Sales professionals dread an ineffective sales meeting. Have an agenda, stick to it and don't make your meeting run any longer than it should. Keep it fun, motivational and interactive. Sales professionals love to talk. The more you involve them in your meetings, the more successful or helpful they will find it.

Revenue Generation

At least one or more of your sales meetings should be focused on revenue generation. If as a company you're not close to meeting your sales target, you should be sharing ideas on how to get there. If you're close to or above target, focus on how to get to the milestone beyond that. Discuss new products, services or procedures that may help your sales force sell more. Never let your sales professionals be satisfied with mediocrity. If they see that the company leadership strives for excellence, they will want to do so as well.

Reward and Recognition

Sales professionals love to be recognized, even the ones who do not perform as well. An effective sales manager is always evaluating ways to make his sales force better and seeks to recognize and reinforce behaviors that will lead to better sales outcomes. Your sales meeting is the perfect platform within which to spotlight such behavior. Something as simple as a certificate or inexpensive trophy or medal can go a long way in inspiring your sales team to greatness. For sales professionals who are not performing as well but making the effort, recognize positive attributes like punctuality, determination in the face of adversity or even get a testimonial from a client they brought on board. Your sales meeting is also a perfect forum in which to unveil a new commission or bonus structure.

Best Practices

Share what works well with other sales professionals. Don't assume that your top performers are diligently sharing best practices or what they do well with others on the sales team. They may be too busy or simply too egocentric to worry about doing such things. However, your sales meeting is a great place to have them talk about what works well so that other sales professionals can take note. Be sure to accentuate those things that fit in with the company culture and processes so that other agents recognize what the company deems appropriate and what it does not. You can discuss with presenters what they will share ahead of time to ensure you're not surprised by disclosures mid-meeting.

Communicating Changes

Anything that impacts the selling process or the company's sales revenue should be discussed in a sales meeting. In fact, this is often where companies discuss adoption of a new sales technique or methodology that agents should use or a new sales resource like implementation of a new customer relationship management, or CRM, tool. Regardless of the change, solicit feedback and get support from your sales force before the meeting concludes.