How to Plan Your Sales Meeting Schedule for Next Year
Running a meeting that doesn't suck is one thing, doing it over the course of the year is another
First off: Here’s an example of an annual Meeting Calendar for my team meetings: Annual Sales Meeting Calendar
I’ve written several posts on how to prepare, facilitate, and run meetings that don’t suck — primarily sales meetings.
Running Meetings that Don’t Suck - Overview
Most of the posts are designed to prepare for a single meeting, but what about looking at your meeting schedule over the course of the year? How do they fit in with the cadence of your business (budget cycle, holiday parties, quarterly earning calls, summer vacations, etc.)?
Meetings That Suck vs. Those That Don’t
First off, let me start off by saying that I hate meetings. They seem like a waste of time, and I’d rather be out making stuff happen in the world instead of sitting on a call or in a room with a bunch of people talking about it.
That said, I’ve learned over time that I don’t hate all meetings. I just hate meetings that suck.
Meetings that suck are ones in which I don’t know why I’m there and I leave feeling as if it was a waste of time.
Meetings that don’t suck are ones that feel like they’re part of something bigger, where I learn something, and/or I’m able to connect with someone I don’t normally get to connect with.
Two Types of Meetings: The Meeting Matrix
As a leader, you’ll typically be in charge of running two types of meetings and, depending on your company, will be invited to attend a whole lot more.
In my role, I’m responsible for running or facilitating team meetings and one-on-ones. Here’s how I approach each one and the questions I ask (and then answer) going into it…
For the timing of team meetings, there are lots of options:
Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly
What’s the best timing? How long should the meetings be? These will be dependent on your team and company culture.
When I first started with my current sales team we were meeting weekly on Monday’s for 2 hours. I found that this was too long and the meeting content got stale fairly quickly (imagine 52 sales meetings over the course of a year - 104 hours - how much prospecting could we get done if we cut that in half!?).
We eventually moved it (with buy-in from the CEO) to monthly so we could plan and execute great meetings that the reps found valuable.
For one-on-ones, you have a different set of options:
Treat everyone the same (monthly or weekly check in, same agenda, same time allotted for the meeting)
or
Cater your meeting time and cadence to the needs and level of your rep.
I opt for the latter.
New reps I typically have a weekly meeting - we are typically getting into the weeds of daily schedules, coaching, call scenarios, etc…
Seasoned reps, I move to monthly - my primary job is to support them in their work.
I also do biweekly with some, every three weeks with others. It’s about what the rep needs, not what’s convenient for you as a sales leader.
Balancing both Team Meetings and One-on-Ones takes work but is worth it.
In summary, determine what cadence you feel is right for your team and company culture then be intentional about scheduling and planning them far in advance. This results in your ability as a leader to focus on planning and executing GREAT meetings (both team and one-on-ones) instead of meetings that suck.
Ping me if you’d like my one-on-one meeting outline.