Weekly Sales Meetings Are Harmful

By Brian Karas, Published May 24, 2016, 11:50am EDT

Sales managers under pressure often resort to weekly team meetings as a way to try and drive revenue and keep the sales team on track. This approach rarely drives positive effect, and in security is often an indicator of a sales manager who doesn't have a firm understanding of their team and channel.

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Comments (7)

Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

05/24/16 05:46pm

Brian's article about weekly (sales) meetings leaves out one aspect of today's selling experience...the rapid rate of change of products and technologies. The products we represent are in a constant state of change, and our weekly meetings, sometimes held face to face, sometimes via Go To Meeting, are mandated not by the need to pressure a self-motivated sales force...rather to keep everyone up to date on policy and product changes. We tried simply blasting out updates to our salespeople, but found inconsistent use of the material, and went back to weekly updates, with Q & A sessions

Brian is correct, though, in that a good CRM system is mandatory, and useful as long as it does not require a burdensome extension of the work day. Many salespeople are tired at the end of the day, and should not be asked to pull time away from family responsibilities on weekends. We use a system that allows salespeople to call in and dictate their sales reports on the fly, between calls. The information received is fresh, typically not embellished with "feel-good" phrases, and puts into our CRM system updates on a daily basis.

This also helps to reduce the need for routine sales meetings.

Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #1 | 05/24/16 06:04pm

Overall, I haven't found that things have been changing so rapidly that weekly meetings are needed to stay current, but in your case as a rep firm I could see where there could be enough new things across a handful of lines that it would make sense.

If there is good, useful information coming out weekly, then by all means weekly meetings make sense.

For what you describe, I've also found that email updates aren't as effective as some kind of "live" meeting to communicate things and handle any Q&A. People won't read through the details and will miss important notes.

Undisclosed Distributor #2

05/24/16 05:46pm

we use Salesforce, its expensive but if fully utilized it can be a great informant tool without the need for weekly meetings. You really have to get it automated to make it work how you want it, but any manager can easily stay informed with a well implemented CRM system. You can track phone calls, emails and everything with it.

John Bazyk

Command Corporation
IPVMU Certified | 05/24/16 06:16pm

Brian, you should read ReWork. Everyone should read it. Great book.

Undisclosed Manufacturer #3

05/24/16 11:18pm

I only felt they were harmful to the attendees. It never fails almost no reporting or meetings are required when sales are exceeding plan.

When they aren't it's always a good idea to strap your sales team with reporting and project tracking.

Okay, I'm kidding.

John Williams

05/25/16 12:06am

I've worked with a few CRMs and Salesforce is the winner for a reason. It helps you sell.

Jeremiah Boughton

05/26/16 04:05pm

Why pay for Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, or other expensive CRM's when you can get a full Enterprise CRM for free from Open Source? SugarCRM is Open Source. The open source product is called SuiteCRM. It is actually more functional than the paid version of SugarCRM. The expensive part of CRM's is the monthly cost and user cost associated with it.

SuiteCRM link

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