As the calendar turns to August and the dog days of summer are upon us, the last thing many Sales leaders are thinking about is that big Q1 2025 Sales Meeting. But you know it will be here sooner than you think and the last thing you want to do is scramble to throw something together at the last minute that doesn’t excite, motivate, or train your team to sell more.
The reason I am writing this blog is that we have several innovative and thoughtful clients who are already planning their January and February 2025 national sales meetings and have asked us to develop business simulation workshops to be integrated into their agendas.
I recently had a meeting with the Chief Revenue Officer of a large medical device company to design our workshops, and she started by sharing with me some of the things she wants to avoid during this year’s meeting. It was an interesting way to start, and I appreciated her focus on the things that she had learned the hard way. I reviewed my notes and found them generic enough to share in an interesting blog.
6 Things to Avoid When Designing a Large National Sales Meeting
- Unrelated Content: When the content doesn't pertain to helping provide the skills and tools to sell more and hit their targets, it can cause the audience to tune out. One of the sales leaders I spoke with shared a story where last year they hired a “Futurist Magician” for a keynote speech, and it was an absolute disaster because it was completely irrelevant and the ticks were stupid.
- Lack of Engagement: Large meetings can be less interactive, making it hard for attendees to stay engaged. Without opportunities for questions, discussions, or interactive activities, attendees may feel like passive observers rather than active participants. When people aren't actively participating, their attention can wander and can you be certain that the scrolling of social media will commence the moment participants sense that lack of engagement.
- Unclear Purpose: One of the worst things you can do is conduct a big meeting in a beautiful facility that lacks a clear agenda or purpose. Participants will not see the value in participating, leading to disengagement and a lot of grumbling about the expense of being there while they are missing their homes and family.
- Lack of Breaks and Times to Check on the Business: Most sales professionals are trained to "always be closing." There is nothing worse than extended meetings without breaks to check on the business. A lack of breaks can also lead to fatigue and decreased attention spans.
- Repeatedly Saying the Same Think Over and Over: Sales professionals thirst for new and exciting information and ideas. If the content presented is repetitive or irrelevant, they are going to lose interest quickly and start to wonder why they are there in the first place.
- Bad Presentations: Sales professionals are paid to be great communicators and presenters. Sitting and watching ineffective presentation styles, such as monotonous speaking, excessive use of jargon, or overly detailed slides, will see your audience tune out immediately.
In summary, planning and executing a big Sales meeting is very difficult. Expectations are high and it is important to think about the needs of the audience. I was very happy to hear this list from our client because the ultimate solution, the chance to “walk a mile in the shoes of their customer” through a digital business simulation does the opposite of everything on this list as it will be super engaging and clear on the purpose of helping salespeople understand their customer’s business so they can engage in a different sort of business conversation.