A daily meetup might sound like another bad, regularly scheduled meeting only this one is quite possibly the best meeting of the day. We’ve talked about them before – sometimes I call them Powwows – other times huddles.
The good news is that THIS one meeting – often five minutes long – will fire up your sales reps in a number of ways.
First of all, this very short meeting which could be 2 minutes with a small team or 5 minutes for a bigger team SETS THE TONE for your rep's day. If they are ready, they will be ready for their day and if they are unprepared,... well.... it is a red flag.
If done right, it will show them that you, as the leader, care what it is they are working on – no matter HOW senior they are in their role.
When your reps know that you care about their time, their success, and their schedule, they will work smarter and everyone will see their progress.
Let me ask you this:
"What will make your sales reps have one more conversation this week – and on Friday will have them work fully present rather than spending half their time doing personal tasks online – or even working at 25% less than they are capable of on any given day?"
The answer - GOALS & ACCOUNTIBILITY.
We set goals with ourselves and let leadership know what they are so they can support us, regardless of how many years they've been in the role.
What sorts of accountability could you help your reps with?
- Getting a call set up with a decision maker who has been hard to track down
- Having a great conversation with a strategic referrer about several companies needing your services
- Connecting to several other decision makers who are future buyers of your services
Unless reps are accountable they have no timeframe to get something done.
It will get done when it gets done.
That costs everyone a lot of dollars.
If a lead doesn’t get followed up on soon enough, they will lose the opportunity.
Assuming there is a stand-up meeting, a daily meetup, or sales huddle each day, you as sales leader can determine who is working on what and learn what each rep is excited about today.
Yes, I said excited about.
You don’t normally ask them this?
Why not?
Let’s put some enthusiasm and excitement into our work day.
As someone who wears the sales hat in my company I can tell you that I’m excited to bring a deal to closure this week that has been discussed for months. If I had a sales manager I would share that this deal will close by the end of the week – by talking about it I’ve made it public and although it’s on my pipeline report, it is different to verbalize a goal than seeing something digitally.
Rules for Your Meet-Ups
- They happen daily
- They take five minutes or less
- They can be done virtually
- They happen at a regular time
- They only cover two things: 1) what each rep is working on – from a revenue generation standpoint and 2) what each rep is excited about
- They don’t allow sarcastic answers, like “I’m excited about going to bed once I get home” or “the weekend”
- They don’t get sidetracked – reps and many managers are good at getting sidetracked – no customer success issues on this call or in-person meeting – this is all about revenue generation
- They get picked back up if they fall off – it’s never too late to re-start them, but try to keep them consistent
- They don’t center around personalities in or out of the company – it’s about revenue generation and pipeline movement
Our Challenge
If you haven’t tried bringing this into your sales culture yet, try it for two weeks.
If you don’t see any difference in sales cycle or number of meetings or conversations or enthusiasm- let us know. We believe in this as part of the sales rituals that bring success to you and your team.
Lori Richardson helps mid-sized companies grow revenues by solving key issues in their sales department - like recruiting, retention, diversity hiring, process, pipeline and leadership. She speaks at CEO groups on topics of sales growth. Clients include companies in the technology, telecom, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries. Subscribe to the award-winning blog, follow her on Twitter
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