Sales Meeting

There are two reasons why certain sales meetings should be publicized. First, to get attendance. Second, to advertise your product(s). Now let’s discuss how to publicize your meetings.

Note the product publicity in this example of a newspaper story.

APPLIANCE DEALERS CONVENE HERE

Appliance dealers from seven states meet here today and    tomorrow.   
Guests of the ABC Range Co., they will be shown why it is quicker and safer to cook with gas.    More than 300 dealers are    expected. Headquarters are being set up at the Royal Hotel.    Local sponsors are the Smith Furniture & Appliance Store and the Oak Cliff Stop-Shop.

Highlight of the meeting will be introduction of the new ABC models. “We have some beautiful new styling,” announced ABC President Richard Roe. Also, there’s a model to fit the  pocketbook   of  every family in the country.”  Introduction of the new line will climax Wednesday’s session. Dealer of the Year will be crowned on Thursday.

By using your sales meeting publicity to promote your products as well as the meeting itself you can get a double benefit from your efforts.

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The true-false quiz is an excellent teaching device. It can make the session more interesting, too. Devise an all inclusive quiz. Every important area, then, is certain to be discussed. Also, the quiz serves as a good review of the sales training highlights. Most people think a quiz is for testing the learners. It is not. It’s a test of the instructor. It shows how well he taught.

SAMPLE QUIZ ON APPROACHES

Type of Selling: Over the counter.

1.    There are three types of approaches.    TRUE     FALSE

2.    The salutation approach is always used on friends,      TRUE     FALSE

3.    “May I help you?” is an overworked service approach.     TRUE       FALSE

4.    “What may I show you?” is a good service approach,    TRUE     FALSE

5.    A merchandise approach saves time.     TRUE     FALSE

6.    The customer’s name should not be used in the approach.   TRUE       FALSE

7.    Tell a waiting customer, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”    TRUE       FALSE

8.    You should never have anything in your hands during the approach.    TRUE       FALSE

After the quiz has been distributed and scored, discuss each question.  “Who has the answer to the first one . . . False? You’re right – that’s false! But what’s the main idea there? So what should you do as a result?”

The important thing is to bring out the underlying teaching point. How the individual answered the question is not significant. What the group finally learned about it — that’s the thing.
Multiple choice and completion type questions can also be used. True-false is usually best, however, because it’s so simple.
 
Don’t grade adults. They resent it. Instead, let each person correct his own paper. They’ll usually want a “yardstick,” so give it to them: “If you missed only three, you did very well. If you missed less than three, you should be the instructor!”

Let them keep their tests. Encourage a review at some future date. But avoid a school room atmosphere. Adults absolutely will not accept it. They left school long ago and they’re not going back!

Sales Meeting Ideas

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To get the most from your sales meeting it is important to end on a high note.  Here is a brief summary of some different ways you can accomplish this.

Announce a Welcomed Policy or Procedure

Distribute a New Sales Aid

Tell of New Merchandising Material

Spring a New Ad or Advertising Campaign

Play Up an Addition to Your Product Line

Show Next Year’s Models

Announce a Contest

Name Contest Winners

Present Achievement Awards

Use a Fast Inspirational Speech

Devise a Gimmick

Enter Spouses and Sweethearts

Use Meditation

Surprise Them With a V.I.P.

Sales Meeting

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Meditation has successfully been used at large sales meetings. Ask everyone to stand, to lower his head, and to think. “Let’s meditate for a moment . . . Just think . . . Think of this meeting and what we’ve accomplished. Think of how you can use this wealth of information. Think.”
Drop your voice, both in volume and tone.

Then continue more slowly with “Think of the wonderful opportunity we have.” Pause.

“Think of the many customers we’re serving, the big job that’s being done.” Pause, lowering your voice still more. “Think of the many additional people we should be serving.” Pause. “Let’s resolve to get and to serve these many additional customers.”

Pause longer. “Let’s serve more people, while also helping ourselves. We can do it, we will do it. Good luck and good night.”

This type of climax won’t send them home shouting. But if preceded by a good meeting it can be quite dramatic and effective. It will send them home inspired to do a bigger job than ever.

Sales Meeting Ideas

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You want to end your sales meeting on a high note with a real climax.  A few “don’t’s” will work wonders toward preventing an anticlimax at the end of your sales meeting. 

DON’T let a semi-climax outshine the conclusion of your meeting. The major highlight should invariably be last.

DON’T summarize after the climax. Do it earlier. While summation helps get your message across, it’s not sufficiently colorful to serve as the climax.

DON’T thank participants at the end of the meeting. Anytime before will do. An expression of thanks at the end takes the edge off things.

DON’T stall around if you finish early. Conclude the meeting ahead of time. A stall is anticlimactic.

DON’T leave the impression you’re closing the meeting merely because you’ve run out of topics: “Well, if there’s nothing else to cover . . .”

DON’T acknowledge a raised hand when you’re bringing the meeting to a close. Ignore it. See the individual later. His question or comment would have taken the frosting off the cake.

DON’T let a comment from the floor cause a long discussion at the last minute. If someone speaks up even though not invited to do so, make him be brief. Brush him off politely but quickly.

DON’T let someone in the audience have the last word, or even the next to last word. There’s no reason to believe he will say something to help you close on a high note. Regain control of the situation. Then close it yourself.

DON’T ignore the obvious. It usually is evident that the audience will want to know some fact, such as the time of the next session or date of the next meeting. Anticipate these things. Supply the information so there won’t be anticlimactic last minute questions from the floor.

DON’T be indefinite or indecisive. Conclude with vigor.

DON’T thank the audience for attending, especially near the close. If you’ve conducted a sparkling meeting, the audience should thank you!

Sales Meeting

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Introduce speakers properly. Few emcees take the trouble to do this. Invariably a good introduction answers three questions – “What’s it about? Why should I listen? Who says so?”

Write the introduction in advance. Put down every word of it. Then practice giving it until you’ve virtually memorized it. You weaken the introduction if you are obviously reading it.
 
SAMPLE INTRODUCTION

“What’s it about?”

The next talk is on objections. There’ll be demonstrations on how to overcome all the common objections: price, not interested, all of them.

“Why should I listen?”

This information will help you with every prospect. You can use it to close more sales and make more money.

“Who says so?”    

One of the best salespersons on the staff will handle this subject. She won last year’s Distinguished Sales Award – a real go-getter – Julie McBride!

For formal occasions, an introduction can be more lengthy. But 30 seconds should be a maximum. Let the speaker do the speech making.

“We present Julie McBride!” sounds better than “I give you Julie McBride!”

Another tip: Save the speaker’s name until last. Then when stating his or her name, really bear down! Example: “Hailing from Fresno, California, here’s JOHN KENWORTH!”

It’s usually a good idea to check with the speaker beforehand to get his approval of the introduction. A misstatement in the introduction may upset the speaker, get him off to a bad start.

Sales Meeting Ideas

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It may seem silly to consider a timing device, but for any meeting longer than an hour you should use one.  Too many participants get carried away with themselves. Sometimes it’s a member of the audience who seems determined to bog things down with unscheduled discussion. A timer takes care of these situations in an impersonal inoffensive way.

Use any system you like, as long as you use one. There are several methods of “blowing the whistle” on participants.  An electric device can be obtained from companies that rent public address systems. It consists of three small lights: white for all clear, orange for a two minute warning, and red for over-time. This gadget is attached to the rostrum, where it can be seen only by the speaker. It’s a most effective tool for upholding your schedule.

Some have a buzzer on them. When the red light comes on it starts buzzing. Thereafter, the speaker finds it almost impossible to continue because of the buzzing noise.

When booking a meeting room at a hotel you often find such a gadget available. Hotels tired of overtime meetings long ago. Thus, many hotels provide a timer as part of the p.a. system.  A less ingenious method involves a simple noisemaker, operated by someone seated in the first row. A cricket chirper is often used, although any squeaky toy will do. While amateurish, a noisemaker is none the less effective.

In the absence of a better system, the person responsible for timing stands in the rear of the room. When overtime, he waves his arms like a mad man or holds up a sign. It usually works, too. Before long he’s bound to be noticed! “I’ve done this a couple of times,” said a hardware executive. “You feel like a fool when you do it, but you certainly keep the meeting on schedule.” The smaller the meeting, the more effective you’ll find this to be. The greatest objection to it, however, is that most of us get “cold feet” at the last minute.

It is somewhat extreme! So the timekeeper is reluctant to go through with it and waits until the proceedings are several minutes behind schedule. Then it’s too late, and his wildest arm-waving cannot turn back the clock. The point is this: hand signals will work if they are used with the same precision as other timing devices.  Using signs showing “10 minutes” and “5 minutes” and “Time” can work also.

You can interrupt by stating something like: “So that we won’t get behind schedule, Mary, will you try to finish in the next couple of minutes?” This is distracting to the audience, but it’s better than letting Mary throw you twenty minutes late.

Use judgment, however. If Mary appears to be in the final steps, wait a minute or two. She should close on a high note – not on an interruption by the timekeeper. Risk a minute or so if she seems about to conclude. Then if she doesn’t stop you can stop her.

Sales Meeting

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Here is a summary of the things you need to do to make good physical arrangements for your sales meeting.

- Look for the Best Meeting Room

- Arrange Conventional Meals

- Inspect the Room Yourself

- Decide on the Best Seating Arrangement

- Guard Against Alien Noises

- Anticipate All Physical Needs

- Request the Mic That Fits Your Needs

- Check Last Minute Details

Sales Meeting

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Before booking a room for your sales meeting, be sure to check the acoustics. If voices of your participants bounce around, you’re in for trouble. A speaker can’t be understood when acoustics are bad. He or she can be heard, but not clearly heard. It’s exasperating!

Sound engineering has made rapid strides in the last few years. But in the past there have been many instances when new ceilings had to be installed in new buildings. Why? The acoustics were poor.

Acoustics cannot be checked in the absence of an audience. The bodies of the people attending will alter the travel and effect of sound. To do this you will need to Visit the room while a meeting is in progress. If this isn’t practical, contact someone who booked a recent meeting there. If acoustics were bad, he will still be complaining about it!

You will also need to protect yourself from outside noise.  Few rooms are soundproof. Inquire about activities to take place nearby. Will barbershop quartets or rock bands turn up in the next room? Will an orchestra rehearse across the hall? Is noisy remodeling scheduled?

How about noises from the outside? Is the street only a few stories below? Is it heavily traveled? Will there be open windows on warm days, or air conditioning?

Meeting Sample

Sales Meeting

The best room is one in which you can arrange the best seating. Therefore, your selection of a room should be based, in part, on seating arrangements.

There are four basic types of seating:

1.    Auditorium style. This arrangement is most widely used. It consists simply of one row of chairs behind another, as in a movie theater. “We’ve always favored the auditorium style,” said a Denver retailer. “It enables us to get the greatest number of people in the room. You see, tables take up space – more space than people.”

Auditorium style is okay for meetings lasting a couple of hours or less. For longer meetings, however, this arrangement is tiring.  People want tables on which to lean and to take notes. Be
sure to stagger the chairs. The guy in front may not be thick¬headed, but . . .

2.    Conference style. Each person is seated at a table. The table is shaped like an I, a T, or a U. This is ideal for note taking, water pouring, elbow resting, and the like. It’s comfortable. “Conference style is best for creating informality,” said a building supply executive. “To get group discussion, you can’t beat it.”

Tables consume so much space that conference style is used only for smaller meetings. However, it’s the smaller meeting that’s best for group discussion.

3.    Spotted Tables. Small tables are spotted at certain places in the room. From two to eight people are seated at each table. This requires extra floor space. In fact, it’s a good means of trimming a large room to the size needed. It’s also practical when the audience is to be divided into small groups, as in buzz sessions.

An educational leader said, “In some of our meetings we assign different projects to different groups of people. Each group works on its project then and there – right in the meeting room. Spotted tables are ideal for this. A different project can be assigned to the people at each table. A natural division of the audience is provided.”

4.    Theater in the round. You’ve seen this seating arrangement at boxing and wrestling matches. The stage is surrounded by seats. The average spectator is closer to the action. Some seats are a third nearer the stage. There’s more realism, too – a better 3-D effect. But it’s a poor arrangement for the average sales meeting.

A speaker’s stand cannot be used since it would face only a small part of the audience. Participants feel naked. Speakers must turn constantly to make eye contact with all the audience. If the crowd is so large that a p.a. system is used, a portable mike is necessary.

It’s difficult to use visuals. Videos are out of the question. Generated charts and boards, too. A visual must be used in such a way that everyone can see it. Either it has four faces, or it’s turned completely around by the speaker. Both are clumsy.

“I’ll never forget the first time I spoke at a meeting arranged like a theater in the round. It was very confusing. I couldn’t decide on which part of the audience to concentrate. I was never so uncomfortable before people. I felt that I was on public display.” Who told this sad story? A talented public speaker. So beware of theater in the round.

Be sure to select a room that permits the seating arrangement you consider best.

Meeting Sample

Sales Meeting

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