by Jacques Werth and Carl Ingalls
Have you ever noticed that the very top salespeople in the sales force rarely attend the sales meetings that are mandatory for everyone else? Have you ever wondered why?
The usual explanation is that their high sales performance causes them to be excused from having to attend the sales meetings. But what if it’s the other way around?
What if their great success in selling is because they don’t attend the sales meetings?
Author
I’d say it depends on what is covered at the sales meetings. If it’s the traditional sales hype aimed at better techniques for persuading or manipulating people to buy, you are probably better off not hearing it; however, if it’s Jacques Werth speaking about high probability selling, you should attend.
I have to agree with Steve. Too many sales meetings focus on introducing new products along with a lot of marketing hype about why the new products are the best thing since sliced bread.
Other meetings simply rehash sales results and review numbers that anyone could get on the company’s intranet.
If corporate exec’s changed the content and format of their meetings, they would likely get better attendance from top performers.
Probably because they are out doing what they do best, while others are in the meetings suffering ‘Meetings Fatigue’?
Whether top producers find a sales meeting worth attending or not depends upon the content and purpose of the meeting.
If the meeting is about a new product and/or the applications of existing products, the top producers may find it very valuable.
However, meetings about how to sell have very little value to the top producers in the company. Furthermore, their attendance in these meetings implies their endorsement of whatever sales process the company may advocate. That can have a negative impact on the other salespeople’s productivity.