For most in sales, the end of the calendar year marks the ends of a sales year and the launch of a new sales cycle. Regardless of whether your fiscal year end coincides with the calendar year, that new sales cycle brings new planning, targets and goals. The first sales kickoff meeting sets the stage and is therefore the most important sale meeting of the year. The main objectives of this meeting should be preparing and renewing the motivation of your sales team.
In planning for this meeting, you want to give careful attention to the agenda. Some key topics to consider and a possible agenda might include:
Company “State of the Union” – CEO/President review of the financial and operational milestones achieved during the past year, company outlook, and important developments within the industry.
Sales Review & Success Stories – Sales Manager reviews the prior year’s sales results and discusses the successes, challenges, along with the goals for the upcoming year. Make sure to include an opportunity for salespeople to share experiences about individual wins and why.
Product Review – Updates on new products, enhancements to product line, technical differences between competitive products.
Competitive Review –Analysis and comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of major competitive product offerings.
Sales Cycle Management – The best sales meetings provide the salespeople with models of how customers make their buying decisions and the best way by which to manage the sales process.
New Account Penetration Strategy – This session shows advanced techniques to reach new accounts through the use of digital/web, email, direct mail, cold calls, networking and referrals.
Sales Skills Development – Educate about the latest advancements for continued personal growth such as: advanced sales psychology, trends and tools. You may also want to focus on key components of the sales process like: customer presentation, elevator pitch, business development, CRM training.
For 2016, things are beginning to come full circle. Those who’ve been in the sales business for a few years will recognize a lot of today’s new trends as being a return of old trends. In the 1990s, terms like “consultant” and “process” were the latest jargon. Now, they’re making a comeback, along with a lot of other “old is now new” ideas.
First, let’s look at the terminology that’s returning again. The “consult” terms (consulting, consultation, consultant) are being re-adopted. Titles are being changed to “sales consultant” and “consulting and sales” as part of a renewed approach to customer-oriented sales. Similarly, the term “process” is coming back in vogue. This time around, however, it’s conveying the idea of using simple, straight-forward, basic sales techniques combined with a new thought: asking questions. Instead of providing all of the answers to clients in order to facilitate a sale, we’re now asking them questions to find out what they need so we can provide it.
Regardless of how formal your company processes are, your first sales meeting in 2016 is critical in setting the stage for sales success and achieving year end targets.