Planning A Direct Sales Team

We all know that meeting makers make more money! With our busy lifestyles, how can we get our sales teams to prioritize the meeting day? This simple meeting plan for direct sales, no matter what your product line, can be used as a template month after month to create team training meetings ...We all know that meeting makers make more money! With our busy lifestyles, how can we get our sales teams to prioritize the meeting day? This simple meeting plan for direct sales, no matter what your product line, can be used as a template month after month to create team training meetings that will be well attended and create a growing team.

Get The Sales Consultant To The Training

When you coach your team to come to meetings just like you coach your host, then you will develop a consistently large attendance. Having a big crowd at your meeting is the best thing you can do to give the meeting value. More sales reps at every meeting means more fun, just like at a show. So do everything you ask your host to do for the show to get people to the meeting. Send out emails, send out post cards, make follow up calls to remind them three days in advance. After the meeting, call or email (or both) to tell them what they missed. When you market your meeting to match every personality, you will have higher attendance.

Meeting Topics For All Direct Sales Companies

Planning a meeting is simple. Use these topics at every meeting with no exceptions:
1. Product Knowledge
2. Sharing The Opportunity (aka Recruiting)
3. Scheduling Shows (aka Bookings)
4. Host Coaching
5. Recognition

Really, it is that simple. Our work is not rocket science, yet there are basic skills that we need to master and the topics above, in no special order, cover it all. Divide your meeting into 4 or 5 parts that are basically equal, and allocate the time to your topics. I recommend a two-hour meeting with five 20-25 minute segments, or a two- hour meeting with four parts. If you only cover four out of the five monthly, then just rotate through them all month to month.

Successful Sales Consultants And Leaders

The team leader (you) is not the only person capable of training. As a matter of fact, it is better if you only take one of the four topics. Divide the others up between leaders and other consultants who are not leaders.

Meeting Topic Presentation Styles

Create your meeting with each segment being presented in a different style.

• Break up into groups: At least one topic should be a short intro and then group activity, with a return to the room for a summary of the group activities.
• Another leader: You are not the only successful leader in the group, so have other sales leaders present.
• Bring a newcomer to the front of the room. It is important for the average sales rep to see and envision average people as leaders or presenters. So get humble and let other people talk. Suppose your topic for the scheduling segment is finding shows for newcomers. Ask (in advance) one of your successful new consultants to share for 20 minutes on how they filled their calendar the first month. Be specific and give them a list of what you want them to share. Be sure they are comfortable with the assignment and follow up before the meeting to find out what they are sharing. Another example may be a sales professional who never has the highest sales, yet consistently has a $1000 show. You could ask her/him to share how to host coach for higher sales.
• Outside Speakers: The same message from a new messenger can make a huge impact on one individual or even your entire team. Believe it or not, they do get tired of you, no matter how wonderful you are. Invite Deb To Speak
• Create Themes: Themes at your meetings, just like at your shows, can create fun and excitement as well as anticipation. I will elaborate more on this in another post.

Creating a variety of presentation styles and also meeting themes will go a long way to keeping the meeting fun. Here are a few “nevers” for your meeting:

• Never read from your papers. Your sales reps will not tolerate being bored. Reading your material word-for-word from your notes will ensure that they do not come back.
• Never “add-on” after another person finishes up their part. This can be hard because we are the all-knowing leader. Yet when you add-on to what was just said, it makes it look like they did not do a good enough job because they missed something.
• Never present with a door or window behind you. Always have a solid wall behind the presenter or the front of the room.
• Never make fun of someone, even in fun.
• Never complain about the (home office) company or your upline to your sales team on any level.
• Never talk to someone else when another speaker is presenting.
  

  Recognition That Acknowledges

  Your recognition should do more than recognize, it should acknowledge the person. When recognition creates excitement, it will keep everyone interested. Do not let the recognition segment be the most boring time of the meeting. At the very least, it should be fun. True recognition will be presented in such a way as to recognize and acknowledge the person and her or his personal efforts, as opposed to being a compliment or a pat on the back for a job well done. “Your commitment to becoming an awesome host coach has certainly paid off in your increased show average, Lisa!” is an example of acknowledging the person while giving recognition. Recognize the unrecognizable. Find a way to give recognition to those that are not necessarily high performers. The sales rep who shows up every month even though she/he has a two hour drive. The new sales professional that did her first show after being with the company for three months and had a $600 show. The new Mom who went out and did a show three days after the baby was born! Include everyone in recognition not just high achievers. Good recognition segments will create a healthy competition between your sales consultants, and keep them guessing too.

  Meeting Planning Made Easy

  Meetings should be designed to establish relationships. This simple template will make it easy to create powerful meetings with very little effort. Friends stick together. This meeting template will create meetings that create friends who stick together. Using this template you will be amazed at how simple it is to plan effective meetings that are totally different every time, so that your team keeps coming back for more.