Making fun of unnecessary internal meetings is often the subject of Dilbert cartoons. We can all relate to how painful and soul-sucking these can be. Despite that, it's challenging to write them off completely, especially in sales. Internal meetings can foster a culture of regular feedback and open communication only if you have a proper sales meeting agenda.
But wait, what should you include in the agenda—updates, roadblocks, wins? Here's everything you must have in a sales meeting agenda.
What is a sales meeting?
A sales meeting is an internal discussion between the sales leadership and the reps. Typically, the sales manager, director, or head of sales (depending upon the company) runs the show and highlights critical updates, including current sales performance, competitive insights, the team's next priorities, and all the necessary information reps need to do their job well.
8 tips on creating effective sales meeting agenda
Your sales meeting agenda will differ depending on whether you run a weekly, quarterly, or annual sales kick-off. But in most cases, these tips will keep you on track, show respect for your rep's time, and run efficient sales meetings, regardless of your meeting type.
1. Simplify the sales meeting agenda
2. Check your technology
3. Be punctual
4. Determine the right cadence
5. Share team updates
6. Recognize key wins
7. Provide collaboration opportunities
8. Finalize the next steps
1. Simplify the sales meeting agenda
Your sales reps are busy. They have many things to do—make calls, sift through leads, tailor pitches and emails, update CRM, etc. You don't want to waste their time in unproductive meetings.
Therefore, have a sales meeting agenda that clearly explains the purpose of your meeting. And ensure your team understands it.
For instance, is it a crucial end-of-quarter meeting to identify reps who needs help to achieve their quotas or a brief stand-up to discuss a specific client case?
After finalizing your sales meeting agenda, decide the following things:
- Who will start the meeting?
- Who will share their screen, if required?
- Do you want your reps to ask questions between the meeting or save them for the end?
- Will there be any critical call to action for reps to take away?
Share the sales meeting agenda ahead of time so everyone comes prepared.
2. Check your technology
A technology that doesn't have kinks is indistinguishable from magic. Technical glitches are unavoidable. But you can iron those out in advance, whether you're presenting in person or remotely—download the required software, update your computer, close unnecessary chats or programs, etc.
It's a good practice to ask all meeting presenters to arrive a few minutes early to test the entire setup. This will ensure you don't run out of time or spend a lot of time on technological glitches. You can do the same thing if you're driving the meeting alone: test your technology and rehearse once before the meeting.
3. Be punctual
"Let's wait a few minutes for everyone to join."
If you are used to saying this phrase before the start of every meeting, it's time to stop. This is often considered an offensive phrase that shows a lack of respect for those who joined on time.
Sales reps meticulously plan their day to make as many calls as possible, send emails, and follow up with leads. So, start and end meetings on time.
Also, regularly review your sales meeting agenda and ask attendees for their opinion on the agenda items they found most helpful. It's a delicate balance—you don't want to cut off significant conversations, but you must also be mindful of the meeting time.
4. Determine the right time and cadence
"I survived another meeting that should have been an email."
That's the last thing you want to hear as a sales manager. Therefore, make all your sales meetings count. If you think you're discussing less critical issues, switch to a less-frequent schedule or use asynchronous communication methods like emails and chats.
If you call off a meeting with no significant updates to report, your team can use those extra minutes for productive work. And explain the reason for canceling—your team will appreciate it.
5. Share team updates
Encourage everyone to share what's working and what isn't. Seek updates on crucial accounts or contacts and the overall status report about team KPIs and individual quotas.
This is also the platform to allow teammates to share any roadblocks or obstacles. Knowing where your team is struggling will allow you to create an action plan to tackle these challenges.
6. Recognize key wins
Did a rep close a big deal? Did another surpass their quota six months straight? Make some time during these meetings to recognize them. People like being appreciated, and it can motivate the entire.
In a survey from the Globoforce and Society for Human Resource Management, employees who feel recognized by their teams are 109% more likely to stay loyal to their current organization.
Also, be specific in your compliments. It will mean more to say you appreciate someone for effectively onboarding a demanding client than simply saying, "nice work."
And yes, not everyone likes being singled out in front of others, so be sure to recognize reps in the ways they prefer.
7. Provide collaboration opportunities
Always include time for group discussion in your sales meeting agenda. These sessions provide a forum for team members to share best practices and learn from one another.
For instance, you can exchange ideas on the following:
- Better coordination between sales and marketing or sales and customer service.
- Suggestions for remote selling.
- Innovative ways to position your products or services.
- How to increase collaboration with other clients or suppliers in your industry?
- Your competitors' positioning, pricing, and product marketing.
Focus on subjects that interest most sales reps and prevent them from tuning out.
8. Finalize the next steps
As you go through each item on your sales meeting agenda, clearly explain all the action items and who will complete them. Nobody should feel uncertain about what to do next after the meeting.
Individual team members can be in charge of following up with their leads and clients. But you should also assign a point person if additional department-wide issues arise during the discussion. These could be talking to the finance department about a new product promotion or talking to marketing about a new lead-generation campaign.
Which updates do you want the team to present at the next meeting? Be clear. This way, you will never miss any action item.
6 items to add to your sales meeting agenda
Add these six items to your next sales meeting agenda to make your meetings engaging and productive.
1. Icebreaker
Open your sales meeting with an icebreaker to make your reps feel comfortable and, over time, improve team dynamics. Spend a few initial minutes going around the room and asking everyone to share their responses. Add a new icebreaker question every time before the meeting.
The following are some excellent icebreaker inquiries to make:
- What did you do this weekend?
- What's your favorite travel destination?
- If you had one superpower, what would it be?
Vibhanshu Dixit
2. Start on a positive note
84% of highly engaged employees were recognized when they went above and beyond, compared to just 25% of highly disengaged employees, as per Bonusly's 2019 Employee Engagement and Modern Workplace Report.
So, always start your meeting on a positive note to increase the effectiveness of every meeting. Positivity gets people talking, which will eventually increase engagement.
Ask your sales team to start the conversation by highlighting a recent victory. Consider topics like closing a huge deal, significant insights, percentage of target achieved, etc.
3. Pipeline updates
Get a pulse check on the current metrics and understand where each team member is with regard to their quotas. This will allow you to decide whether you need to step in and support your reps.
Additionally, it will provide you with all the data you need to organize your team's activities for the coming week.
4. Roadblocks and challenges
Starting with pipeline updates provides a natural transition into potential roadblocks.
Seek answers to questions like "Are you being held up by other departments?" or "What might prevent you from achieving your goals in the upcoming weeks?"
When discussing challenges, look beyond organizational challenges. Are reps on holiday that week? Are there any upcoming travel plans or holidays? Who will fill in for such reps?
5. Prospect feedback
Your sales meeting agenda should include your prospect's feedback. Ask your team what the lead says about your product, business, and more. Document this information for future implementation, wherever possible.
6. Competitor updates
Keep an eye on your competitors to develop, learn, and carve out a niche in your market. Add competitor updates to your sales meeting agenda by asking your reps about what they have learned or observed competitors doing.
Do a thorough analysis of one such company at every team meeting if you have the time. Examine their pricing, USPs, and business approach to learn and improvise.
Tips for taking sales meeting minutes
Documenting what you discuss during sales meetings may seem a hassle. And rightly so. Taking manual notes is not a good use of anyone's time. Instead, you and your team should focus on the conversation and how you can achieve your targets.
Therefore, using an AI notetaker makes sense. AI meeting assistant and notetaker like Fireflies automatically records and accurately transcribes your meetings so you can create a knowledge base on all your sales meetings and use them for future reference.
It lets you review hour-long meetings in minutes with system-generated filters like tasks, date and time, questions, etc. You can also add your topics in Topic Tracker, and Fireflies will automatically track and flag those terms in all meeting transcriptions.
You can then share the meeting transcription with all the participants or other members of your Fireflies team based on your settings. This way, everyone will have access to what was discussed and can go back and revisit them in the future.
Parting Thoughts
Sales meetings shouldn't be a drag. Instead, they should enable your team to close more deals and focus on potential customers. With a proper sales meeting agenda, you can ensure your meetings are always on track, and everyone stays productive.
Put these tips into action in your next sales meeting agenda and see how successfully your team inks that deal. Until then, back to crushing quotas, guys!
