The agenda is the key to a successful meeting – it is the road map, the guide, the plan. Studies have shown that up to 70% of meetings either have no agenda or have a poor agenda which is not helpful. In this article, you will see that there are some steps which you can take to make sure your agenda will contribute to making your meeting more productive. There are also hidden advantages. If the agenda is well constructed, you will also spend less time in the meeting and more time actually doing the things the meeting determines need to be done!

Prepare an Agenda for a Meeting

1. Remember the key – the more detailed the agenda, the more focused and generally, the shorter the meeting will be.

2. You cannot expect intelligent decisions if people do not have time to think through the issues before the meeting. Therefore, agendas need to be sent out in advance, not given out at the meeting. People who have genuine desire to reach the best decision, and people who are organized, always have their agendas distributed in time for people to give thought to the issues.

3. Adopt the strict policy that if an item is not on the agenda, it will not be discussed at the meeting. Do not allow items to be raised without notice. Allow only true emergency items to be exempt and allow no other exceptions. Organized people have no difficulty with this. It is only disorganized or “slack” people who object to this because they cannot get their act together. Research shows, that if an item is raised without notice, the meeting will spend time talking about it, but then defer the decision until the next meeting anyway when there is notice given. It just wastes time.

4. Have a “cut-off” time for agenda items and make sure everyone knows the cut-off time and then also “publish” the distribution time for the agenda. So, for example, it would work like this: The minute taker would let everyone know that items for the agenda must be with the minute taker by, say, noon on Wednesday, the agendas will be sent out (by the minute taker) at say, 4.00pm Wednesday (allowing time for the pre-meeting meeting with the chair) and the meeting will be held at 3.00pm Thursday. Everyone would know the timetable for every meeting and then no-one has any excuse not to follow the timetable.

A second example for clarity: Let everyone know the cut-off time for agenda items is, say, noon on the third Thursday. The agenda will be emailed or faxed by close of business that same day, for the meeting on the following Monday.

5. Once you have all of the above in place, then you can eliminate business without notice. This is often called “general business” or “other business”. Modern meetings and the most competent chairs of meetings, adopt the practice – “if it isn’t on the agenda then it isn’t discussed”. Everyone has the same opportunity to put anything they want to on the agenda so no-one is disadvantaged.

6. Insert an agenda item immediately after Confirmation of the minutes – “Action Status Report”.  In this report (which is written, not verbal) you list the current status of every item of action which is outstanding, as well as the completed items assigned at the last meeting. The minute taker would prepare this document immediately before the meeting.

Example status statements are:  Completed, Not yet started, 70% completed, Completion expected in 3 days, Stalled – require resources, Stalled – Awaiting information or responses, Waiting for CEO’s signature, etc.

7. Once you have the Action Status Report in place, then you can eliminate Business Arising from the Minutes. Many people think that Business Arising from the minutes is going through every item on the last minutes and asking if there is anything to be said. This is a complete waste of time. Everything which would normally appear in business arising would either be in the Action Status report or will be worthy of an agenda item in its own right.

8. Sort all correspondence into 3 categories – 1. junk, 2. For information only, 3. Decision required and then eliminate correspondence as an item on the agenda.

Correspondence in category 1, (junk) should be disposed of. Correspondence in category 2 (For Information) should be placed in a manila folder or ring binder file and passed around the meeting for people to look at as the meeting progresses. There is no need to list it in the minutes. Correspondence in category 3 (Decision required) should each be listed on the agenda as a separate item – every decision as a separate item – so they can be dealt with at an appropriate time and in an appropriate way.

Outward correspondence has been sent – there is little to be gained by discussing letters which have been sent. Outward correspondence can be listed in the Action Status Report as its own item. It is pointless to confirm or ratify outgoing correspondence – it has been sent!

9. Place a (D) or an (I) next to every agenda item indicating whether it is a decision required item (D) or an information item (I).

10. Do not allow verbal reports without a written summary. Insist that every report is written and preferably no more than one page. That report is then included in the minutes. (It is not the minute takers job to write notes about someone’s report – it is up the person giving the report to provide their report for the minute taker to include.) The most effective chairs of meetings do not allow verbal reports unless they are accompanied by a written summary.

The next point is by far the most important. Make sure you adopt this and your meetings will run effectively and efficiently.

11. Finally, and most important, ensure that every agenda item shows clearly what is required from that item being on the agenda – not just a vague topic. Every agenda item needs to be expanded so that every person at the meeting knows clearly exactly what is required at the end of discussion on that item. Fort example, an item may require that a “decision to be made on which software the organization will buy;” or a second example, “decision required on whether or not to employ an extra admin person; or a third, “decision required on whether to extend the funding for the Acme Project and if so, by how much”. Once you have this in place, then your meetings will run smoothly and be much more focused.

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David Julian Price is known by his clients as “Mr Meetings”. He trains, coaches and consults with organizations in Australia and throughout the world on every aspect of meetings, particularly taking minutes, chairing meetings, managing and organizing meetings to get results, and governance. David is an internationally qualified Corporate Governance Professional. He can be contacted at www.davidprice.com or email at david@davidprice.com.

Conducting great meetings depends on several activities that occur before, during, and after each event. To help you establish the conditions for success and attain the very best results, this article lists essential tips on using meeting notices, agendas, and summaries.

Use Meeting Notices to Alert Your Attendees

Meeting notices act as an “early warning system” for your participants. You should use them regularly and give recipients plenty of lead time — for example, at least a week. Avoid surprising people with a last-minute summons that disrupts their entire day. Be sure your meeting notice includes all key information:

1) Meeting date
2) Starting and ending times
3) Purpose and objectives
4) List of participants
5) Location with directions or access instructions, and
6) Proposed agenda

That way, everyone will know exactly what to expect, what to do, what their time commitment is, and what’s in it for them!

Do All Meetings Need an Agenda?

You may be wondering whether an agenda is absolutely necessary. The answer is, it depends!

An agenda provides structure; however:

* the fewer the people involved
* the fewer the topics you’ll have to discuss
* the longer the time you have available, and
* the lower your expectations are…

…the less you’ll need structure to get something done. If, say, you’re just going out for a long lunch with a few people to toss around some ideas on a single topic, and you have no real expectations for what you need to accomplish, then you probably don’t need an agenda.

Conversely, if you:

* involve more people
* to discuss more subjects
* in a compressed time frame
* with some very specific expectations for the outcome…

…then an agenda is an indispensable tool to help people focus on achieving the desired results. Agendas not only prepare attendees for what to expect, they also keep the meeting focused, and make the summarizing aspects much easier.

A sample meeting notice and agenda appear below:

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Meeting Notice & Agenda
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Date:  Thursday, May 17, 2007

Time:  9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PST (a working lunch will be provided). For remote attendees, start at 11:00 CST, Noon EST, and 5:00 p.m. UTC.

Purpose & Objectives: The Human Resources Department requests your participation to explore the personnel development needs of the company’s centers of excellence in 2007-08. Based on the findings from this session, we will schedule follow-up events to fine-tune our planning process.

Requested Participants: Representatives from the following centers are asked to attend (or participate remotely via live Web seminar conferencing):

* Marketing/Sales
* Customer Service
* Product Development
* Quality Assurance
* Order Fulfillment
* Publications & Media Design
* Information Technology
* Training & Development

Location: The Cranberry Building, 246 South St., Room B18. Please park in the visitor area behind the building. You will receive parking validations at the meeting. Overnight accommodations and shuttle transportation will be arranged for participants flying in from other locations.

Remote Access Instructions: For those participating via Web seminar, use the standard company Web seminar link and access meeting #123456. You can listen using voice over IP (VoIP), or call the bridge line at +01-555-555-1212 and use access code 54545#. You will see all electronic slide presentations and can interact with the on-site meeting attendees through a Web seminar facilitator.

Proposed Agenda:

1. Overview and agenda review by the VP of Operations (30 min.)
2. Strategic Planning presentation (30 min.)
3. Brainstorming breakout sessions, with facilitators (90 min.)
4. Working lunch and reporting back to the main group (90 min.)
5. Discussion, wrap up, and a review of the next steps (60 min.)

Handouts will be available on the server 48 hours prior to the meeting. The meeting summary and recorded Web seminar will be available 48 hours afterward.

RSVP Requested: Please reply no later than April 19, 2007 with the names and contact information for the representatives from your group who will be attending, either on-site or remotely.
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What about the Meeting Summary?

The agenda and summary are the two anchor points for the whole meeting process. They represent the beginning (here’s what we aim to do) and the end (here’s what we did do).

To create a summary, you simply go down the agenda topics, record the key points, decisions, and action items, and voila! You have a summary. It’s really not that hard, but it does take a little time and discipline.

The summary helps ensure that the valuable time people spend in meetings will not be wasted, as the recorded ideas can proceed to drive future actions and decisions.

A sample meeting summary appears below:

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Meeting Summary
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This is a summary of the Strategic Planning & Brainstorming meeting held on May 17, 2007. The Human Resources Dept. called the meeting to explore the personnel development needs of the company’s centers of excellence in 2007-08. The following representatives participated…

Based on the findings from this session, we will schedule at least two follow-up events to fine-tune our planning process.

Summary:

* The meeting began with the overview and agenda review by the VP of Operations, followed by the Strategic Planning presentation given by the executive planning committee.

* The brainstorming breakout sessions surfaced a total of 47 major objectives from the centers of excellence, as follows…

* During the wrap-up and review session, 15 key action items emerged that Human Resources has agreed to investigate before the next scheduled planning session, as follows…

* Next Meeting Date: The next meeting will occur on the morning of June 14, 2007 from 9:00-12:00 PST. Further information about that event is forthcoming.
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In conclusion, meeting notices, agendas, and summaries encourage participants to contribute in an enthusiastic and meaningful way. They provide a robust structure that can compensate for any other aspects of meetings that are less than perfect.

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Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the creator of the “Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance” success program. To learn more about her tools and resources and sign up for other free tips like these, visit her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com

Minute Taking Has Changed

Taking meeting minutes has been around ever since business men and women got together to discuss their businesses. But taking meeting minutes is not just a requirement of corporate entities or professional businesses; schools, churches and other large organizations have a secretary on staffs who takes minutes as well. Professionals, whether they be part of a corporation, a school, or a church know that effective minute taking is essential for the smooth running of and for the success of the organization. However, minute taking has been changing with the times.

Just twenty years ago most of the technologies available in the world today were absent. It is very apparent that minute taking has moved together with the technological advances. Taking minutes today is not the same as it was twenty years ago; even ten years ago. Today’s effective minute taker makes use of both the advancements in technologies and the changing cultural environment of our world. The effective minute taker moves along with the changing times and stays ahead of the changing curve. Are you sure your organization records its minutes in the most effective way today? Here are a few points to consider about taking minutes effectively in today’s fast paced and changing world.

Half the Job is in the Agenda

When most secretaries or personnel involved in taking minutes for an organization are asked whether minutes are important to the organization, they’ll firmly state that they are. However, not many people realize that over half the task of taking the minutes is done in the preparation of the agenda. Effective minute takers today know that the meeting’s agenda is just as important as the minutes they are going to take. After all, the meeting’s discussion will be run on the schedule of the agenda. The effective modern minute taker knows that the relationship of the agenda and the meeting’s minutes is very strong and thus takes a key role in the preparation of the agenda.

It is actually estimated that between 60% and 70% of the modern minute taker’s work is done before the meeting begins. That seems to be so different from the “traditional” way of taking minutes where about 80% of the work is done during the meeting. The 60% to 70% involves making preparation for taking the minutes. Most of this work involves preparing the agenda. Preparing the agenda will allow you to know the flow of the meeting and thus prepare a document on which your minutes will be written. The other work involves studying previous minutes and documents passed around so that you can anticipate where the next discussion will lead. Preparing for the meeting this way will allow you to take down the minutes faster during the meeting than you would if you prepared without anticipation.

The Laptop vs the Hand

The world of business and organizations has become much faster ever since email became so widespread. Businessmen and -women have become so accustomed to email that they now want all documents completed much faster. This desire for speed has also spread to minute taking. Time is so critical today that holding up an organization’s progress because of incomplete or slowly-done minutes could conjure up serious trouble. The task of the modern minute taker then is not to shy away in defeat at this global desire for speed but to adapt to it and learn to take minutes faster than ever before.

The coming of email also brought with it the laptop computer. The laptop computer allows you to take minutes much faster than using your hand. Typing is much faster and much more efficient than writing. Today’s effective minute taker knows this. Save up for a laptop and learn to type at a speed of at least 40 words per minute. Not only will you be able to take your minutes faster, but you will also be able to correct any mistakes and make any edits right on your laptop. Are you worried that your typing will disturb everyone else at the meeting? You don’t have to. Laptop keyboards are created to be much quieter than desktop computers and typing is virtually silent.

Fast Completion Techniques

Today’s time critical world means that not only do you have to take down your minutes faster than ever before, but that you also have to complete them faster than ever before. Among the technologies that have been enhanced since the past twenty years is air travel. Today’s world is much more interconnected than ever before. Meetings are held in various cities across the globe and many of the participants come from different cities or even different countries. Very few businessmen and -women will wait for minutes that will take a day to complete. All this means that to be an efficient minute taker, you have to have the minutes completed that day.

You can complete your meeting’s meetings that very hour if you learn a few techniques. Firstly, you should use a laptop to take your minutes. Typing is faster and much more efficient than writing. Then because you’re taking down the words faster as you are typing, you should use whole words and whole sentences and not shorthand. Using whole words and sentences will ensure that the minutes of the meeting are completed just the meeting is ending. All you’ll need to do is some quick editing after that. But you don’t end there. You could print the meetings out and hand a copy to each participant. Not only will you have completed all your work right there and then, but the participants of the meeting will be glad to receive the minutes that very hour and will consider you an efficient minute taker indeed.

Today’s Smart Minute Taker

To be an effective minute taker today means more than just working quickly and getting the minutes done on time. You also need to use certain smart techniques to make your job easier. Today, many organizations are adopting the table format of recording minutes. This format allows the minutes to be displayed in a table and makes them easier to read. How you record the minutes is also changing today. With a small number of exceptions, recording the names of people and restating what they said at the meeting’s discussion is no longer necessary. Modern minutes are action oriented. They focus on actions taken, issues undertaken and decisions made only. They do not record the discussion. You should also never tape record your meetings. Tape recording your meetings may seem easier at the onset but it actually creates more work than it saves.

Businesses and other organizations survive and die depending on how well they adapt to changes in the market and in the general environment. The same applies to minute takers today. The world is changing faster than ever before. You ability to stay ahead of the changing curve and keep up to date is critical to your success. Because your job as a minute taker is so critical to the progress of the organization, it is absolutely essential that you stay a step ahead of the changing world. To constantly be effective you need to keep looking for fresh ideas and methods of doing your job better. You need to constantly try alternative methods until you find one that keeps up with the modern times. Doing this will ensure you always remain the effective minute taker.

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David Julian Price is “Mr Meetings”. He trains, coaches and consults with organizations in Australia and throughout the world on every aspect of meetings, particularly minute taking, chairing meetings, managing and organizing meetings to get results, and governance. He can be contacted at www.davidprice.com or email at david@davidprice.com.

When you are looking to hold an annual general meeting
(AGM), there are a variety of things to consider when
selecting an appropriate venue to host the gathering.  Not
only will you be looking for a suitable professional venue
to reflect the image and purpose of the company or trust,
you will also need to consider the availability of
professional and business support services, location and
accessibility, comfortable accommodations for meetings that
last days rather than a few hours, and the size of venue
that can hold your attendees.

Annual general meetings (AGM) for many companies and trust
organisations are major highlights of the business year
requiring a great deal of logistical organisation.  These
meetings also provide an opportunity to demonstrate to
shareholders and investors the results of business
performance over the last financial year as well as
management plans for the future.  It is essential that the
right venue be selected, as proper consideration in
choosing the venue to hold your annual general meeting will
pay good dividends.

Consider the number of attendees you are likely to expect,
and bear in mind that if you are a publicly listed company,
this may run into hundreds or thousands that may or may not
decide to turn up on the day.  You may be looking to
combine your annual general meeting with other company
related events such as a product launch, PR event, or
training courses that shareholders and staff may
participate in, and this also needs to be factored into
your decision for hosting the events.  Once you have a
realistic estimate of the number of attendees, consider the
ability of the venue to handle spillover numbers, not just
for seating capacity but also parking, food services, and
overnight guests.

The geographical location of the venue for the annual
general meeting (agm) also must be seriously thought
through.  Many meetings take place in London every day;
however, before you decide to follow the herd or hold a
meeting at the main operational location, take some time to
look at where your shareholders and stakeholders are
actually located.  Some organisations deliberately host
their annual general meetings at different locations around
the country in order to be able to show off differing parts
of the company or geographical divisions and dovetail this
with what the change of scenery has to offer.  The National
Trust for instance, holds its annual general meeting at a
different venue each year to provide management and
stakeholders with the opportunity to sample first hand the
efforts of the Trust.

The availability of overnight accommodations is also an
important factor to consider when selecting your venue for
hosting the annual general meeting.  In this instance, the
cost is primarily borne by the guests attending and not the
company itself, so the ability to offer a range of
accommodations to suit the varying budgets of your
attendees becomes a good plus point.  Bear in mind that
quality accommodations will be required for company guests
such as potential major investors and business partners who
will be attending.  These are likely to be required to be
close at hand in order to facilitate business meetings and
negotiations outside the main event.

It should go without saying that communication and
transport links are essential, particularly for meetings
that will only be held for the day.  Proximity to rail and
road links that will allow travel to and from the venue
comfortably will go some way to ensuring that attendees
arrive fresh and able to conduct the business of the day.
Consider what shuttle transport services the venue is able
to provide to collect and return attendees to the train
station or airport, bearing in mind that attendees will be
voting on company resolutions such as director’s
remuneration and their ability to serve on the board for
the forthcoming year and to an extent they need to be
catered for.

The ability to provide a wide variety of services such as
corporate hospitality and business support services will
also mark out those venues that are suitable for hosting
your annual general meetings (agm).  Asking your
prospective venue providers what experience they have in
hosting PR events, corporate hospitality provision,
training, and team building exercises will help you gain an
idea of the professional capability of the venue.
Combining these ancillary factors together with the more
obvious considerations such as hotel size and location will
help you narrow down the choices available to you for
hosting the meeting.

Whatever the choice you make, it is important to keep in
the forefront of your mind what the annual general meeting
(agm) is for and who will be there.  This is the meeting
where management and shareholders meet and vote on issues
facing the company for the immediate future.  How well the
shareholders are catered for is a direct reflection upon
how important management considers shareholders to be.  The
image that is projected by the selection of the venue will
also reflect directly upon how the company is perceived by
the shareholders themselves, and it is they who own the
company.

—————————————————-
Free Venue Finding Service UK & Worldwide
visit http://www.jigsawconferences.co.uk
+ 44 (0)8700 490000 FREE call back service
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Minute taking has changed over the years. The requirements and expectations of the 21st century are very different from the expectations even 10, but certainly 20 and 30 years ago. Here are some points for you to consider about minutes and taking minutes.

Minutes are written for people who were at the meeting, not for people who were not! They are not designed to be a story to tell everyone who was not at the meeting, what went on. It may be smart to publish the key decisions but that is all.

Around 60% – 70% of the minute taker’s work is done before the meeting begins. Most but not all of this work is in the preparation of the agenda. The agenda is essentially the draft minutes! Most experienced minute takers know this.

If the minute taker is to do the job properly, then he or she must be involved in physically preparing the agenda. The Agenda is your secret weapon!

Shorthand is not a necessary skill for a good minute taker. People who take minutes using shorthand sometimes take very poor minutes. The reason is that they are trained to take verbatim minutes and taking verbatim minutes rarely makes good business sense in today’s world of work. Remember, meetings are not a court of law.

Modern minute takers take the minutes directly onto a laptop computer, edit as they go, and then email them to the participants (often from the meeting room) so that the minutes are “at the participants’ desks” often before they arrive themselves. Research shows that between 50% and 60% of experienced minute takers now take the minutes directly onto a computer.

The last type of paper to take into a meeting for the minutes is an A4 pad or a shorthand notebook. You need to taking in pre-prepared blank “forms” which you complete as the meeting progresses.

With a very small number of exceptions, recording the names of who said what and the details of the discussion which takes place is no longer required in minutes. Generally, no-one is interested in who said what, they are interested in the outcome. Often it is the ego centered people or the manipulative people who want their name recorded in the minutes – no-one else cares! There are obviously some legal situations where the names are required, but foe the majority of meetings, they are not required.

Modern minutes are action oriented, and record issues and decisions and action only, not discussion.

Many modern minutes are taken in a table format like a spreadsheet. Contact the author for examples if you are not sure how these work.

Using a tape recorder is counter-productive and creates far more work rather than saving work as well as some Freedom Of Information complications. Smart minute takers never tape their meetings. It creates far more work and frequently leads to unnecessary conflict when people say “I didn’t say that” and the tape clearly captures them saying it.

Modern minute takers spend very little time “transcribing” their notes – the minutes are virtually finished as the meeting finishes because they take them efficiently as the meeting progresses.

In every type of meeting, the minute taker has a crucial role to play and therefore needs to be an active, although perhaps relatively silent, participant.  There will be times when you must speak. To do this you must sit next to the person in the chair. (A chairperson who understands their own role and yours, will not let you sit anywhere else!)

Taking minutes is a job which few people enjoy but it is usually because they think that taking the minutes involves them capturing every word that is said. Once you change your mindset to one that understands that the purpose of minutes is to capture the issues, the decisions and the major reasons, and then the action that is required, taking minutes becomes a lot easier – almost enjoyable.

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David Julian Price is known by his clients as “Mr Meetings”. He trains, coaches and consults with organizations in Australia and throughout the world on every aspect of meetings, particularly taking minutes, chairing meetings, managing and organizing meetings to get results, and governance. David  is an internationally qualified Corporate Governance Professional. He can be contacted at www.davidprice.com or email at david@davidprice.com

Most people hate going to meetings.  They get tired of
wasting time, off-the-topic discussions, and generally not
accomplishing much.  Each meeting participant bears a
certain amount of responsibility in these situations, of
course, but the majority of the blame falls squarely on the
person charged with running, or facilitating, the meeting.

A good chair knows how to make sure the meeting proceeds
smoothly, makes the most of the time allowed, and that
everyone who participates feels valued and heard.

Common mistakes made by most people who run meetings Many
people who run meetings have little training. They will
make some common mistakes, such as:

• Running the meeting in a dictatorial style
• Giving his or her opinion first
• Viewing themselves as “in charge” or “the boss” of the
meeting
• Ignoring quiet people or those who don’t actively
participate
• Focus on the results they want, not the results that the
group wants

You have probably found yourself in meetings where these
behaviors are evident and you probably also know that those
meetings are not very productive. And perhaps you have even
done some of these things yourself when you were running a
meeting.

The good news is that anyone can become great at running
meetings.  It just takes some knowledge and understanding
of what it takes to improve followed by practice and
continuous improvement.

Characteristics of a great meeting chair If you have ever
had an opportunity to be in a meeting run by a great chair,
you know that his or her skills can make a huge difference.
But have you ever paid close attention to exactly what
that person does during a meeting that makes him or her
such a good chair?

Most people who run great meetings share the following
characteristics:

• Focus on the process of the meeting
• Runs meetings in a friendly, welcoming atmosphere
• Has an appropriate sense of humour
• Listens a lot and says very little
• Reads and understands the nuances of body language and
non-verbal communication
• Acknowledges and manages conflict
• Skilfully manages and balances people, tasks, and results
• Understands that the more agreement there is in a
meeting, the more successful the resulting action(s) will be

Some of these characteristics are obvious, others are more
subtle and you have to pay close attention to notice them.
The next time you are in a meeting that is being well run,
look for these characteristics and take note of the key
behaviors that occur.

Key behaviors of someone who is good at running meetings
These can vary somewhat, but most commonly include:

• First words on any new issue are “What do you think?”
• Give their own opinion last
• Speak after others have spoken
• Call on and draw out quieter people
• Clarify and check for understanding of discussions,
words, actions and resolutions
• At the end of each agenda item, ask the minute taker to
read aloud what has been recorded and check for agreement
within the group

How can you become great at running meetings? There are a
variety of other steps you can take.

Training – get some training.

Practice – Take what you have learned and put it into
practice.  Don’t try to change everything at once, but do
pick two or three things to start with and gradually add in
more as you become more comfortable with the “new” you.

Mentor/Coach – If you know someone who is already excellent
at running meetings, ask him or her to mentor or coach you
on your technique.  Your mentor may be someone who
regularly participates in meetings you generally lead, or
you can arrange to have him or her sit in and simply
observe you.

Tell Others – In some cases, it is helpful to let others
know that you are working on improvements so that they can
support you and help you along the way.  This tends to work
best in smaller groups where there is a strong bond or
trust level established.

Feedback – Ask for feedback after every meeting, but make
sure participants have a mechanism for providing it that is
discreet and allows them the freedom to be specific.

Why bother to go to all that effort? The ability to run a
great meeting is not just a nice skill to have so that
people will enjoy participating in your meetings.  It is a
career-enhancing skill that generates better results from
your meetings, and it makes you more valuable to your
employer.

Think about it for a moment.  When you go into a meeting
that is going to be run by someone who is lousy at it, what
is your attitude?  Do you go in willingly and happily,
ready to do your best work?  Or do you dread it and just
try to get through it as quickly as possible?

People who run great meetings get the most from the people
around them and attract people who want to do their best.
And that is worth every bit of effort it takes to develop
and hone your skills.

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David Julian Price is “Mr Meetings”. He consults in all
matters to do with meetings, chairing, minute taking and
governance and works throughout Australia and overseas.
Ph: Australia +61 8 9383 9499
http://www.davidprice.com
david@davidprice.com

Copyright (c) 2007 Audrey Burton

Your sales meeting could be a fr’ee consultation, in person
or by telephone, a demonstration, or it could be in your
store.  It could be long or short.  The big question is:
Who controls the meeting?

Customer service is hugely important, and it starts with
the sales meeting.  You are the expert in your industry and
the expert regarding your specific product/service.  If you
allow the prospect to do all the talking and ask all the
questions, you lose the opportunity to show the prospect
how well your product will fulfill their needs and solve
their problems.

You are not doing your potential customer any favors by
allowing them to take control.  Also, when you come to the
meeting with an agenda you look very professional and
organized.

You can have several intentions with your agenda, but the
main one should be to get the sale!  For me, since I so
enjoy my fr’ee consultations, I have to additionally use my
agenda to keep me on track so I keep the length of the
meeting reasonable.

On your agenda, you should have open-ended questions.
These questions do not have a “yes” or “no” or other such
specific answer.  Examples of open ended questions include:
- What is it you most want?
- Would you please tell me about _______?
- What problem are you currently experiencing with your
______
- How are you currently handling this problem?
- If you could change something about your ________, what
would it be?
- How do you think I could help you?

Then, if you want more information or if you sense there is
something more to what they have already told you, you can
ask:
- Could you please tell me more about that?
- Anything else?

The most important skill you will need to be a great
salesperson is LISTENING.  The prospect will list for you
all their selling points – all the reasons they need your
product.  Many people need to be heard.  If you really
listen, you may get the sale based solely on this ability.
Also, you may have heard that you should only talk 20
percent of the time, but I think this depends on your
product or service.  For coaches and consultants, the
prospect often wants to hear us talk – they are getting
fr’ee advice they would otherwise have to pay for!  Just do
not over-do it.

Here is an example of a basic sales meeting agenda –
1. Ask open-ended questions that will give you the
information you need to sell them your product, and will
demonstrate to the prospect that you care about their needs.
2. Tell them just enough about your product or service so
they will begin understanding how your product could
benefit them – resist the urge to vomit information on
them, and don’t talk about yourself!  Unless they ask, they
usually don’t really care about you.
3. Close the sale by putting their needs together with your
product.  (What I do is demonstrate my coaching by coaching
the prospect around the issues they mentioned to me,
demonstrating value.  I then summarize what we could work
on together and how they would benefit, drawing on the
needs they already outlined earlier.)

One more question you can ask, if it fits into your agenda,
is:
Do you know anyone else who could benefit from my services?

Then you need to ask for the sale!

—————————————————-
Audrey Burton, Small Business Coach, is “The Tigress”.  Get
her FR’EE Special Report, “Closing the Sale is Not
Complicated!” and her FR’EE monthly email newsletter at
http://www.TigressCoaching.com .