The Ultimate Virtual National Sales Meeting Checklist
The article provides a detailed checklist for planning an effective virtual national sales meeting, emphasizing the importance of adapting traditional in-person elements—such as training, networking, and motivation—to a remote format through strategies like leadership welcome videos, pre-event learning sessions, and preview videos to engage geographically dispersed sales teams and ensure alignment on goals and tactics in a predominantly virtual sales environment.
A national sales meeting is critical, especially now that 90% of sales are virtual. It's more important than ever to ensure your sellers have mastered the techniques of selling when they can't meet in person. These kickoffs are an important way for teams to share goals for the upcoming year, align on key initiatives, and learn new strategies and tactics for succeeding in a virtual world.
But planning a virtual sales meeting when you've relied on in-person sessions may feel like an impossible task. You can't bring everyone together for several days of training, breakout sessions, and banquets. This year, you have to rethink every aspect of your meeting—from subject matter expert presentations to handouts to role playing—not to mention how to foster the networking and collaboration that goes on when you're face to face. And what about fun? A big part of a successful sales meeting is ramping up the energy and giving reps a boost to hit the ground running for the next sales cycle.
Your Virtual Sales Meeting Checklist
Don't let travel restrictions, time zone conflicts, and geographically dispersed teams disrupt your national sales meeting. Even when your sales force is working remotely and can't be together, there are still ways you can meet your goals, maximize the value of your kickoff, build connections, and recognize your top performers.
Use this sales meeting checklist to plan and deliver a comprehensive and engaging sales meeting that will set your sales force up for success.
- Build Excitement for the Event: Share logistics of the meeting. Have sales leadership create a welcome video sharing goals and vision for the meeting. Offer a series of self-directed learnings, pre-recorded sessions, or virtual brainstorming sessions before the event.
- Share Preview Videos: Video is a great way to connect sales people with leaders and SMEs who will be speaking at the meeting. Speakers can also share their presentations in advance of the meeting so attendees come prepared to ask questions.
- Prep Attendees: Are you launching a new product? Teaching a new sales technique? Prep attendees with content and quizzes so that they come prepared with a baseline of knowledge.
- Introduce External Speakers: Introduce your external speakers and share topics and expertise. Even better, preload content from the external speaker or trainer into a channel or course.
- Establish a Baseline: Find out where your team needs help. Run a flash drill to determine strengths, weaknesses, and specific areas of focus at the meeting.
- Run a Contest: Use the meeting as a catalyst to build some friendly competition and solicit new content. Challenge your reps to submit the best idea from the field, best pitch, best objection handling talk track, or any topic that supports your focus. Prior to the event, select three finalists and allow attendees to vote for the winner live.
- Capture Sessions: Record each live meeting session for future use. Share the entire meeting and each speaker’s session with your team. Break longer videos into shorter, topic-specific segments for reinforcement and new hire onboarding.
- Coach Your Coaches: Include a session on the practice of coaching for managers. Take advantage of this dedicated time to share your coaching methodology, manager success stories, and practice using feedback.
- Conduct Knowledge Check-Ins: Launch a video quiz after each session to measure and validate understanding. Use practice exercises, quizzes, or flash drills to keep key information and new learnings top of mind.
- Support Private Practice: If your reps will undergo a live certification at the meeting, build in time for private practice before going live.
- Keep the Knowledge Alive: Create a dedicated content channel for sharing session recordings, handouts, and all meeting-related assets before, during, and after the event.
- Solicit Feedback for Next Year: Ask participants to share their suggestions and top three takeaways from the meeting.
- Say Thank You: Have sales leadership send a short thank you video to attendees reinforcing key take-aways, outlining any next steps, and reinforcing the company vision.
Leverage the Right Technology to Deliver the Right Content
We're facing Zoom fatigue, time zone conflicts, and work-from-home pressures. You know you can't rely solely on live video conferencing to overcome these challenges. Simply hosting several long, grueling days of live video calls is not the way to run a virtual sales meeting.
Fortunately, you've got a lot of other tools in your toolbox. Don't be afraid to use them. Tap into mobile, interactive learning platforms, peer-to-peer networking, and asynchronous video technology to deliver the information your sellers need in the most engaging way possible—and set them up for success all year long.
To learn how to have an outstanding virtual meeting, download your copy of 'Re-Thinking the National Sales Meeting: How to Run a Virtual Sales Kickoff During a Pandemic.'