One of the most common complaints about business meetings is that nothing ever productive comes from them.  Many corporate workers are constantly complaining about taking the time out of their busy schedule to attend a meeting or presentation.   However if you ask the associate a week later what the meeting was on, you probably will get quizzical looks.  The truth of the matter is that most meetings and presentations are not productive.  Here are some tips on making them productive.

It is always important to have a strong agenda for a meeting and to also put together a complete itinerary so that once the meeting starts you have an easy road map to follow in order to get to all your important points across.  These simple tips will help you stay on track and communicate the important points of your meeting or presentation.  If you want the members of the meeting to retain information well after the meeting is over, give them resources such as hand outs and require some kind of task that must be completed in the next week or so in order to keep the information your members have learned in their head fresh.  This task can range from a simple assignment, a small project that must be discussed with you in the next coming weeks or some type of goal that a member must try to achieve.

So if you would like your meetings to be productive and the information to be retained for more than a few hours after a meeting, take a look at the above tips on creating a productive meeting

Details (yuck!) are the bane of a sales professional’s
existence.

None of us wants to crunch puny little numbers throughout
the day. Save that for the accountants who eat that stuff
up.

Let us be free to sell, sell, and sell some more. The only
puny numbers we’re interested in are numbers like ‘ones’
and ‘zeros’, as in the number one followed by lots and lots
of zeros. Give us a nice round number like $1,000,000,
that’ll put a smile on the faces of just about every
professional who sells!

Ah, but here’s the rub, those puny, little numbers hold
captive the secrets to getting to the big round numbers,
sooner rather than later.

Now, read closely and let your mind think about
possibilities as the power of puny, little numbers is
revealed.

A well-known, rarely implemented truth in the world of
sales professionals is this:

What You Can Measure, You Can Manage What You Can Manage
You Can Improve Dramatically!

Let’s start with little numbers like 10 and 1. As you
review your call ratios for the year, you may find that you
smile, you dial, and you make about 10 cold calls a day,
around 50 cold, prospecting calls per week.

And you see that at the end of your time on the phone, you
average about 1 appointment for every 10 cold calls.

You close roughly 1 out of every 2 people you meet with.
When all is said and done at the end of the year, these
puny little numbers of appointments result in sales that
yield a pretty good income for you, around $70,000.

Now, let’s say you want to double your income. Yep, as 2006
rolls around, you decide you want to double your income,
making it $140,000.

The secret to reaching your goal is hidden in the numbers.
Sure, your call ratios and salary may be much higher (or
lower) than the numbers used in this example. No worries,
simply plug your numbers into these equations to determine
your desired outcome.

Being in control of our goals is one of many wonderful
things we like about the profession of sales, isn’t it? We
know the only thing standing between our dreams and us is
our level of skill. We’re glad to gobble up any tips,
tools, and techniques that’ll improve our seemingly magical
talents that are the envy of others, especially those who
think they don’t have the skills to give away ice water in
the Sahara!

OK, as we look at just the numbers, you can reach your goal
of $140,000 of take home pay by doubling one of a couple of
puny numbers.

You can learn how to double the number of appointments
you get from your dials, so you get 2 appointments out of
every 10 dials.

> You can learn how to double the number of sales you
close, and make sure you get business from 2 out of every 2
people you meet with.

Hmm. Makes you pause and think doesn’t it?

Here’s an extra bonus for you:

As we closely scrutinize where these numbers come from, we
might even find that if you changed the level of your
approach call, you could do even better! Imagine what would
happen to your sales if you added a few executive-level
sales calls to the mix and spent your time talkin’ to The
Top Dogs with unlimited ability to sign off on big deals!

Makes the goal of doubling your salary next year seem
possible, doesn’t it?

In brief, you can double your income by learning how to: 1.
Double the appointments you get from your dials 2. Double
the sales you close during appointments 3. Double the size
of your sales as you elevate the level of your point of
entry, and talk to “The Top Dogs” first

So, next time you’re tempted to skim over the puny numbers
in favor of the big round ones, slow yourself down.

As you do this, you will be amazed to find that doubling
your take home pay in 2006 is much, much closer than you
think!

Forward this article to friends, they’ll thank you for it!

—————————————————-
Author/Publisher Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread), is
a published author, speaker and founder of Top Dog
Consulting. She coaches sales executives and recruiters
world-wide in techniques for changing the point of entry to
the executive level. For your FREE mini-course “Jealously
Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit
http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com !