Managers, do you have good attendance at your weekly sales meetings? Are you struggling to figure out what to do each week? Do you "wing" it? Here's a format for having a meeting that will have your agents coming back for more each week.
First and foremost is to remember that this is your forum for imparting information, enthusiasm, and team spirit. And in that vane, you must remember that your agents are busy professionals so don't take advantage of their time, but make it meaningful for them, and they will be supportive of you and your meetings.
Time. Schedule your meetings so that they will last no longer than 45 minutes. Let your agents know that this is the plan. I have been to so many office meetings where they drag on and on. It seems that the manager feels that they have to be an hour long or even longer. No true. In fact, when they are so long the agents have tuned the manager out anyway. This is just a waste of time for everyone. START ON TIME. This is respect for your agents who arrived on time. When they know you are starting on time, they will get there.
Recognize. The manager should recognize results for the week. New Listings. Sales. Closings. Referral checks received. Having them written down on an agenda or in written announcements (we'll talk more about that later on) is important. Have each agent briefly talk about any new listings taken during the week. I like to recognize sales by letting agents draw out of a dollar bag for each new sale pended during the week. That's instant gratification. But, if you read the sales and congratulate the agents individually that works also. The same thing with closed sales and referral checks. Monthly recognize the top agents of the previous month. All of this takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
Inform. Discuss what the office is doing in forms of market share or the number of listings taken compared to last year, or the number of sales compared to the month before, etc. Whatever is the most positive is what you tell your agents. Get them excited about being in a winning office. There is always something that you can find to brag about to the agents. It's important to do it each week. But, keep it simple and not prolonged.
Discuss any difficult transaction that came up leaving out agent names and how it was resolved. This is a very good education tool for the agents. You might also ask how they think they would have handled it.
Discuss any legal briefs that you need to inform them of. Perhaps a change in the contract, or a clause to watch out for from another company, etc.
Give a five minute training module on something. It could be on prospecting, handling inquiries, writing good ads, web marketing, etc. OR have an agent who is really good at one thing, give a five minute talk on how he does whatever it is that he does good.
Share. End the meeting by having the agents share marketing ideas, new listings they have seen from other companies, price reductions, etc. Go around the office so everyone has a chance to participate, but control the time. Don't let one agent dominate or again, you will lose your audience.
If you have lots of announcements about things the company is doing, a party that is planned for the office, a clerical staff member who did a good job on something, write them down and have it as a handout at the meeting. This way you will not take valuable time away from agents making more sales and it's a good way to recognize again the accomplishments of the week. If you don't take minutes at your meetings, this will also serve as information for those who did not attend the meeting.
Keep your meetings fast-paced and moving along. If you finish before 45 minutes, then adjourn the meeting early. If it went really fast because you have not much to recognize, then hold a discussion group with the entire audience. Pick a subject like, handling multiple offers; how to keep to a higher commission; getting listings in a tight inventory market; or, what's the word on the street; etc. This always makes for a good meeting. Again, you need to control the agents so that one doesn't dominate the meeting. One way is to have some leading questions and throw them out to particular agents that you know will have an opinion.
Every so often, change your meeting format and bring in a speaker. But, don't do it frequently. Most agents resent having speakers at a sales meeting unless they really have something valuable to impart. And, make sure the speaker knows the time limit and enforce it.
Take the entire office to a nearby restaurant for a breakfast meeting when they have done something exceptional. They will be surprised, but also rewarded instantly for doing a good job. I would do this when as an office we would set a monthly sales goal-when we did it, they would get a special breakfast. They loved it!
Good luck with your sales meetings. They are a wonderful tool for bringing the office together, but don't infringe on your professional agent's time. They will want to come to your meetings when you set the ground rules and adhere to them.
