Territory and One-on-One Meetings

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Being on the same page with each and every one of your sales representatives is critical for a sales manager to sleep at night. Not only should each member of the team share a common vision but also there should be a clear understanding of the current focus for that individual.

As sales leaders, it’s critical for the team to be hitting on all cylinders. But there’s more to sales success than simply today’s performance. The development and progression of the team is as important as today’s results. That’s why it’s important for sales leaders to have two distinct dialogues with the individuals on the team.

Territory Meetings

This regular sit-down should focus on the market and territory development. The key objectives are to ensure success in the territory and early detection of any significant challenges. Key questions to be answered in a territory meeting include:

  • What is the current objective (sales goal) of the territory?
  • What is the current run-rate of revenue and profit or other key metrics?
  • What can the sales leader do to assist the individual in improving the run-rate?
  • Which specific accounts or market sectors are over or under achieving and why?
  • What feedback is available related to future offerings and / or the competition?

One-on-One Meetings

Unlike territory meetings, one-on-one meetings focus on the individual sales professional. In my professional experience, this meeting is as critical as the territory meeting; yet, many sales leaders presume these topics are not important enough to schedule an individual session. Key questions to be answered in a one-on-one meeting include:

  • What is your current responsibility?
  • Are there any gaps in your readiness to perform to the required level?
  • What is the long-term vision for your career?
  • What training and development, or career progression, is required to manifest the vision?
  • What can the sales leader do to position the individual for long-term success?

Do you see the distinction between a territory meeting and a one-on-one? The territory meeting is about the company’s needs and the one-on-one is about the associate’s needs.

Performing both of these types of meetings with the sales team on a regular basis provides strong results and breeds a loyal team. As the individuals on the team recognize that the sales leader is committed to his or her long-term development, the individual becomes more galvanized to the current needs of the organization.

As I’ve spoken on this topic over the years, many people raise an important question. What if the long-term vision of the employee is not in line with the organization’s vision or potential of opportunity for that individual? You know, what if the sales rep desires to be doing something completely different five years from now? That’s OK. Here’s why: if you reverse engineer what it will take for the individual to get to his or her goal, you typically end up with what the individual needs to be doing today and tomorrow to achieve that end result. And guess what? 99% of the time, the individual needs to overachieve in his current role to ultimately get to the desired place.

Regardless of the individual’s long-term goals, in virtually all cases, the best thing the individual can do to achieve success is to over-perform in his or her current capacity. Which is the selfish endgame of the sales leader. Do you see how it all comes full circle?

Sales Success

Sales leaders need the team to be fully focused. By taking the time to dissect the territory AND the career objectives separately, the associate feels the value of the leader toward the individual’s personal gain. As the leader demonstrates commitment to the individuals, the individuals become more galvanized to the corporate objectives.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Kevin Graham
Kevin Graham is an author, speaker and expert on empowerment, sales and leadership. As managing director of Empowered Sales Training, Kevin works with organizations to empower sales success. Formerly, Kevin was a top performing sales executive in the ultra competitive technology sector. He's qualified for President's Club status in three Fortune 500 companies, carried the Olympic Torch and played in a national championship.

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