Inside Sales Tip: Implement a Daily Sales Meeting to Increase Sales
(Louie Bernstein is Chief Sales Officer (CSO) for Izenda, an XANT client, a serial entrepreneur, and a consummate, award winning salesman.)
Every day at noon I meet with my sales people for 33 minutes. During that time, we either pick one or two sales training lessons, work on deals we are trying to close, tackle communication issues that need addressing or recognize success. Over the past two fiscal years, our sales have grown an average of 67 percent. Just as important, we have developed a sales process and sales playbook that should provide the foundation for future growth. I do not think any of it could be possible if we only met quarterly, monthly or even weekly.
Habits are formed by what you do consistently or on an everyday basis. If you are in sales, good habits can make you a nice living. When I insist on daily sales training with a new sales group, I usually get resistance for about a week. Then they see I am not going to stop and that it’s not a one-time event. After that, the magic starts to happen.
The sales people start seeing how these sessions are something that can help turn them into professional sales people. And, probably more relevant to them, they see this as something that can help them make more money. Let’s not forget or underestimate this. Money, along with a healthy dose of recognition, sense of accomplishment, and a feeling of belonging, is what motivates, attracts and keeps good sales people in the corporate world.
At the heart of it, I think most people would love to be a master of their craft, whatever it is. But it requires discipline, effort, patience and humility to achieve mastery. While some sales people have the talent, they may lack some aspect of the above requirements to be on top. So, it is up to the sales leader, whether it’s the sales manager, VP of Sales or CSO like me, to help your sales people achieve their full potential.
As your sales start to grow from a daily dose of, “thinking like a sales person,” success builds upon success. Your sales people will start to look forward to the meetings. There are so many things to learn to achieve real success in sales, and the principles are so universal, that I believe daily sales training can work in any size organization. To accomplish this, there are some things you need to have in place to help insure your success:
Management backing. Upper management needs to be all in. I’m lucky to work for a company whose CEO sees the value and the results this daily ritual brings.
A plan. I wrote a sales training course specifically designed for these 33 minutes. It has 262 sales training lessons, one for every business day. But we also brainstorm deals, debrief successes and failures and generally bond as a team. Whatever you decide to include in your meetings is up to you. However, it needs to be ready to go. If your sales people think you are winging it, something a sales rep shouldn’t do with a prospect, your meetings won’t maximize results.
Everyone participates. Make sure egos are put in check – by you. You can manage the meeting with humility and leadership without being controlling. If you take these ideas and execute them on a daily basis, I can predict, with near certainty, your sales will grow. There are revenue hills and valleys, personnel issues and you also need a good product or service to sell. But with attention and commitment to these concepts, the daily sales meeting/training absolutely works. The key is consistency: repeatedly learning, reviewing and practicing. When you focus on the art and science of selling, even if for only 33 minutes each day, you begin to think like a sales person. And once you do, the rest falls in line.
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