Sales meetings are one of the most common recurring events that companies host for their teams. They bring together sales people to celebrate achievements, impart new skills, and motivate teams to keep pushing forward to reach new goals. The overall purpose of these meetings is both practical and strategic: they’re a forum to discuss ways to generate revenue and increase sales, and they’re an important conduit for team-building.
Keynote speakers play a significant role in the success of these meetings by offering fresh perspectives and sharing deep expertise that can inspire audiences. The right speaker can help deliver the key outcomes that most sales meeting organizers want: aligning individuals with the company's objectives and creating a common vision for the team.
Identifying which kind of speaker will work best for your meeting starts with pinpointing the needs of your company. And therein lies a quandary that is somewhat particular to sales meeting organizers.
The stakeholders and key organizers for sales meetings are often - no surprise - sales-driven leaders. They tend to be confident go-getters who have found success by doing one thing very well:
Making.
Stuff.
Happen.
And these go-getters frequently dictate the speaker selection for sales meetings.
In this all-too-common scenario, speakers are chosen based upon the sales leader’s personal enthusiasm for a particular speaker. In the process, they can easily steamroll over the nuances of the message that a team might actually need.
Or ignore survey results that indicate what the group is longing for.
Or disregard dissenting opinions by a committee.
Sometimes, nobody questions the sales leader’s choice because they’re the boss. And because of that dynamic, the speaker they select can easily fall flat.
Why?
Because speaker selections rarely work well when they’re driven by a single passionate fan. The same gut-instinct decision-making that succeeds in sales doesn’t always work when it comes to speaker selections.
Of course, the gung-ho fan leader scenario isn’t the only common trap when it comes to selecting speakers for sales meetings.
As with all meeting types, the pitfalls also include selecting a speaker just because the planning group likes the speaker’s personal story.
Or because the speaker has a great podcast and YouTube videos.
Many mediocre speakers are highly sought based on a unique personal story that may be interesting to hear about but isn’t enough to accomplish the goals of your meeting. And even when a speaker has a compelling overarching message and brand, that doesn’t necessarily translate into the ability to deliver a deep, resonant keynote message.
Doing the homework of your specific meeting goal and the targeted needs of your company is a critical process that shouldn’t be glossed over.
So let’s take a look at what kind of sales meeting you have in mind.
While all sales meetings cover common ground, they do fall into a number of general types, and each style of meeting needs something slightly different from their keynote speaker. If you want your keynote speaker to impart more than a general idea, and to also teach soft skills, then you must find a speaker who is adroit on the big stage while also being nimble enough to stick the landing in a compressed time period.
Over the many years that I have worked with organizers to book the perfect speaker for their sales meetings, here are my observations on the keys to success for each meeting type:
These meetings might be organized to celebrate the past year or to offer reward and recognition. Speakers are brought in to celebrate the successes of the team, so to hit their mark they must bring authentic energy and enthusiasm to the occasion. Above all, speakers need to leave a lasting impact on the audience, which they accomplish by being passionate and exceptionally skilled at storytelling. Successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, and industry leaders are usually the best fit for these kinds of sales meetings.
Some sales meetings are arranged for the primary purpose of getting the team together to network and touch base while also enhancing their professional development. Team members may work in different locations or rarely have the chance to communicate with each other, so sales meetings offer a chance to connect in meaningful ways. The right speaker will inspire the team and equip them with new tools to boost their sales performance and make them work more efficiently together. With these kinds of meetings, the best kind of speaker will help the team improve an aspect of their professional lives while energizing them to step out of their mental comfort zones. You want a speaker whose topic grabs attention, gets people talking, and spurs the audience to connect around new ways of thinking; those elements are the real magic of a speaker in this type of an event.
Other times, a sales meeting aims to get the team comfortable with a message or a new initiative. When organizations introduce new initiatives, products, or services, they need to get their teams on board and excited about the new direction, helping the team understand why changes are made. They also need to clarify what impact these changes will have on the company as a whole and sales people in particular. In such cases, keynote speakers can serve as an external voice to deliver a clear message and help teams understand the vision behind the initiative. The best speakers to help this message resonate are ones who can identify the parallels within their own story. Speakers for this type of event must deliver an impactful argument to get the audience to buy in; the most effective way to do so is by tailoring their own story to support the reasoning behind the new direction.
Sometimes, a sales meeting is held to teach the team new skills, polish existing ones, and improve performance. The primary goal of a skills-building sales meeting is to inspire your team members to learn and grow. The lessons might be granular, broaching one skill or multiple in depth, but either way, a successful session can only be achieved when the presenters create memorable and engaging presentations. The catch is that speakers for these meetings must teach the audience tangible skills within 60 minutes while also being entertaining enough to attract their full attention. It’s not enough for these keynote speakers to have a deep understanding of the specific skills in question; they must also possess a magnetic quality onstage and a masterful delivery that ensures their lessons will take hold.
Sometimes, meetings can be specific to a particular industry, such as pharmaceutical, technology, or finance. Inviting speakers who possess an in-depth knowledge of the industry, including trends, market challenges, and opportunities, can bring a fresh perspective to the team. These speakers are true subject matter experts who share their experiences and provide specific insights. The problem: because these types of speakers are incredibly specialized, it’s tough to find the rare individual who possesses the requisite expertise along with the equally uncommon characteristics of a truly engaging speaker.
The success of any sales meeting relies on the quality of the speakers and their ability to deliver effective and engaging presentations. The vital outcome of this meeting is to ensure that your sales team can feel more knowledgeable, refreshed, and energized to improve upon their sales goals. Finding the right speaker starts with an honest assessment of your company’s needs and working according to data, not your gut.
To hone in on your message and properly vet speakers, you need to ask three questions before you start your speaker search:
What is the one element or message that should be woven into the core of the entire event?
What is the intended outcome for the speaker you’re looking to hire?
What speaker qualities will you need?
Also read: Searching for a keynote speaker? Start with these 3 questions
This exercise is a whole lot easier and obvious once you identify which kind of sales meeting you’re planning.
So before you do anything, get clear on the category of your sales meeting. Once you have that figured out, you can more accurately ask the right questions about speaker candidates and identify the potential winners to make your event a hit.