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15 Black-Belt Meeting Moves for Career Acceleration
April 18, 2008
By John K. Mackenzie
Here's a little secret: Sales meetings can be more important for those who give them than they are for those who attend.
When the spotlight's on you, it's your time to shine—or fall—as a manager. Here are 15 black-belt meeting moves you can use to translate that potential company-wide publicity into practice.
1. Organize a program advisory committee. Let everyone know who's on it. If things go well, take credit as chairman. If the meeting bombs, take the forefront and spread the blast around.
2. Find out what your sales force needs. A famous career termination line: "I already know what my sales reps want." Use focus groups to get at hidden agendas and tap a sampling of territory reps for suggestions. Accept anonymous submissions. Encourage notes via e-mail, intranet or Web site forms.
Review last year's scripts and speeches. You may find they bear little resemblance to your perceptions.
3. Circulate a statement of meeting goals and objectives. This will reinforce your position and flag you as someone to watch. People typically hate taking the time to define goals and objectives. So they'll be glad you're taking the limelight.
4. Be careful about advance publicity. Don't start taking credit for a great meeting until you've had one. The best laid plans are of mice and managers…A glowing preview or prediction in your company newsletter will surely backfire if your meeting does.
5. Always ask your boss to make a speech. And, for God's sake, get a microphone and sound system that work! Make sure to schedule the speech as the first thing in the meeting, or the last. First is good as a means to get everyone pumped. Last is okay, too as there will most likely be enthusiastic applause to celebrate the end of the event.
6. Identify an alternate event producer. If you're using an outside meeting producer, or audio-visual firm, be sure you've identified at least one more who can handle your job in an emergency. If your first choice doesn't work or cancels, you'll have a standby. This could save your meeting and your reputation.
7. Position yourself carefully. Give serious thought to when and how often you appear on stage. Pick and plan your shots and never come on cold. An audio-visual intro can work nicely here. If budget's a problem, at least put up a slide with your name and title.
Don't hog the host slot unless you can pull it off. Over exposure diminishes your impact. Managing two or three days of good introductory and transition material, plus your own presentation(s), is tough.
8. Announce sales awards soon after the meeting starts. Postponing recognition deprives recipients of additional time to enjoy congratulations. Give the award ceremony a name: President's Club, Winner's Circle, Top Performers, Quota Busters, etc.—so it will gain in significance. Hand out awards yourself. Don't miss the chance to be identified with this delivery of psychic largess. Furnish winners with some visible indication they won something so they can be spotted easily—such as a medallion, blazer, badge, sash or carnation.
9. Feature somebody no one ever heard of. Pick out a bright junior staff person and give them a five-minute shot at the lectern. A magnanimous move like this is what legends (yours) are made of. Not to mention what it does for morale back at the home office.
10. Don't get buried by graphics. Audio-visual types love assault-rifle graphic changes and special effects that convert your speech into a supporting sound track—and quickly rack up your budget. Begin your presentation without any graphics at all. Make the audience concentrate on you for a few minutes. And don't force visual support. Many presentations have areas that don't justify it. There's nothing wrong with the audience looking at you once in a while.
11. Don't get beaten by your own schtick. Be careful about wearing funny hats and/or appearing in self-deprecating skits. You may have corporate correction responsibilities that aren't any easier to enforce by playing Bozo the clown. Every sales force has its cadre of authority busters gunning for a chance to convert respect to ridicule.
12. Never confuse content with impact. Meeting content often dissipates during the day and evaporates on the way back to the airport. But residual impact problems can hang around and haunt you for months. People never forget lost luggage, misspelled name badges, projectors that don't work, squealing sound systems and abbreviated coffee-breaks.
13. Document and distribute. Videotape your speech and have photos taken of yourself handing out awards. Get pictures into your company newsletter. Try for video clips in the employee newscast. If you've got the clout, videotape the whole meeting, then edit and try for a senior management screening of selected excerpts. Don't overlook the value of some sales force video-verite‚ "Great! Best sales meeting we've ever had!"
14. Conduct a follow-up evaluation. Send out e-mail questionnaires and invite letters, and make sure to encourage phone calls and have field managers solicit comments. Feedback will flatter the people you ask, defuse gripes and improve your next meeting. Circulate a response summary that makes you look good. Include a few complaints for credibility. Put your own spin on a meeting review for the company newsletter or Web site.
15. Don't just facilitate…Manage. To get a sales meeting working for you, you have to work for it. Don't just delegate, coordinate, observe or advise. You'll lose control while someone else gains it. A final note: Banish guilt and celebrate a little self-interest. The additional time you spend doing so will improve the meeting for everyone!
John K. Mackenzie is a self-employed business communications writer living in NYC. Mackenzie's "15 Black-Belt Sales Meeting Moves" is part of his series, entitles "A Meeting Masters Memo." He can be contacted by visiting his Web site www.thewritingworks.com.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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