighting specific wins or challenges they faced. They are the CEO of their pipeline, and it’s their job to dictate to the business why they’re winning or not and how they’ll beat their targets.
We then review their late-stage deals and next steps to earn the business of the prospect, collectively strategizing on how we can help them win new business. We keep it fluid and encourage interaction and peer-to-peer participation to increase expertise and camaraderie. We celebrate that everyone has different strengths and can learn from each other.
Next up is a short 30-minute standup meeting on Wednesdays. We review priorities for the week and ask, “Are we on track to hit our goals by the end of the week?”
And lastly, on Fridays, we hold a 30-minute “Feel Good Friday” meeting centered around everything that went well that week. These meetings help us build rapport as we can’t be in the office together — it’s our chance to unwind, have some fun and close the week strong.
We keep it fluid and encourage interaction and peer-to-peer participation to increase expertise and comradery.”
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
I always try to be prepared: I familiarize myself with the holistic wins and challenges for the business itself, the sales team and each sales representative. I review Salesforce reporting for week-to-date, month-to-date and quarter-to-date progress against targets and forecasts that were delivered the previous week.
Additionally, I review revenue reporting to understand how recently signed deals are progressing versus contract value. I also review opportunities and activities from the previous week by rep and across the team.
I ask a multitude of questions: “Are we light at the top of the sales funnel or bottom? Have we created a ton of new opportunities or not enough? Is a specific rep continuing to struggle closing an opp? Is a rep crushing it doing something new that we need to share?”
Preparation, setting clear and concise goals, and empowering the team to be the CEO of their pipelines is critical to start the week.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
They are critical stakeholders in the meeting’s success. Without their rapt attention and participation, the meetings have no value to the business or to them. We practice “radical candor,” and we need their feedback to stay relevant in order to grow and win. These meetings evolve as their skills do, and it’s incumbent upon the group to make every meeting better than the last.
Dosh
Rob Kenny
SALES DIRECTOR
Sales Director Rob Kenny said that at Dosh, in order to have productive sales meetings, collaboration is key. A collaborative and communicative environment allows for sales representatives to share their successes and learn from one another on what works and what doesn’t.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
I like to set a weekly cadence for a brief sales meeting with the team, usually about 30 to 45 minutes. The primary focus is to discuss any internal updates and cover an “around the horn” to highlight any account and pipeline news across the team. We also discuss any hot button issues or challenges we’re experiencing, how to best work through them and collaborate as a team, and anyway I can help to remove these barriers.
I’m always open to ways to make the meetings better, more productive, fun, etc. If someone on the team has a great idea, let’s try it out.”
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
First, I want to make sure the team has their updates captured in our suite of sales and pipeline data tools prior to the meeting. This is part of their daily and weekly activities so meetings can run effectively and efficiently. During the meeting, I want them to focus on three to four key accounts they’re engaged with that week or that have the highest priority needs.
Additionally, I like to foster a collaborative environment and have an opportunity for open dialogue to share successes and creative approaches to prospecting and maintaining good relationships that have helped win business.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
They take a collaborative role. I believe that none of us is as good as all of us. I’m always open to ways to make the meetings better, more productive, fun, etc. If someone on the team has a great idea, let’s try it out. The metrics are the metrics, which will always be the backdrop of any meeting.
One thing I’ve done in the past is have a rotating meeting lead. I’ve seen this be a great opportunity for an individual to incrementally develop their own skills in leading a conversation and quarterbacking a group. Ultimately, the team is vital in the active dialogue and sharing the pulse of our business through their book of business.
Envysion
Dawn Lampert
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES
At Envysion, sales meetings are held twice a week. According to Dawn Lampert, vice president of sales, the purpose of the first meeting is to update the team on key topics. The purpose of the second meeting — dubbed the “revenue call” — is for account executives to share status updates on their weekly activities.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We hold two sales meetings a week. The objective of the first is to update the sales team on key topics — business and product updates, organizational changes, system developments, etc. We also often use the time to include guest speakers who educate on various industry-related topics. Our team’s goal is to be trusted advisors to our prospects and customers, thus we need to stay “in the know.” Education is key.
We also host a weekly revenue call. The goal of that session is to have each account executive share their activity for the week, as well as their progress on deals (focusing on both the month and quarter), what have they closed, what are they committing to deliver in the month and what opportunities can they pull down into a win for the month and quarter. This is the broad forum to state what internal help is needed to convert opportunities to wins. In addition to the sales team, participants of the revenue call include our executives, customer success, project management, marketing and finance teams.
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive, useful and engaging?
As my boss, our Chief Revenue Officer Scott Tubbs, always says, “The key to any good meeting is to over prepare!”
Our sales team meeting includes at least a dozen people and for the revenue call, nearly 40. That is a huge investment in time, and we need to make the most of it! In our post-COVID world, we meet via video and ask that participants share their video to ensure engagement and active participation.
Our team’s goal is to be trusted advisors to our prospects and customers, thus we need to stay ‘in the know.’”
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
My team members understand the goals of our weekly meetings. In doing so, they often contribute content, questions and ideas that they want to learn about or expand on. If it’s helpful to one of our team members, it’s likely helpful to others, thus, we all benefit!
CHILI publish
Fabian Prudhomme
VICE PRESIDENT GLOBAL SALES AND ALLIANCES
Because CHILI publish has offices all over the globe, it’s important for each of the sales teams to stay in sync and in touch, said Fabian Prudhomme, vice president of global sales and alliances. Prudhomme holds multiple weekly and biweekly meetings in order to ensure everyone is on the same page.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
Our sales team is spread out from Texas to Singapore, and all of them work from home. To stay in sync and in touch, it is important to have open communication and frequent outreach. I prefer to run different types of sales meetings with different purposes.
I hold a weekly regional one-hour sales meeting with our account executives and insides sales reps that handle a specific region. The key objectives are to conduct business activity reviews of what happened the previous week and assess what we want to achieve in the present week based on pipeline activity and pipeline status changes. During these weekly meetings, I also review and update monthly and quarterly forecast figures.
In parallel with these weekly regional business review sales meetings, I organize a weekly sales meeting for the inside sales team and a weekly sales meeting for the presales team. These meetings have the same objectives: discuss their activity, communicate project updates, evaluate where they are in terms of monthly target achievement, and discuss any challenge, obstacle or issue they are running into.
In order to keep meetings short and to the point, it is important to be prepared.”
Up next, a biweekly video sales call for all sales team members. This is a platform where we exchange ideas, use each other as sounding boards, and where sales associates get to discuss what works and doesn’t work in their region. It’s really about exchanging experiences and discussing approaches that could benefit the rest of the team. We also invite other management if research and development or customer success needs to be involved in certain projects.
Finally, we also have a biweekly sales and marketing meeting, during which the sales team exchanges inbound marketing leads quality, customer wins and overall progress with the marketing team. We also inform each other on upcoming events, marketing campaigns and initiatives to align all outbound communication supporting sales success.
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
In order to keep meetings short and to the point, it is important to be prepared. We work with a centralized forecast spreadsheet that is maintained by the sales associates and updated prior to every weekly meeting. Additionally, we only discuss opportunities that are duly logged into our CRM system. Our system is our single source of truth — if information that needs to be discussed is not logged properly, it does not exist.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
Businesses are seldom a democracy, but we do discuss decisions, specific prospect related approaches and resolutions in a constructive and collaborative manner. We tend to look at our different options and try to agree on a way forward, which works out in about 95 percent of the cases.
Salespeople should bring up issues. When they arise, I expect them to propose a solution or a way to move forward, which I will either accept or challenge if needed.
AB Tasty
Philip Gude
VP SALES & CUSTOMER SUCCESS, AMERICAS
What they do: AB Tasty is a platform built to help companies like Wal-Mart, Sephora and Disney optimize their customer experience. As the name suggests, the platform offers tools like A/B testing, along with audience management, progressive deployment and more.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team? What are the key objectives of those meetings?
When it comes to team meetings — as opposed to one-on-one or function-specific meetings — I prefer to ensure that they are adding value to the team and provide an opportunity for everyone to benefit, learn, grow and develop. We are very fortunate at AB Tasty to have an incredibly collaborative team. This collaboration continues outside of our team meetings, which reduces the need for additional meetings.
Typically, the key objectives of our meetings include a number of topics which surface in my one-on-one meetings and indicate a trend and a need to dive deeper. For example, these trends could be roadblocks in moving flagship prospects forward, challenges around a sales demo account, and creative ways of overcoming those issues.
I typically learn about areas of interest or pain-points in my one-on-one meetings.”
I like to give my team members the opportunity to share their takes on team meetings and run them in the way they think would be most useful from their point of view, so that we can continue to get fresh approaches as a team. To do this, once every two months — sometimes more frequently — I have someone from the team lead the meeting themselves and encourage them to try new approaches and segments to keep things fresh.
What specific actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive and engaging?
In addition to choosing team members to run and lead the team meetings on a regular basis, I also invite guest speakers to share about their specialty. In the past, when my teams were larger, I would do simple two-question surveys to find out what was helpful and useful — as well as what was not helpful or useful — to sales people in a team meeting setting. We also covered what they would like to see incorporated into team meetings.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and decisions that take place in those meetings?
Salespeople have to play an active part in shaping these conversations for them to be useful. I typically learn about areas of interest or pain-points in my one-on-one meetings with each salesperson and from those, I get ideas about what could result in an engaging team discussion.
As far as decisions that take place in the meetings, I always ask everyone to share their opinion about a direction we are moving in, as a team or as a company. Everyone is encouraged to share views, which we have no issues getting as we have a very open and collaborative team. Then, I answer any concerns to explain the why behind any decision.
This is absolutely key and essential, as most people will be more likely to align with a direction when they know the reasons for it. A practical example of this was a study involving people asking to cut in line. When no reason was given as to why they needed to cut was given — even if the person was incredibly polite and nice about it — a vast majority of people in line did not let them.
We discuss these decisions together as a team to make sure that everyone is on board and we can move forward on implementing it.
The Trade Desk
Erika Fowler
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Adtech company The Trade Desk helps brands and their agencies deliver relevant ads across multiple devices. To best serve clients during meetings, Senior Account Executive Erika Fowler said she makes it a point to have conversations about industry news, landscape changes and how the team can collaborate on solutions.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
I focus on partnership and landscape conversations in my meetings with clients — especially because our industry changes daily. The cadence varies by client and need, but we’re always ready to have conversations daily, weekly or monthly depending on the ask.
Keeping up with our fast-paced industry can be challenging, so staying curious is key. I love learning all of the ways our product is helping solve real business problems for our clients. My objective in a meeting is simply to have a conversation about industry news, landscape changes and how we can work together to come up with a solution. The more I keep challenging myself to learn, the more I can act as an advisor to my clients by bringing education and knowledge sharing to the table.
Keeping up with our fast-paced industry can be challenging, so staying curious is key.”
What actions do you take before or during meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
Before a meeting, I focus on three things: knowing the client’s business, knowing their strengths and knowing the problems they’re trying to solve. I do my homework, whether it’s centered around an introduction to a new brand, bringing a recommendation to the table that is product-focused or providing an objective point of view on the landscape.
I try to build trust by actively contributing to the conversation and demonstrating our team’s knowledge and expertise. It doesn’t mean I will know every answer to every question, but conversations are exponentially more productive when you’re prepared and informed.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
At The Trade Desk, transparency and objectivity are core pillars of our ethos — meaning they drive every conversation I have. I remind myself before every meeting to listen to our clients’ needs and to not lose sight of why we are discussing in the first place.
As salespeople, our role is to identify whether we share a similar vision of the problem and if we are aligned on the next steps to solve it. I do this by setting agendas, building resources, asking questions and most importantly, gathering opinions. Thinking around corners and keeping track of all the individual conversations is also critical to the success of the business to avoid making decisions in silos. As a salesperson, you gain a deeper understanding of how all these components work together to set the business on a productive path forward.
Hawke Media
Nick Natale
DIRECTOR OF SALES
Digital marketing consultancy Hawke Media holds morning sync meetings Monday-Thursday. Director of Sales Nick Natale said that each day is designated for a specific objective, whether it’s to discuss current projects, accomplishments, review calls or hold training sessions.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We meet as a team Monday-Thursday mornings. Mondays are for projections, commitments and shoutouts. In addition to projects, the team often shares an accomplishment from the week before or a major focus area for the upcoming week.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are for training sessions that include call reviews, objection handling and other exercises to jump-start the day. Wednesdays are reserved for partner lunch and learns, or new product rollouts. If we don’t have either of those, we cut the meeting short so we can attack the day earlier.
We also have a 15-minute daily sales sync at 2 p.m. if you don’t have a sales call at that time. The key objective for this meeting is to simulate the office banter that was once common on the sales floor, from jokes to shoutouts or the occasional competitive challenge. It’s vital to maintaining a healthy and competitive sales culture in a remote working environment. This meeting is laid back and a great way to say “hello” to your team.
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
I always look for and encourage participation in those meetings. Sometimes it starts with me giving an example, but oftentimes, one of the veteran sales reps is eager to share. Whether it's discussing a goal, sharing a win or describing your process, there’s plenty to learn or take away from our sales meetings.
Whether it’s discussing a goal, sharing a win or describing your process, there’s plenty to learn or take away from our sales meetings.”
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
The topics of the training sessions are heavily influenced by requests from the team or suggestions from the senior reps. The participation of the sales team is what makes up much of the content in those meetings. Questions are encouraged and problems are solved in real time.
INTELITY
Erynn Torregna
SVP OF SALES
INTELITY is a hospitality software program that offers users fully integrated solutions to better connect and manage guest experiences and staff operations. Senior Vice President of Sales Erynn Torrenga said her team holds sales meetings once a week to discuss any deals in the pipeline and how they can get them over the finish line.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We hold meetings once a week, with goals like chatting about where certain deals are sitting in the pipeline, identifying which ones appear most promising and how we can get them over the finish line. We also like to address any open items or challenges the team may have.
The most effective sales managers allow time for the team members to share thoughts, feedback and ideas.”
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive, useful and engaging?
Before our weekly meetings, I remind the team to make sure their Salesforce opportunities are up to date so we can be sure we’re looking at accurate data. I also go through my notes to make sure I don’t miss communicating any changes or company-wide updates that the team needs to know.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
It’s an open forum. The most effective sales managers allow time for the team members to share thoughts, feedback and ideas. Also, I encourage team members to help set topics for the larger sales meetings –– sales meetings should be seen as productive and worthwhile for everyone on those calls.
MuteSix
Greg Gillman
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER
MuteSix is a full-service marketing agency that provides scalable marketing solutions to clients across multiple industries. Chief Revenue Officer Greg Gillman said that they hold weekly sales meetings — one longer meeting and multiple short check-ins — to ensure constant transparency across the organization.
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
We hold weekly sales meetings with the team to ensure there is constant transparency across our organization — this entails one wider team meeting and three shorter check-ins. Our key objective is to create a learning touchpoint by focusing on both recent successes and failures, and we review what’s working and what’s not to encourage participation from our sales development reps to C-suite leaders. If the entire team is involved in an open and honest conversation, we can spend less time on additional meetings later on, leading to higher productivity across the board.
What actions do you take before or during those meetings to ensure they're productive, useful and engaging?
Back in the days of in-person meetings, I would require everyone to turn off their laptops and phones and answer urgent emails beforehand. This year has forced us to move our meetings to Google Hangouts and Zoom, so I try to simulate the office experience by having the team keep their cameras on throughout to warrant full attention. I also find it helpful to consistently ask questions and call on people specifically to ensure everyone is engaged and involved in the conversation.
The purpose of our meetings is to serve the sales team so they can understand how to be more effective in their roles.”
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations and/or decisions that take place in those meetings?
At the end of the day, the purpose of our meetings is to serve the sales team so they can understand how to be more effective in their roles. I’ve found that the most beneficial thing you can do is facilitate conversations among the staff versus “talking at” them. I do my best to recognize individual work and allow everyone to be heard, regardless of how long they’ve been with MuteSix.
LeanIX, Inc.
Mark Hemphill
SALES DIRECTOR
How often do you hold sales meetings with your team and what are the key objectives of those meetings?
At LeanIX, the team does role plays each morning to listen and learn from each other. And we have a weekly meeting to share learnings, updates and feedback on what’s working or not working. This meeting encourages a group think-tank session that leads to improvements as outcomes.
The team does role plays each morning to listen and learn from each other.”
What are some actions you take before or during those meetings to ensure they’re productive, useful and engaging?
I have a list of to-dos I prepared over the past week based on feedback or updates I’d like to share with the team. Sparking a conversation with the team brings out great ideas and I think it’s important to ask for feedback once we actually implement those ideas. I like to ask each team member about key takeaways, which ensures talk tracks are absorbed and we can act on the knowledge we learned.
What role do your salespeople play in shaping the conversations in those meetings?
We like to decide as a team what makes the most sense. Sometimes there are differences in opinion, which we value. So we’ll A/B test different scenarios and collect feedback on how each one worked. One of our core values is “continuous improvement” so we pride ourselves on encouraging new ways of doing things. This practice ensures we’re always iterating and striving for perfection in what we do.
