In the construction industry, how the sales department works is changing rapidly. The constantly improving technological landscape has transformed how sellers and buyers now interact. As a result of this, there is a severe need of more customized and tighter sales processes today.
While the techniques and tools surrounding modern day sales are rapidly evolving, there is one thing that has remained somewhat consistent. That is, the importance of sales meetings. In this regard, it does not matter whether you are in a face-to-face meeting or on a video conference behind the screen. Regardless of the form or shape, sales meetings are a highly crucial piece of the entire puzzle. These meetings allow managers to handle all the objects in real time,while establishing a connection between the prospects and the representatives on human levels.
While you could easily track the sales of a construction business by integrating Followup CRM with a sales tool, managing a sales meeting it is not an easy thing to do. Effective sales meetings are supposed to be full of energy and interesting. All in all,they should be like an interactive event that allows the sales team members to work in unison.
Though, it is quite unfortunate that a big number of sales meeting that we happen to attend are the opposite of this. In the worst cases, time seems like it is not moving at all. As a result of this, everybody ends up being emotionally and exhausted. In this case, the major culprit is poor planning and bad execution of the meeting.
In general,the best managers understand why such events are so crucial for the success of a construction business. At the same time, successful managers recognize the fact that need to put deliberate effort in the planning and execution. Though,you may be wondering how it is done after all?
In this article, we aim to help you plan and executive successful construction sales meetings. So, to learn how an effective sales meeting is run, read the below mentioned plan:
Last Week’s Accomplishments
The sales team in any company must reflect on its past results, from time to time. This will allow the sales team to come up with strategies and different methods to overcome the losses. At the same time, it may also help the sales team in growing itself further.
So, briefly discussing the accomplishments in the last week are of extreme importance. This is what all construction sales meetings should begin with.
These accomplishments may also include the number of appointments that are visited along with the number of delivered proposals. At the same time, all the leads that require a discussion should be analysed.
In simpler terms, leads are all the opportunities that a business gets in selling its product or service. In this regard, a lead may be classified as an organization or an individual that is interested in what a business is offering. Oftentimes, prospects and leads are both used interchangeable. However, in most of the organizations, these two words will have different meanings. Where on one hand leads provide the contact information of potential clients, prospects refer to a potential customer that is yet to inquire about more information regarding the business.
Captured Contracts
Next up,captured contracts should be the subject of discussion in the sales meeting.These are the contracts that have been finalized with the leads (potential customers). Captured contracts usually contain those contracts that have been finalized. Here, there is no turning back for the client.
However, in case a client has inquired about the project/service but has not yet subscribed/used it, it cannot be classified as a contract. The value of the contract in dollars should also be noted. Alternatively, sales reps can also consider the number of contracts which is a much more reliable metric since the 'value' is rather subjective.
Pipeline
Sales pipeline refers to a visual display of all the sales prospects and the leads along with their purchasing history. Sales pipelines are also used to check the account forecast of the sales rep. They also indicate how close or far a sales team is to reach the quota.
Value in Dollars vs Number
While some sales managers have their prime focus on having a high value in dollars of the opportunities/prospects. However, on the other hand, some sales managers prefer to have a larger number of opportunities in their pipeline.
Your sales meeting should essential describe where the team’s focus will be directed towards. However, before settling for one, know that the estimates of dollar value are quite subjective. As a result of this, the number of opportunities is a significantly better metric.
Hots, Warms, and Colds
Sales inquiries can be divided into three different pipelines including hots, warms, and colds. Hots are those leads that will say something like “I talked with X and they had bought your service so I would like to buy it too!”
A warm call is when a lead form has already been filled out but the project reflects lesser level of interest.
Active
This is quite used in the construction industry. Active status suggests that for instance, a property is still available for sale. These statuses must be decided and set during a sales meeting because even Active statuses have certain different types. All of these types have a different definition according to the market that which you are using them in.
Closing Ratio
It is the ratio between the sales leads and the closed sales number. Closed sales are those sales that have successfully been carried out. So, in a sales meeting, it is extremely important to determine and estimate a suitable closing ratio. In general, businesses should strive to become better and better with time.
Anticipated Closings
Anticipated closings may include the number of closings that were supposed to happen but never did. By comparing this number with the closed sales number, one can determine the ratio of prospects that end up being a closed sale.
Hot Items This Week
Next up,contractors need to talk about all the important tasks and deadlines that are to be met in the coming week. With proper planning and analysis, they can ensure that everything will run very smoothly. Without that, though, things may turn out to be a total mess.
At the same time, this section of the meeting should not just focus on the things to achieve, but also on the methodology that is to be used in achieving them. This is when all the weekly targets along with the daily targets are finalized.
So,contractors should consider this part as the most important one in their sales meetings. And without a doubt, this will also be the most extensive one. This is because whatever there is to learn from the past, will already be covered. In this section of the meeting, though, contractors could encourage and uplift the spirit of their team while setting them up to achieve great results.
Discussion Topics With Marketing
A strong communication between the marketing and sales team is extremely crucial, for the success of both the teams. Sometimes, this requires the use of a single integrated system. Quite fortunately, Followup CRM can be integrated with a range of accounting/sales tools. Ultimately, it allows both sales and marketing teams to find access to all important data.
Indeed, both the sales team and the marketing teams go hand in hand. According to most of the business experts, at least one marketing team member should be presenting sales meetings. So, contractors should invite one or a few over in every meeting. This way, the sales representatives could be informed about all the changes in the policies along with new upcoming marketing campaigns.
The discussion topics may include previous campaigns, results of those campaigns,communication with clients, clients’ persona, target audiences, change in policies, new campaigns in the pipeline, and a lot more.
Overall, the discussion topics will depend on the goals and tasks at hand. Since it is one of the most important aspects of any sales team meeting, contractors should not skip this one out.
Within this section, contracts shall also talk about all the chances in tools and policies.The new sales team members could be given an overview of the sales integrated CRM system, for instance. With that, the team could also be informed about all the internal changes that include:
· Internal change in processes and new hiring priorities
· New policies that apply to the company (this will especially include all the employee benefits and compensations)
· The all-new technological tools. For instance, whenever a new change is planned to the Followup CRM system, sales reps should be allowed to ask questions about it.
Road Blocks
Next, discuss all the road blocks that the team may have to face. Since countless problems can arise, it is important to encourage the sales representatives to discuss all the possible challenges. It Is not a good practice to leave the sales representatives alone in an isolated environment. Ultimately, this will not yield the results that a contractor is looking for.
Especially, if the sales representatives are not experienced enough yet, discussing roadblocks could help them and the entire team big time! Ultimately, this will not only reduce the unwanted pressure on the team, but will also be beneficial for the entire organization.
So, take the opportunity of turning a sales meeting into a supportive environment where the sales representatives could discuss all their difficulties and challenges without hesitation. You could ask all the sales reps to talk about their current struggles. After that, consider taking their output on ways in which their challenges/struggles could be conquered.
If contracts want the sales reps to open up, it is very important to provide them a supportive environment. Otherwise, they are bound to hesitate, which will prevent them from opening up properly.
Number of Referrals for the Week
Referrals are extremely important for the success of every business. Indeed, finding referrals is also one of the prime duties of the sales team in any country. In case the referrals are important for their particular organization, contractors should make sure that such a culture is encouraged among the team. While the sales representatives do not always have to ask for a referral, they still want to be associated with referred leads.
This can be done by talking about them via phone, demos, social, emails, and of course, sales meeting. By communicating the value of referrals outwardly, they will start coming out far more often.
Now, in a sales meeting, contractors should specifically talk about the number of referrals that must be achieved in the week. This would be like a target for the sales team. More or less, it is a part of their very job after all.
However, presenting vague targets to the team is not the best way forward. Rather, help them in devising a working action plan in the sales meeting. This way, the sales representatives will be able to bring better results to the table. Furthermore, a proper action plan will also take away a big amount of pressure from the team’s head. Ultimately, the team will be able to perform at its best.
While hunting for referrals, CRM tools such as Followup CRM is extremely helpful. Since it keeps the entire track of communication with prospective clients, it can present a vast amount of useful data to the sales reps. Some form of collaboration with the marketing team may also be needed in this area.
