Do you ever go to meetings and look around, then wonder what you are there for?
I once worked with a client who employed a telesales company to generate appointments for the sales team. The only problem was (against my advice, I might add) they were working in isolation. The client company had no marketing strategy. They had no means of making sure that the prospects were at the right position in the sales pipeline to qualify for a face to face meeting. What sort of response do you think the sale team got from a large number of prospects?
They wasted so much time with meetings ‘blowing out’.
On a number of occasions when I’ve sat in on monthly sales meetings with clients, I’ve noticed that the main focus of the meeting was an analysis (often in great detail) of the business they didn’t get and why. This often leads to some finger pointing and “you said you would” types of conversation. I remember once asking the sales manager what was the prime purpose of such meetings? “To motivate the team”, he said. “So why have they all left in a worse frame of mind than the one they came in with?”, I replied.
Instead of going around the table analysing failings, we went around asking the team to summarise what they had done to create the sales successes they had each been responsible for the previous month. Noticeably, as they took turns to contribute it built up a positive momentum. Such comments as “I’ll try that next month”, were quite common along with “that’s a really good idea – well done”.
Have you ever tried to make an appointment with someone only to be told, “Sorry, I’m in wall to wall meetings all day”? Maybe they might find more time for you if they started to apply the Pareto Principle to their meetings? Identify the 20% of those meetings that contribute to 80% of their targets. Ask themselves whether they really need to be there.
By recognising the best use of your energy, you don’t need to try so hard or work so long. Identify what you are already doing that works really well. Delegate or just stop doing those things outside that 20% where you are most productive. What is likely to happen is that you will become even more productive.
