Many distributors hold meetings

Many distributors hold meetings for their sales force and consider them an important part of an overall training program. As much time should be spent on planning these sessions as in attending them.

Sales meetings can be used for many reasons, for example, new product launches, ideas on selling key target accounts, or passing along valuable information such as changes in company benefits. The bottom line is: You need to find ways to improve the value of the meeting for those who are required to attend.

If previous meetings have focused just on factory representatives introducing new products or reintroducing products that have not sold well, a certain air of predictability results. If meetings are not exciting, interesting, and useful, then future meetings become framed in a "same old stuff" pattern, even before they begin.

Here are some ideas to try to improve the quality of your meetings:

Prepare them

If you are having a factory representative introduce new products, ensure the rep is prepared. Rather than outlining all the product features, what it is, is less critical than its benefits — what the product does. This may seem simple, but be sure the rep knows the difference between features and benefits before he gets in front of your people.

If reps spent more time describing new products from the perspective of what problems they solve or the opportunities for growth, this would dramatically increase new product sales.

List them

Sales managers should ensure that as a result of a new product launch, each sales rep creates a list of prospective customers who may have the types of problems or opportunities these new products can tackle. Keep copies of these lists for immediate follow-up for results. Never expect what you cannot inspect. In addition, each rep prepares a written list of open-ended questions designed to direct conversation during a sales call to the specific area of concern these products address.

Often, sales people think they are prepared, but when facing a customer they forget what it is they wanted to ask. As a result, these calls can turn into product information sessions with the reps telling their buyer all about the new product instead of determining what the product can do for the client.

Quiz them

Use factory reps to help sales managers develop quizzes that cover key points for sales reps to remember. Prizes can be donated by manufacturers and awarded to the highest scores on such quizzes. If the material covered at the meeting is too technical, allow each sales rep to use an "open book" format while taking the quiz. The important thing is not so much that they remember each technical fact, but that they know where to go for answers when technical questions arise on a call.

Involve them

Have manufacturer’s reps develop selling scenarios built around new or existing products that are not moving as well as the company and the distributor want. It is harder to perform in front of one’s peers than it is anywhere else. The rate of errors committed by the "home team" dramatically increases in the latter games of an important series. Remember Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner’s championship-losing error in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series? If we are to make mistakes in selling, let’s make them in a sales meeting where we have the opportunity to "play it again" and learn from our mistakes.

Play them

A sales manager can collect business cards from each distributor rep. Draw one card for that person to play the "buyer" and another for a rep to play the "seller." Do this regularly, holding one or two role-plays during each meeting, and instructional role-playing will become expected. Sales managers will now be providing a great tool to the sales force. Even the rep playing a buyer learns a tremendous amount; role-playing allows an opportunity for honing verbal, questioning and presentation skills.

Teach them

At the end of the sales meeting distributors can conduct "group role-plays." A pre-selected sales rep comes forward with a "problem account." The rep outlines where he or she stands with the still uncommitted target-sales account. The group then asks questions of the rep to gain account information and makes suggestions as to how they might handle the call.

This gives the sales rep possible new angles to pursue. It also enables other reps to take a new look at a problem account of their own. Each subsequent meeting can be set up in a similar fashion: After the previous rep reports to the group as to how things have changed with the account, a new problem account is introduced. This also adds a degree of responsibility for the rep to try peer recommendations.

Too often sales meetings have not so much to do with sales, but more with "administrivia" or technical information that can become a sales person’s worst enemy in a sales call. By making sales meetings fun, different and interesting, we can keep our sales force guessing at what we’ll be doing next. That alone should help raise the desire of our people to attend these sessions as well as to be an excellent tool for doing what the events were originally designed to do – increase sales.

John J. McCann, a Greer, SC-based business consultant, retired from S.C. Johnson Wax after 20 years. For more information, visit www.mccannmotivations.com.

Created and Maintained by WSI