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Rally Around The New Selling Year
By: Fred and Suzette Albrecht
Issue: 2009dec
Boost your salespeople’s momentum with an annual kick-off event.
Year end can be a challenging time for sales representatives, but this year stands to be tougher than usual as reps take stock of their annual sales numbers and try to visualize goals for the new year. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, disappointed or intimidated, help your sales reps feel prepared, motivated and ready for many opportunities in 2010 by holding an annual sales rally.
At Proforma Albrecht & Co. (UPIC: ALBRECHT), a Milford, Ohio-based distributor, we hold a sales rally each January to coincide with The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas. Many of our sales professionals already attend, so it’s inexpensive for them to add one or two extra days to their trip. We also encourage our sales reps to attend important industry events, such as The Expo, to keep their product knowledge and sales skills sharp.
Whether you call it a sales rally, retreat or sales meeting, education is the No. 1 reason to host an annual sales-focused event. Planning it in conjunction with The Expo allows us to provide the most educational opportunities for our sales professionals.
Why Education Is Important
Ultimately the most profound thing you can do to motivate your salespeople and staff is to encourage their continuing education. Great motivational speakers say that salespeople can put themselves ahead of 98 percent of the competition through continuing education because others simply won’t do it. You can put all the carrots, sales bonuses and competitions out there, but if you aren’t continually educating them they will not have the confidence or the tools to make those daily sales calls.
Here are 10 steps to create a sales rally that will launch your sales pros to new heights of success:
1. Identify And Prioritize Your Goals
Determine your goals for the sales rally and how your agenda will accomplish those goals. For example, if you want to motivate your sales staff and give them excellent networking opportunities, don’t allow one vendor to take all 16 sales reps to dinner. Likewise, don’t plan a cocktail hour for 10 reps and just one vendor. Instead, look for more meaningful ways to help your sales team interact with a variety of vendors via roundtables or educational sessions.
The goals of our sales rally are education, and sharing tools and information to grow company sales and motivate our team.
The agenda for our sales rally started two days before The Expo show floor opened with education sessions and vendor presentations created just for our salespeople and extended through the end of the show week with networking and recognition events on two evenings.
Examine each of your goals and integrate events into your schedule to help you meet them.
2. Encourage The Whole Team To Attend
If your budget can bear it, bring customer service reps and other administrative staff to your sales rally, especially if it’s during The Expo. While your CSRs and administrative staff do not sell directly to clients, they are important members of your team and work with vendors and clients every day.
Team building between sales professionals, CSRs and administrative staff members is crucial. CSRs can also benefit from walking the show floor and meeting the vendor representatives. Through this opportunity, they can become sounding boards and brainstorming partners for your sales professionals. And, if they attend educational sessions and presentations, they can share the information with their team members.
3. Pick A Great Venue
Always consider how to maximize the educational opportunities available. If you plan your event around The Expo, using the events already put in place by PPAI allows you to take advantage of built-in education programs, product showcases and opportunities to access vendor partners who are also attending The Expo.
Las Vegas provides a fun atmosphere for internal networking activities, awards banquets, team building and the actual sales meeting. A desirable destination means the trip can extend into a vacation for your sales reps and their families, increasing the likelihood they will attend.
A hotel ballroom can be handy, but that doesn’t make it the ideal location. If you’ve lined up six to eight hours of educational sessions, motivational speakers and vendor presentations, you don’t want your sales professionals to get burned out after the first two hours. To keep learning fresh, choose an offsite venue such as a golf course or country club where you can offer teambuilding exercises or fun diversions to help them relax and refocus between sessions.
4. Plan To Break The Ice
Your sales reps might be located across the country and perhaps haven’t seen each other all year. Conversely, they may work next to each other in the office every day, but because they are out on sales calls, they don’t get a chance to bond.
We took our cue from preferred supplier Sanford Business-to-Business a few years ago and took our sales professionals out for an icebreaker bowling event during our sales rally. We split our sales professionals, CSRs and friends from Sanford into teams for a fun bowling/team-building competition that led to some great networking as well.
Another year, we did an icebreaker scavenger hunt. We provided each team of sales professionals and CSRs with a limousine and driver, a camera and a list of clues and sent them on a scavenger hunt of the Las Vegas Strip. In order to win, every team member had to be present at the different locations on the list. The scavenger hunt concluded at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, where we had a great meal and shared stories from the hunt.
These kinds of icebreaker activities can be done on a small or large scale, but either way they play two important roles. First, they build team spirit and camaraderie between sales professionals and other employees. Second, they provide great memories and motivation for sales professionals to sign up and come back year after year.
5. Leverage The PPAI Expo
Planning our sales meeting in conjunction with The PPAI Expo has made the event an ongoing success. Attending this national show is the No. 1 most important investment that any sales professional can make, and we encourage that by hosting our national meeting at the same time.
The PPAI Expo provides access to educational opportunities, motivational speakers, product showcases and much more that we can’t provide as an individual distributor.
If you are hosting your kick-off sales rally in conjunction with a show, it’s important to leverage the show’s opportunities. Contact speakers scheduled to speak at The Expo and vendor representatives who are attending and ask them to speak at your sales rally.
We also set appointments for our sales professionals to meet with the vendor representatives at their booths during the show. So, instead of aimlessly wandering the floor, our reps make the most of their time, get personal attention from their representative and begin to develop one-on-one relationships.
6. Create Unique Internal Networking Opportunities
The smaller your staff, the busier they are and the fewer opportunities they have to talk to one another about what’s working and what isn’t. Provide some structure for networking at least once during the sales meeting.
Too many managers underestimate how lonely a sales representative’s day can be. By affording your sales staff an opportunity to network with each other you can create a sense of teamwork and a motivation to move forward.
There should also be networking opportunities between vendor representatives and other distributors. Schedule some time in your education sessions to teach and refresh them about networking techniques so your salespeople will be prepared to network when they hit the show floor later in the week.
We create networking opportunities for our sales professionals by reserving our own lounge space at The Expo. Instead of our sales professionals having lunch in the general areas, they come to Proforma Albrecht & Co.’s room at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center where catered lunches are served. Beyond hosting lunches for our team, we also provide drinks and snacks in our lounge throughout the day giving them a spot to relax and share what they have seen and heard on the show floor.
7. Get The Vendors Involved
One of the greatest benefits of hosting your annual sales rally at The PPAI Expo is that you gain access to representatives from many industry suppliers all in one place. Getting the vendors involved is a great way to inform and motivate your sales professionals.
Last January, we hosted our 10th Anniversary Party as part of our annual sales meeting. Instead of asking vendors to sponsor the event, or tapping into them for free dinners or entertainment, we invited them as honored guests. We also held a costume contest to introduce our new motivation program and asked vendor guests to judge the competition.
Because they were not busy hosting the event, they could relax and enjoy building relationships with our sales professionals. After all, your vendor relationships are some of the most important relationships you have in this business.
8. Reward Greatness
Don’t lump your annual awards into your end-of-the-year holiday party. Instead, create a unique sense of excitement by hosting an awards dinner as part of your kick-off sales rally or annual sales meeting. The awards ceremony has historically been one of the most anticipated elements because we create meaningful ways to earn awards (sales volume, personal sales growth and referrals, for example) at the awards dinner. That way, many sales professionals know they will receive something and are excited to attend.
The awards dinner is one of the most important, emotional, touching and celebratory parts of the annual sales meeting. Even in a down economy, there is something to celebrate and people to honor for their achievements, so be sure to include an awards ceremony as part of your event.
9. Variety Is The Spice Of Sales Rallies
Variety keeps your sales professionals excited and interested in returning. Vary the schedule a little each year and try new types of events and settings. Variety is also important within the event itself. If you are planning on holding a full day of learning and education indoors, schedule an outdoor luncheon or afternoon team-building activity to give your sales professionals a mental break.
During our 2009 sales rally, we hosted a gourmet chocolate-and-wine-tasting break between our late afternoon and evening sessions to give everyone a chance to refresh, network and enjoy a few minutes of relaxation. The element of surprise and suspense is what keeps the group coming back and the combination helps them grow closer. Change things up and pay special attention to providing variety and excitement, and your meeting will be a success every year.
10. Plan The Perfect Send-Off
A super-motivational annual sales rally shouldn’t end with everyone tossing their PPAI Expo bags into their suitcases and heading to the airport. Instead, plan a send-off that people will remember. It doesn’t need to be a structured meeting, but it should be another chance for your professionals to network, bond and enjoy the company of their team members. The send-off should include your charge for them to go forward and achieve, and it should also include a celebratory element, thanking them for their hard work.
Last January, we hosted our send-off at Trader Vic’s on the Strip. Because it was a special 10th Anniversary Party, we went all out with Polynesian dancers, a raw seafood bar and a costume contest. Our sales professionals danced the night away, had their photos taken with the dancers and had a chance to share everything they learned and experienced. In the afterglow of this exciting night, they headed back to the hotel ready for a year of sales achievement and growth. If you want to kick the year off right, plan the perfect send-off.
Once you’ve held your first sales rally and seen the great results, you’ll want to make it an annual event. Just remember to analyze the first event by surveying your sales professionals and staff when you return home. Evaluation and adaptation are extremely important in keeping sales rallies relevant, informative and useful to your sales professionals.
Fred and Suzette Albrecht are owners of Proforma Albrecht & Co. (UPIC: ALBRECHT), a Milford, Ohio-based multi-million dollar distributorship. Contact them at Fred@albrechtco.com or Suzette@albrechtco.com.
Plan B: When You Need To Stay Closer To Home
If you are unable to plan your 2010 kick-off around The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, or another national event, you can still build an amazing sales rally by incorporating some of these tips for creating an annual sales meeting right in your own backyard.
1. Create An Amazing Atmosphere
So you won’t be hosting your kick-off on the Las Vegas Strip—this doesn’t mean you can’t create an exciting atmosphere for your sales professionals at home. Find a great local venue that provides opportunities for team building and fun, and add personalized touches to the event to show your staff how important they are.
2. Make The Awards Dinner Special
Focus your budget on making the awards event the culmination of your sales rally. Invite the entire team and their families to share in the evening. Building relationships with each employee’s family is a great benefit of hosting your sales rally on home turf. Recognizing your sales staff for their contributions can be one of the most important ways you motivate them all year.
3. Schedule Your Rally During The Workday
An annual sales retreat seems like a special event when most of it is held during the week, but not so much if you expect your employees to give up a weekend. It’s okay for your event to have some components that happen over the weekend, especially the awards ceremony, but the days of education and networking should be held during regular work hours as a motivating alternative to their daily activities.
4. Encourage Some Separation
Because your sales professionals are at home they may be more likely to continue working right through the sales rally. Be sure to keep the office staffed with CSRs or administrative staff (even if they are rotating) to handle client and vendor issues while your sales professionals are participating in educational sessions. It’s important that clients are still served, but it’s also important that sales professionals are involved in the activities, networking and presentations.
5. Bring In Outside Speakers
Consider local speakers who can motivate your sales professionals. Local universities and business organizations often have access to experts and professional speakers who might be the perfect fit for your event. Outside speakers are important because they can help your sales professionals see new perspectives and get new ideas to apply to their everyday sales challenges.
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