That's right. National Sales Meetings, Sales Kickoffs,
Annual Meetings of any kind have the opportunity to be 6
months long! At least in the hearts and minds of your
attendees. Sales Meetings, for most large corporations, are
in the neighborhood of 3 days long. Often consisting of
morning plenary sessions (or general sessions), with
breakouts or district/regional meetings in the afternoon
and maybe an Award Ceremony on the final evening. They
often use a "Sales Meeting Theme" to help get their message
across. In the scheme of things, and in the life of your
typical, hard-driving sales rep, it's flash-in-the-pan.
Merely a moment in time. You'll have to really impress her
to make the take-home value stand out. I've heard many,
organizers and sales executives ask "How do I get better
sales meeting ideas?"
It doesn't have to be that way. I know, you're saying to
yourself, "How can I possibly keep them out of the field
any longer? You don't. One of the most-overlooked
opportunities for communication is the maximizing of the
National Sales Meeting.
This moment in time exists in the reps mind as a meeting
concept, or a destination. "Oh, yeah, I remember that one,
wasn't it the Space-Race meeting?" Or "That was when we
were in Phoenix, wasn't it ' and we did those goofy
Olympics?" Typically, your sales people forget the
"message" of the meeting, or what they are supposed to do,
fairly soon after the event.
The way to avoid making your meetings a "moment in time"
that exists for a long weekend in November, or for 3 days
in January, is to begin to build excitement and enthusiasm
for the event a few weeks, or even as much as 3-months
earlier. And not in just any-old way. Make sure that you
do this with a purpose. What's that? "I just want then to
sell more!" you say? Of course, that's always the goal.
So let's look closer at the opportunity. If your sales
team has been kicking butt for the past year (or most of
it, remember, you are starting out 3-months early, plus a
month or so of planning), and they have significantly
increased the bottom line, and your stated plans require
that they keep up the growth for another year. Further, if
you have determined that with greater customer focus, you
will retain more customers ' which costs less than
developing new ones, then that becomes the message for your
meeting ' and your Pre-Meeting Communication Campaign.
Create a lasting impression. Plan your meeting,
thematically, several months out. Devise a backdrop for
your current scenario that embraces the idea that Customer
Focus is critical. 3 months prior to the National Meeting,
you send out a communication to the field in the form of a
flash-email, or postcard, or even a voice mail from your VP
Sales that sets up the theme of your National Sales
Meeting, and the concept of Customer Focus in a fun and
creative way. You've just started your meeting. Over the
next 3 months, send another communication every 2-3 weeks
setting up another concept or take-away you would like them
to have. If these talk about, "The Customer is Always
Right" and "Customer Focus Keeps Business", and "Success
Begets Success", you begin to show your reps that you mean
business in this Customer Focus thing.
Then, your folks arrive in Phoenix (or Orlando, or Chicago)
for your event. It is all geared round the message of
customer focus. They have been hearing about it from
"corporate" for 3 months, now, and in fact, you are
beginning to see it show up in the numbers. Your
opportunity at the meeting is to celebrate! This does not
mean to party, and forget the business, but you can give
everything an air of celebration ' with more...
During your event, announce a contest that runs for the
next 3 months. Have reps contribute their stories of
Customer Focus and their successes. The best story wins.
The prize can simply be a gift certificate to dinner, or an
i-tunes gift card. Sales reps love to compete. Use it to
your advantage! In the meantime, you publish the best
stories every month to keep it top-of-mind for everyone!
There you have it. A 6-month long sales meeting that your
people will remember long after it is over as "The one
about Customer Focus". The message stays in their minds,
and, more importantly, in their actions. Over this time,
you have established terrific new habits that will serve
your sales people and your company for years to come.
----------------------------------------------------
Jeff has been communication professional for over 20 years.
He has helped some of the largest corporations in the
world to identify and clarify communication goals and
tailor messages and media to target and influence their
audiences. Jeff is married and the father of three and
lives in Santa Monica. He is founder and President of
Youngs Communication, Inc., a Creative Communication Agency.
jeff@youngscom.com.
http://www.youngscom.com
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