This is for all the full-time sales managers, marketing directors, and administrative assistants out there who are also meeting planners two, three, sometimes four times a year. Sales meetings are often more important for those who give them than they are for those who come to them.

First, let's take a look at what having an aggressive sales meeting management strategy can give you:

* Corporate visibility
* Control over a budget and agenda
* Influence over who says what about what
* A chance to prove you can create and coordinate complex events
* An opportunity to bank IOUs from those who can advance your career
* An opportunity to exclude those who can't advance your career
* Site selection muscle (where would you like to play golf?)

So here are 15 black-belt meeting moves you can use to translate potential into practice. (If you're a "team player," this checklist is not for you!)

Organize a program advisory committee. Let everyone know who's on it. If things go well, take credit as chairman. If the meeting bombs, spread the fallout!

Find out what your sales force needs. Famous career termination line: "I already know what my sales reps want!" That's why it's important to use focus groups to get at hidden agendas. Tap a sampling of territory reps for suggestions. Accept anonymous submissions. Encourage notes via e-mail, intranet, or website. Review last year's mission scripts and speeches; you may find they bear little resemblance to what has actually been happening.

Circulate a statement of meeting goals and objectives. This will reinforce your position and flag you as someone to watch. People hate defining goals and objectives. They'll be so glad you're doing it there's not much chance your choices will be challenged. You can always change your mind later.

Be careful about advance publicity. Don't start taking credit for a great meeting until you've had one. The best laid plans of mice and managers ... A glowing preview in your company newsletter or webcast will surely come back to haunt you if your meeting backfires.

Always ask your boss to make a speech. And, for God's sake, get a microphone and sound system that work! Schedule the speech as the first thing in the meeting, or the last. First is good in case the rest of the meeting is a dog. Last is usually okay, too. Even if you've had a mediocre meeting there will be enthusiastic applause to celebrate the end of an incredibly pedestrian event.

Identify an alternate producer. If you're using an outside meeting planner, be sure to identify one or two others who could handle your job in an emergency. If your first choice doesn't work, or goes out of business, you'll have a standby. This could save your meeting and your reputation.

Position yourself carefully. Give serious thought to when, and how often, you appear onstage. Overexposure diminishes your impact. Pick and plan your shots. Never come on cold. Microphone tapping and "Can everyone hear me, out there?" is not exactly a leadership launch. An audiovisual intro works if it ends with your picture, name, and title. If you are using live talent, have them escort you to the lectern. A senior management videotape intro works. If budget's a problem, at least put up a slide with your name and title. Don't hog the host slot unless you can pull it off. Managing two or three days of good introductory and transition material, plus your own presentation(s), is tough.

Avoid introducing, or following, a weak presentation. Every sales meeting has one or two. You'll know which they are. (Give the job to someone who's after the same promotion you are.) Get yourself mentioned in other presentations. "As (your name) pointed out during last year's meeting" or "Later this morning you'll be hearing more about this from (your name)."

Announce sales awards soon after the meeting starts. Postponing recognition deprives recipients of additional time to enjoy congratulations, while increasing the dread of those who were passed over.

Give the award ceremony a name: President's Club, Winner's Circle, Top Performers, or whatever, so it will gain in sound what it may lack in substance. Hand out the awards yourself. Or, if you have to, at least introduce the person who will. Don't miss the chance to be identified with this delivery of psychic largesse. Furnish winners with some visible indication they won something so they can be spotted easily, e.g. a medallion, blazer, badge, sash, carnation, whatever.

Feature somebody no one ever heard of. Pick out a bright junior staff person and give her a five-minute shot at the lectern. A magnanimous move like this is what legends (yours) are made of. Not to mention what it does for morale back at the home office.

Don't get buried by graphics. Audiovisual types love assault-rifle graphic changes and special effects that convert your speech into a supporting soundtrack. Begin your presentation without any graphics at all. Make the audience concentrate on you for a few minutes.

For extended periods between graphics (more than three minutes) turn the room lights back on. This change of pace and viewpoint keeps people awake. Fight hardware hypnosis. Video walls, laser lights, and hi-res TV projectors are often better for rental house profits than your presentation. Schedule enough time for equipment setups and rehearsals—particularly yours!

Don't get beaten by your own shtick. Be careful about wearing funny hats and/or appearing in self-deprecating skits. You may have corporate correction responsibilities that aren't made any easier to enforce by playing Bozo the Clown.

Never confuse content with impact. Meeting content may evaporate on the way back to the airport, but residual impact problems can hang around and haunt you for months: People never forget (or forgive) lost luggage, misspelled name badges, singing "This Land Is Your Land" at eight in the morning, out-of-tune high school marching bands, projectors that don't work, squealing sound systems, and abbreviated coffee breaks.

Document and distribute. Videotape your speech. Have photos taken of yourself handing out awards. Get pictures into your company newsletter and intranet. Try for video clips in the employee newscast. Put photo blowups on your office wall and department bulletin board.

If you've got the clout, videotape the whole meeting. Then edit and try for a senior management screening of selected excerpts. Don't overlook the value of sales-force video verite: "Great! Best sales meeting we ever had!"

Conduct follow-up evaluations. Send out e-mail questionnaires; invite letters; encourage phone calls; have field managers solicit comments. Feedback will flatter the people you ask, defuse gripes, and improve your next meeting. Circulate a response summary that makes you look good. Include a few complaints for credibility. Put your own spin on a meeting review for the company newsletter or website.

Manage, don't just facilitate. To get a sales meeting working for you, you have to work for it. It's hands-on time! Don't just delegate—coordinate, observe, or advise. You'll lose control while someone else gains it.

A final note: Banish guilt and celebrate self-interest. The additional time you spend making sure you look good will improve the meeting for everyone else.

John K. Mackenzie, a self-employed business communications writer living in NYC, is a 35-year veteran of corporate conference room combat. To contact him, visit www.thewritingworks.com or e-mail him at info@thewritingworks.com.


Originally published February 01, 2008

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