In the direct sales industry it’s not uncommon to have team meetings on a monthly or quarterly basis. If you have the same organizer(s) or presenter(s) each time, team members can get a feel for what to expect. Then once realistic expectations are set, it will decrease the likelihood of consultants being disappointed because they were hoping to learn something different at the meeting.
It’s been my experience that there are basically three types of meetings in direct selling:
- Get together and share ideas
- Awards, announcements and maybe a presentation
- Classic business meeting, where it’s all about the training and information
In my opinion, the first two are more typical of what you see in direct sales and more indicative of team meetings. Many enjoy this and that’s why they attend meetings. I, on the other hand, am all about option 3 – the business meeting. My knowledge, skills, abilities, experience and education are all in business, so I tend to treat my business and my mentoring of team members more like a traditional business.
I am used to and prefer meetings that have an agenda that is floated around prior to the meeting and ones that start on time and end on time. We’re all busy people; tell us what we need to know, stay on track, and let us get on with the rest of our day. I pride myself that I RMBLAB (Run My Business Like a Business).
I’m all for team bonding, acknowledgement and celebration but my opinion is that it doesn’t belong in an event called a meeting. I would prefer to see it called a Team Celebration or something of that nature. If I went to something called a meeting and it wasn’t meaty with information, I’d be disappointed and frustrated as my time is at a premium.
So what’s my point? Where am I going with all this? [Read more…] about Are Business Meetings and Team Meetings Synonymous?
