Skip to content
Advantage Performance Group • We help organizations develop great people.
Call us (415) 925-6832
How to have a great sales conference - Do something great neon sign - Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

How to have a great sales conference

By The Advantage Team | October 17, 2017

Sales kick-offs and global conferences can be central to your success if your audience is engaged and you're clear about your goals. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for transforming your meeting from just an event into rocket fuel for your business, based on some of the most common reasons organizations have large events. Hover or click on the icons to reveal the tips.

It's a status symbol.

GOAL: Show the world how successful you were last year and will be this year. Take over Vegas or Beijing.

DO: Use high production value and a build up of anticipation for new announcements (think Apple releases).

DON'T: Be too backward-looking and self-congratulatory. That doesn't set up the future.

It's a face-to-face.

GOAL:  Get up close and personal with face-to-face relationship building that doesn't happen in the field.

DO: Plan social events designed to create valuable interactions with new people.

DON'T: Rely on an open bar where people spend time with others they already know or force networking among people who may not be relevant.

It's a huddle.

GOAL: Rally the troops around a new strategy.

DO: Align the leadership team to put the strategy and path to change in customer-centric terms that matter to reps.

DON'T: Have an inward-focused strategy that doesn't connect.

It's a knowledge transfer

GOAL: It's a once-a-year platform for bi-directional transfers of knowledge.

DO: Present new information with intention AND hold activities that gather knowledge from the field via crowdsourcing.

DON'T: Rely on a passive, one-way dialogue that doesn't take advantage of the time you are spending together face to face.

It's a reward.

GOAL: Reward your people, build a team culture, show you're invested.

DO: Have a self-directed, elective and informal competitions or challenges that fit culturally and keep people present.

DON'T: Make fun mandatory.

It's for learning.

GOAL: Help your people develop their skills.

DO: Give an overview of what's to come if this is the first of many trainings. If not, focus solely on one or two skills that can really be honed in the limited time.

DON'T: Assume you can overhaul an entire organization in one event. Don't do training as a last-day bolt-on.

More tips for planning a great meeting

The power of storytelling

Say goodbye to bullets and lengthy, boring text! Take your audience on a memorable journey instead.

Make your slide presentations more memorable with these tips from Scott Hodin, Sr. Learning Developer, Sales Practice at BTS, an Advantage thought leader partner.

Learn how to make slides that rock!
Implementing a new strategy can be a game of cat and mouse if your people aren't ready to put their training in motion.

Planning your next big meeting? Save us a seat!

In as little as 2 hours, we can breathe new life into your training with a session that also builds enthusiasm and camaraderie.

Implementing a new strategy can be a game of cat and mouse if your people aren't ready to put their training in motion.

When the head of sales enablement for a global data storage company needed to boost the training results for their new value-based selling approach, he brought in Advantage to lead a session at their global sales meeting.

We designed a fun, 3-hour competitive simulation for 800 sales reps that helped reinforce the new strategy and sales training with behaviors they could confidently take out to the field. The experience also generated enthusiasm and a camaraderie that set the tone for the rest of their meeting.

The result was a more prepared sales force ready to align their solutions to the needs and concerns of the customer's stakeholders. Teams crafted on-site their message about the business impact their solution would drive and tailored their message to one "persona" they chose among all the stakeholders. Participants said the session drove home for them the importance of not leading with products when selling to executive buyers, and made them feel ready and inspired to meet with their customers.

Make sure the hard work and money you've invested pays off with a turbo charge from the learning reinforcement experts at Advantage.

If you're planning your next big sales meeting or kickoff event, save us a seat! In as little as 2 hours, we can breathe new life into your training, too.

Ask Advantage!
The Advantage Team
Latest posts by The Advantage Team (see all)
Posted in Articles, Helping leaders lead and tagged , , ,

Leave a Comment





Scroll To Top