Measuring the Results of Sales Meetings
May 1, 2004

Sales meetings can be the most wonderful method for a distributor and supplier partner to communicate and act upon critical information. The problem is, most sales meetings are really lousy.

Why is this? There are an infinite number of reasons. Major reasons for poor sales meetings that I have observed include:

A supplier is brought in to "fill time" and "entertain" the distributor sales organization

A supplier's presentation has no relevance to the distributor organization's strategic direction

The supplier's major points are muddled, not prioritized, and poorly related to the priorities of the distributor customer

The supplier has no idea how many people are attending the presentation, nor what areas of the company they represent

The distributor's attitude toward the supplier is not respectful, and key elements of good communication including keeping eye contact, listening, taking notes, asking questions, among other things, don't occur

So what? Distributors and suppliers are measured by how much they sell, not how polished their sales meetings are, right?

If you feel this way, then you may be missing a wonderful strategy that high performance distributor and supplier organizations currently utilize

If you feel this way, you probably don't quantify how much of an investment it is to run sales meetings!

If you feel this way, change your paradigm. Sales meetings are wonderful ways to gain market share for distribution channel partners

How do I make sales meetings more successful, assuming that I care? Here are some ideas:

First, let your staff know that sales meetings are expensive. If you are a manager, calculate the total hours you are taking your people "off the street". Multiply this by the rate per hour that your staff is paid, including the opportunity cost being paid to have them in the office, instead of in front of customers. Also, salespeople, even if they are on commission, should calculate their cost per hour. If this translates into substantial dollars, (which it should), you may expect them to demand that sales meetings are productive!

Plan ahead. I have used "sales meeting templates" when I was VP Sales and Marketing for my former company. We used these to enable our supplier partner to plan ahead, including strategic questions like meeting purpose, meeting objectives and measurement of success. We included basic questions, such as equipment required, samples required, timing of the presentation, etc.

Here are some ideas (cont'd):

Make sure that your team is "involved" in the meeting. If you are a distributor, make sure that you build into the sales meetings ways for the sales team to translate the knowledge they are gaining into immediate customer action. For example, have each rep write down at least three customers or prospects that they can take the supplier or his products to after the sales meeting

Get feedback. Use feedback forms for your people to evaluate your distribution partner. Provide this feedback, constructively, to enable your distribution partner to improve performance and sales meeting results, going forward. (Also, although suppliers may be reluctant to provide candid feedback about their distributor, their feedback is critical as well)