Video Mystery Shopping Tips: How to run a GREAT (and fun) sales meetings – Put the MOJO back in the Meeting!

When was the last time you sat through a meeting and walked out feeling revived, energized, motivated and ready to take on the world?? Was it sometime back in the late 1990’s? Let’s face it, meetings can be dull and time-consuming, and can actually drain our energy if not conducted properly. If you are a sales manager in the new home building industry, you know all too well how much of your day meetings can consume. Think about it, there are new community meetings, backlog meetings, model merchandising meetings, managers meetings, and of course, the weekly sales meetings. WHEW, that’s a boat load of meetings!

However, of all those important meetings that you attend, I would venture to say that the MOST IMPORTANT meeting you are involved in as a sales manager is YOUR sales meeting! This is the one time each week that you have the attention of your entire sales team together in the same place. So, let me ask you a very blunt question: Are you using this opportunity to revive, energize and motivate your team or are your sales meetings just plain boring?

I have attended hundreds of sales meetings over the years, and I can honestly tell you that most of them fall into the ‘just plain boring’ category. They typically follow this standard format:

8:30 am New Home Sales Counselors arrive and are frantically delivering contracts to accounting, running to the design center to discuss a problem buyer, making copies of flyers, etc. By the time they get into the meeting at 9, they are typically frazzled! (and a little wired on caffeine!)

9:00 am Bagels, cream cheese, coffee and chit-chat! Most meetings do not start on time, as sales managers are scrambling at last-minute to get final sales numbers for the week.

9:15 am Meeting starts! The Sales Manager goes over housekeeping items, processes, policies, procedures and sales numbers. WooHoo!

10:00 am Sales teams’ eyes start to glaze over from boredom and heads start nodding off! (I have actually heard someone SNORE in a sales meeting!)

Sadly, I am not making this up. Our sales meetings have turned into a boring information overload, and most sales counselors leave the meetings feeling overwhelmed, rushed, and not the least bit ready to take on the world (much less sell a new home!).

So, what can you do to overcome the doldrums of a typical sales meeting?

Here are five fresh ideas for you to put the “MOJO” back in the “Meeting”

Change up the location! Remember how much you use to love going on field trips as a child? Well, sales counselors love going on field trips too! Plan a sales meeting at a one of your communities, or a restaurant with a private room, or even ask one of your vendors if you can use their space.
Engage and Interact. Don’t just ‘talk at’ your sales team, get them involved in the meeting. Create a list of questions, and call on your sales team throughout the meeting and have them answer the question. Or, break them into teams and have them role play a sticky situation for the group.
Invite GUESTS to attend – Enlist the support of your peers (Design Center, Purchasing, Construction) or have an outside speaker (Sales Trainer/Coach, Model Merchandiser, Realtor) to attend your meeting and speak briefly about trends or tips they are seeing in their particular field.
Keep is SHORT – In my opinion, sales meetings should NEVER last more than 1 hour. Always have a written agenda for each meeting and do NOT go over your time limit.
Make it UPBEAT and FUN!!! Have ‘party’ music playing, hold contests, play games, do something to break up the monotony of the meeting!

Remember, the sales meeting is what sets the tone for the sales week…..the more upbeat, positive and fun you make it – the more inspired your team will to get sales!