Our proven sales meeting checklist is a great way to improve sales excellence and results.
There are many reasons why we’re seeing our sales professionals in the industry not embrace excellence in their sales meeting preparation, execution, and follow-up.
I realize many new salespeople haven’t been coached on what makes a great meeting and how to structure a sales meeting.
We haven’t done a great job mapping out expectations to our new salespeople about what good looks like. We haven’t provided a proven sales meeting checklist to our sales teams.
Read on to learn more about planning a sales meeting and putting together a rock solid, productive sales meeting agenda where everyone leaves with clarity and purpose.
Sales Meeting Preparation Checklist
Here’s our proven sales meeting checklist of pre-meeting, during meeting, and post-meeting best practices and tips to follow and live by everyday.
1: Have clear meeting goals and expected outcomes documented and stated in email, pre-meeting and post-meeting.
2: Put agendas that are agreed to by your customers in meeting calendar invites.
3: Meeting agenda should start with introductions and customer’s priorities/challenges review. Meeting agendas should close with discussion and time for questions.
4: Research the company and recent announcements and know how their business is doing. Understand the context of their industry too.
5: Research the people attending your meeting and identify shared interests and shared executive connections.
6: Connect with meeting attendees on LinkedIn before meeting. Some people believe this should be done after a meeting. My point of view is it’s an important touch point and we are looking for when they accept your connect request. Don’t forget to personalize the message.
7: Send meeting confirmation before meeting reconfirming agenda and meeting attendee participation. It’s good to do this the day before the meeting is scheduled to happen.
8: Prepare a list of discovery and qualification questions to ask the prospect. The questions should preferably be open-ended. Share the questions with your internal team to get alignment.
9: It’s a requirement and best practice to brief executives attending the meeting with you before the meeting. Share with your executives the context, current situation, and everything you learned during company, industry, and executive research. Your executives are busy. Help them help you. Be clear on what their role in the meeting.
10: Introduce meeting attendees at meeting outset and let every person have a voice. Go around and have people share their role and what they hope to get out of the meeting.
11: Take thorough notes capturing your customer’s words.
12: Listen more and talk less.
13: Watch the clock to keep meeting times start and end as promised. Leave time for questions and discussion at the end.
14: Recap meeting outcomes and next steps before ending call.
15: Send meeting follow up notes with clear action items the same day of the meeting using your customer’s words.
If you’re a new salesperson, print these out and check them off for every sales call until they are part of your DNA.
If you’re a millennial, this list is non-negotiable.
If you’re a seasoned salesperson, I hope you find these “back to basics” reminders useful. If you’re a sales manager, share them with your team and coach your team to achieve excellence.
If you’re a sales enablement professional, integrate these best practices with your sales process and sales onboarding.
If you’re a customer, hold your sellers to the highest standard of excellence.
Use this proven sales team meeting agenda and sales meeting tips to be the best you can be by always showing up prepared, curious, and aspiring to add value in every meeting and conversation, and know how to lead a sales meeting.
Hopefully we shed some light on on and make yourself the team leader
Here is another blog on sales call planning.
