How many times do you think reps have sat in a sales meeting thinking it should have been an email? I’m guessing more than once.

Team meetings are the most common meeting in everyone’s calendar. But, research found that, in many cases, managers overestimate their ability to run effective team meetings. The study showed that:

• 79% of leaders rated the meetings they initiated as extremely or very productive
• Only 56% said the same about meetings initiated by others

In other words, leaders consistently rate their own meetings more favorably when they’re the ones running the show. As a sales leader, it’s critical that you’re using the time allotted for your team meeting effectively. Otherwise, you’re just taking precious selling time away. To get the most productive use of your team meetings, let’s look at what a successful sales meeting agenda looks like.

TL;DR:

• Run sales team meetings on Mondays so your reps start the week aligned on pipeline, blockers, and priorities.
• A standing agenda with 8 fixed items, from icebreaker to pitch round table, keeps meetings focused and nothing falls through.
• Recognized employees are 3x more likely to be highly engaged, per Bonusly’s 2019 report, so start every meeting with wins.
• Document next steps, decisions, and attendees after every meeting so past choices don’t require a follow-up call to re-litigate.
• Spinach AI auto-sends meeting notes and action items to all participants after each session.

How to prepare for a sales team meeting

Without preparation, your team meetings will fall flat. But, with jam-packed schedules, it isn’t easy to find the time to dedicate to prep each week. Instead, get clear on the purpose of the meeting, when you’ll meet and what you’ll discuss. Everything else will flow naturally. Here are some best practices for setting up your weekly sales meetings. 

Think about timing

First off, think about when in the week is the best time for your team member to meet. We recommend you conduct your sales team meetings on Mondays. 

It’s ideal for your sales team meeting to occur at the beginning of the week. That way, the whole team can get on the same page about current sales data, strategies and goals. You can tackle the week ahead with confidence. 

Define the purpose

Why do you meet every week? This is important for you, as a leader, and your whole team to understand. Add the purpose of your team meeting to the top of the weekly agenda to remind you to stay on track each week. 

Here’s an example of a purpose statement:

“The purpose of this meeting is to re-align as a team, uncover roadblocks, share updates (internal and external) and understand priorities for the week ahead.”

Prepare a standing agenda

Part of defining the purpose of the meeting is creating an agenda. There’s a lot to cover in a team meeting: a time when you have all your sales reps, sales managers and entire team in the same “room”. So, having a standing agenda will help stay focused, while also making sure nothing gets neglected.

Keep everything in one place

Finding the best way to stay organized and productive is a constant battle. How do you make sure these recurring discussions aren’t a waste of time? With quarterly sales goals, weekly targets, daily tasks and endless meetings, it can be a daunting task to make sure everyone’s held accountable for what was discussed in team meetings. And, that team meetings are working towards your bigger picture goals.

When everything’s in one, accessible place, it’s easy to keep track of discussions, decisions, and what needs to get done. Whether you’re using Google Docs, a notebook, or Spinach AI’s meeting software, find a tool that connects your meetings with the rest of your workflow.

8 items to add to your sales meeting agenda

Try covering these topics in your next weekly meeting with your sales team:

1. Icebreaker

This might sound like a cheesy idea, but trust us, it works! It doesn’t need to be cliche or time-consuming. Even a quick icebreaker at the top of your meeting can help ease people in and, in the long run, strengthen team relationships.

Every meeting, add a new ice breaker question to your agenda leading up to the meeting. This will give everyone a chance to think over their answer and come ready to open up to the team. At the start of the meeting, spend a couple of minutes going around the room and have each person share their answer.

Some great icebreaker questions you can ask include:

• What did you get up to this weekend?
• What’s something non-goal related you learned last week?
• What’s the best place you’ve traveled to?
• What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this week?

2. Successes and wins

Always start with a positive in meetings. It’s a rule we live by here at Spinach AI, and it truly makes every meeting far more productive.

It will get people talking and actively engage your team over time. In fact, in Bonusly’s 2019 Employee Engagement and Modern Workplace Report: 84% of highly engaged employees were recognized the last time they went above and beyond, compared to only 25% of highly disengaged employees.

Have your sales team share a recent triumph at the top of the discussion. Think along the lines of closing a big deal, big insights, percentage towards target or similar.

3. Pipeline updates

Go around your table and get a pulse check on where each sales team member’s pipe sits and current metrics. This will give you an opportunity to identify individually and collectively as a team where you need to jump in and support. It’ll also give you the information you need to plan out your and your team’s activities for the week.

4. Obstacles and roadblocks

Starting with pipeline updates and metrics is a natural segue into where there might be roadblocks or hurdles.

In this section, you’ll want to answer questions like: Is your team being held up by you or other departments? In the coming weeks, what might get in the way of hitting your targets? 

Think beyond just internal business hurdles. Are people out of the office that week? Travel plans or holidays on the calendar?

5. Prospect/lead feedback

Your sales team is on the front line for receiving feedback on the business. Make hearing this feedback a priority in every sales team meeting agenda. Ask what feedback your team is hearing on the company, their pitches, the business and more. Make sure you document this!

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6. Competitor updates

For sales teams, keeping an eye on the pulse of the competition is a huge opportunity to grow, learn and carve your place in a market. Have your team come to each meeting with something they’ve learned or spotted competitors doing. If you have the time, do a deep look at one of your competitors every team meeting. Take a look at their business strategy, USPs and pricing.

7. Guest speaker

Now that you have the whole team together, it’s a great time to bring in a guest. Your guest speaker can be someone internal who wants time in front of the team. Or, invite an external guest who your team can learn from.

Some examples of a guest speaker from within your organization could include: A marketing leader who wants to talk about how the teams can work together on a new marketing campaign. Or, a product manager who’s looking for feedback. 

Part of your job as a leader is providing your team with opportunities to learn, while also protecting their time for selling activities. Bringing in a guest speaker each week is a great opportunity to expand your team’s knowledge and provide other parts of the organization a chance to speak to the sales team.

8. Pitch round table

Reserve 10 minutes of your meeting for either one person to present their 10-minute sales pitch or for the entire team to each share their 60-second pitch.

Next, go around the room and collect feedback and ideas for attaining new customers. Are there inconsistencies in pitches? Could some of the closing pitch phrases be more actionable? Here’s your opportunity to refine, lead and refine again.

Every sales meeting agenda will be different depending on size, structure and industry, but we’ve found that sales meetings that cover the questions above result in uber-productive meetings. And who doesn’t want that?

Tips for writing sales meeting minutes

Documenting your meeting might feel like a hassle as you’re doing it, but it will save you time and headaches in the future. If you’re not sure what you should be included in your meeting minutes, let’s walk through a few things you absolutely need to write down during and after every meeting:

1. Next steps: Who committed to doing what and by when?
2. A summary of each agenda item: What was discussed, what decisions were made, and why?
3. Meeting participants: Who was present and involved in the discussion?

Once everything has been documented, be sure to make the meeting notes accessible for everyone in the meeting both short term and long term. That way, if anyone ever needs to go back and revisit why certain decisions were made, all they have to do is read through the meeting minutes (instead of setting up a meeting to re-discuss the same problem).

Pro tip: Use Spinach AI to document meeting notes, so all your notes and action items are automatically sent to all participants. 

What to do now

Now that you've read this article, here are some things you should do:

1. You should check out our massive (& free) collection of meeting agenda templates to help you run more effective meetings.
2. Learn more about Spinach and how it can help you run a high performing org.
3. If you found this article helpful, please share it with others on Linkedin or X (Twitter)