Your best salespeople would rather be selling than sitting in a conference room. So how do you engage them in a big sales meeting and make sure they’re getting the most from it? The answer lies in tailoring the message to their learning style.
Salespeople tend to prefer fast-paced learning that comes with obvious benefits, because they’re in deadline and revenue-focused roles. Millennials in particular are flocking to sales jobs, perhaps because the open and confident style of their generation is a great fit for sales - and millennials are used to quick communication. Unfortunately, a lot of long training sessions seem pretty boring to your high-energy salespeople.
Let’s take a look at what your team wants from your next big meeting, and ensure you’re providing it.
Real Selling Tools
When planning a large sales meeting, it can be tempting to rely on a motivational speaker or famous keynote speaker to be the cornerstone of your presentation. While motivation speakers can set the mood, most salespeople are hoping to get real selling tools from a big meeting or conference.
They want to hear about cutting-edge interactive tools, efficiency apps and widgets, and ways your company plans to enhance communication for the sales team. So make sure you set the stage for the meeting by explaining that by the end of the day, they will come away with a whole list of selling tools to make their job easier.
New Strategies
Any group of experienced salespeople has heard the same strategies over and over again from
their managers: always be closing, increase call volume, get more facetime with clients. These traditional techniques have become outdated. Your salespeople are now facing a world with caller ID, bursting inboxes, thousands of media channels, and clients who are buried in the chaos of communication.
At your next sales session, your team is hoping for new strategies to help cut through the clutter. They want you to teach them how to make meaningful, valuable connections with clients. Now’s the time to develop innovative sales strategies and share them in engaging ways. Consider working with a professional audience engagement company, which provides technology-infused meeting setups, real-time group feedback, and ongoing support that ensures your sales strategies are top-of-mind for the whole team.
Market Data and Trends
A sales call suffers when the client asks for data you don’t have. This is why any good salesperson is always armed with market data, industry trends, and proof-of-performance numbers on their products. Are you providing this?
You might not be able to take a deep dive into sales data at your next big meeting, but don’t forget to at least mention it - and show them where to find more information later. Share a few facts that will make them curious about the rest of the research.
Tell your audience you already know what they did with 22 percent of their internet time today. They were on Facebook, because the average American spends 22 percent of their internet time on Facebook - more than any other site, and more than Google and YouTube combined. A quick summary of interesting facts gives your team talking points to open conversations with clients.
Learning Experiences
Salespeople are bored by one-sided training meetings where a presenter drones on. Instead, bring your team an interactive learning experience that uses technology, games, graphics, and innovative teaching solutions.
For example, your team might come together to participate in a game that requires audience participation to reveal crucial information. Suddenly, everyone is actively paying attention - and learning in a memorable format that will benefit them for months and years to come.
Fast and Upbeat Pace
As millennials join your sales force, you may find that they prefer a faster-paced, more interactive sales training experience. They tend to be classroom-averse and disengaged with sales meetings presented in a dry, straightforward format. So remember to keep the whole day moving along smoothly, and make sure the tone stays upbeat. This helps your sales team come away from the experience feeling fully recharged and ready to sell.
Curious about cutting-edge options for sales meetings? Reach out to Option Technologies for new adult learning and training solutions.
