I had an interesting conversation the other day with a contact of mine:

Friend:  I have to get to my weekly sales meeting.

Sales Cooke:  Weekly?  How long do your sales meetings last?

Friend: They start at 1 and go on forever.  Usually until after 3.

Sales Cooke: Two hours or more? Really?

Friend: Yes.  The owner of the company wants to go over every account and detail.

Sales Cooke: How many sales reps?

Friend: Six

Wow! What an incredible waste of time.

What is the cost of wasting 90 minutes in this meeting per week?  One less client meeting.  Two client phone calls.  An extra half-day that your customer is waiting for a call back on a question.

My sales meetings start on time and last exactly 50 minutes when we get into our rhythm.  Note: It takes about four weeks to get into rhythm.  Here’s the agenda and the process:

• 10 minutes: Check-in.  Everyone has about 30 seconds to check-in with something personal and professional.
• 5 minutes: Review the weekly metrics.  Each member reports on their activities as it relates to the defined metrics.  Note, these are a reporting of activity figures, not activity stories.  No one has time for sale stories.  Most are BS anyway.
• 10 minutes: Celebrate big wins.  There is always one deal to discuss and celebrate.  We spend time on successes and hear how they were won.
• 10 minutes: Go around the room and identify any issues that need attention.  I make note of them and begin to follow-up on them immediately following the meeting.  We do not discuss them.  We only tag them.
• 10 minutes: Learning module.  I take a sales topic and have quick learning module.  They may involve someone doing a quick sales presentation, answering a sales related question, or role playing.  I keep it short.  It keeps people sharp.  And always provides ongoing learning and education.
• 5 minutes: Everyone goes around the room and declares what they are going to accomplish the next week.  I make note of these and follow-up later to see how I can help.
• Adjourn: Total time = 50 minutes.

Sales meetings are to be simple check-ins to know what happened, what needs attention, and what will happen.  Anything else is a waste of everyone’s time.