If you are in sales or manage a sales team, how many times have you attended a meeting only to leave it bored, frustrated or confused? Most reps would concur that many sales sessions are downright inefficient because they don't adequately address the true reason they are brought together…
…to meet or exceed the sales quota of the company.
A realistic plan to meet quota usually does not happen. The meeting becomes a complaint fest. Or the manager has loaded his or her talk onto the PowerPoint presentation equipment and goes on and on without one regard for the folks in the room.
If you are the manager or event organizer of sales meetings, you need to get everyone on the same proverbial page. Dr. Fred Kofman, Author of Conscious Business, talked about this in his recent LinkedIn posting "Put Your Meeting on the Wall." I am taking his ideas a step further by integrating interactive technology tool rentals into the equation. Here is what he said needs to happen to run an efficient and effective meeting:
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Put the Slides on the Wall.
Kofman suggests you print out all the PPT charts and tape them to the wall. Have everyone review the charts, sort of like an art walk where people stop, read and think about the message.
A video wall is a great option for this. Not only can you load the entire presentation onto it, but you can make each slide larger or smaller depending on the request of the team. By loading all the documentation onto the server, you can access slides when you need them.
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Rent iPads for the "walk".
Rather than using post-it notes or notebook paper for questions, thoughts or suggestions about each slide, give participants an iPad where two things can happen: 1) They can have the presentation pre-loaded on the iPad with an app that allows notes on each slide and 2) Participants can take general notes on the iPad and fall back to them during the discussion period.
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Go around the room and review feedback.
Each person can ask clarifying questions and make comments about the slides. If you have a large staff, limit each attendee's talking time. Ask them to provide you with the most important or pressing item first, working down to the least important. This ensures the team focuses in on the most important meeting metrics.
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Have an administrator update and display feedback on the fly.
While participants are talking, have someone update the charts and display the feedback on the video wall. Discuss as a group and make certain everyone understands the comment or question.
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When it's all said and done — do you have a plan to meet your sales quota?
At the end of the meeting you should have a clear path to making sales revenue. And because everyone has had buy-in, it will now be their plan to manage, not yours to administer.
AV Event Solutions, now part of the SmartSource Rentals family, has presentation services audio visual equipment which includes, video walls, iPads and laptop computers. Check out their express quote form to get the process started and allow your sales staff keep in sync all year long!
