If your agents sigh before your team meetings, there’s a problem, because good meetings are something they look forward to.

Team meetings are an important part of any business…

Sorry… let me start over…

Some team meetings are an important part of some businesses – but only if they’re done right.

Okay, I know it seems like there’s a lot to unpack there, but that’s what this blog is all about. I have 10 tips that are going to help you elevate your team meetings so you waste less time, keep morale high, and ensure everyone leaves every meeting feeling more prepared than when they went in.

Let’s start at the top with why I said “some” team meetings are important.

Better Team Meetings, Tip 1: Decide if You Really Need a Meeting or Not

Here’s a flat piece of truth…

Not every piece of information warrants having a meeting, and those that do often don’t have information that is pertinent to everyone.

Often I’ve found that a lot of time gets wasted when leaders have established a cadence for a certain meeting (such as a weekly or quarterly meeting) and over time find themselves with less and less productive things to cover. But instead of canceling the meeting or changing the cadence, they try to fill it with unengaging information. Admit it… have you ever found yourself in a last-minute scramble to come up with meeting content?

Better Team Meetings, Tip 2: Make Sure They Don’t Get in Anyone’s Way

The reason you have a team is to make your business more efficient and increase your profits. Those two things are your priorities, which essentially means that scheduling and taking appointments is your team’s main priority. So don’t get in the way of that!

Make sure you choose a time that’s as convenient for everyone as possible. First thing in the morning is usually best – unless you find that your agents are scheduling a lot of their appointments for that time.

Better Team Meetings, Tip 3: Have Your Purpose in Mind

If going on appointments is your team’s No. 1 priority, this also means that your meeting should primarily be geared towards making that happen.

Now, I’m not saying that all your meetings have to be sales focused if you have something important to discuss, but your weekly meeting should have a sales element included.

If you’re not going to directly include trainings, you want to be exploring options before each meeting about how you’re going to increase the number of appointments they set.

Better Team Meetings, Tip 4: Set an Agenda

Phil M. Jones always says that the worst time to think about what you’re going to say is when you’re going to say it. This isn’t just true for your leads and clients, but your team as well.

Ideally, you don’t want to have meetings run more than an hour, so in order to make the most of that time, you need to have a solid agenda (but not too solid, as we’ll cover in our next point).

At least a day before your meeting happens, take 30 minutes to decide:

• Your objective for the meeting
• The exact talking points that will accomplish your objective
• How long each talking point will take

Better Team Meetings, Tip 5: Leave Room for Collaboration

This blog is about “team meetings” not “meetings with your subordinates” and you want to be sure that it feels that way. The last thing you want agents and staff feeling like is that they need to go listen to you talk for an hour. They key to avoiding that is to involve everyone and encourage engagement.

Not only do you want to let your people know that their opinions and input are valued, but you should also genuinely be looking for new ideas and perspectives.

That’s why I’d recommend you not schedule your agenda too tightly and leave a buffer of time for collaboration after each of your talking points (if applicable).

Better Team Meetings, Tip 6: Role Play

This one might not be popular and it’s not necessary in every meeting, but it’s something you should absolutely be doing.

Role playing is not something that most agents will do on their own, and yet it is the surest way to ensure that they feel prepared for any situation they might encounter.

Having time set aside during your weekly meeting to role play will also allow you to coach your agents through the scripts they’ll be using. You’ll be able to throw the right objections at them, show them what they did right, what they did wrong, and how they can improve. And the whole team can learn from the experience. (Be sure to thank participants for making themselves vulnerable in front of the team.)

Better Team Meetings, Tip 7: Bring in Guest Speakers

As a team leader, your job is often to lead the meetings, but having someone else step in from time to time is a great way to add a surge of new energy and keep things fresh.

Reach out to top agents from different areas whom you’ve met at events or hire a speaker. And if you want some help finding the right speaker, try asking your Team coach!

Better Team Meetings, Tip 8: Share the Big Wins

Meetings aren’t something your team should dread going into. They’re something they should be excited about. That means keeping them inspiring and positive.

For every time you’re forced to share something they’re doing wrong, try to balance it out with something they’re doing right. Positive affirmation is proven to have a remarkable effect on work ethic, so be sure to share every big win and keep pushing your agents forward.

Better Team Meetings, Tip 9: Encourage Sales Competitions

Salespeople should naturally be competitive, but if you ever see that your team’s competitive fire is dwindling, it’s your job to reignite it.

Establish a sales competition with a truly valuable prize – and there’s no prize quite like a financial one, such as a temporary commission bonus.

Track and measure everything and then share the updates at every meeting. Make it a center of focus at the office.

Better Team Meetings, Tip 10: Have a Hard Stop Time

This one is simple… Just like we talked about at the beginning, you need to respect your people’s time.

Unless it’s truly necessary, be sure to have regular time checks to let everyone know that you need to move on from a talking point if you’re going over too long, and let everyone know you can email them if there’s anything you haven’t gotten around to yet.

It’s About More Than Just Conveying Information

Good team meetings accomplish an objective. Great team meetings bring your company closer together, make everyone feel valued, and let every know they’re in the loop.

These one or two hours a week are your opportunity to build bonds, increase retention, and establish a company culture, and as a leader that’s your responsibility.

If you need any more help with creating a company culture or running better team meetings, there’s nothing that can help you quite like coaching. If you’re curious to know more, sign up for a Free Coaching Consultation.

Hope this has helped. Let me know some of your tips for better team meetings in the comments.