Archive for March, 2006

In 1939 Hitler was asked to name Germany’s most potent weapon of war. Hitler gave a strange but accurate reply. He said, “My most potent weapons are my 60,000 motion picture projectors.” And Hitler was right, heavy use of propaganda movies created a fanatic loyalty to the Nazi cause, while liberal use of training films helped shape a well-trained military machine.

The projectors gave Hitler a huge advantage in mass communications, after movie houses and public meeting halls were brought under control. Viewers saw only what it was intended for them to see, and the results are recorded in history. Audio-visual aids proved their value beyond any doubt. Audio-visual aids have also proved their value in sales meetings. They’re splendid for instruction and motivating salesmen. The use of such aids is good showmanship, too, as meetings become more lively when spiced with something extra to see or hear.

Movies and filmstrips are often misused

Except for blackboards, the aids most commonly used in sales meetings are movies and filmstrips. But movies and filmstrips are often misused. What frequently happens is this: a sales executive hears of a new film, or happens to see it at a meeting outside his company. His natural reaction is to want all his salespeople to see it. So he obtains the film and has it shown to his personnel. He works the meeting into the film instead of working the film into the meeting.

This is wrong. Any visual aid should be used as a means to an end, because the objective of the meeting is the desired end result. The visual aid is only a means of accomplishing that end result, and instead of building a program around a visual aid, you should base the meeting on company and employee needs. Then select the aids that will help most in satisfying those needs.

When properly used, however, visual aids add color and showmanship. They increase the effectiveness of any meeting. They give the presentation a professional touch and make it more acceptable to the audience. Attention and interest are greater. The audience will better understand the material presented and will retain it longer.

A novel idea is that of a corporate “character.” Several firms have adopted a mannequin, others a dressmaker’s dummy. They use the prop again and again. It adds a feeling of realism, as the dummy can be a customer who “listens” to sales presentations and “voices” objections. Or he can typify the company salesman, or serve as the symbol of good salesmanship.

Corporate “characters” have been named Sammy Surefire, Georgie Gogetter, and Willie Salesmaker. A producer of mens’ hats named his “character” Harry the Hat, while a manufacturer of ladies’ skirts selected the monicker Fanny Fullskirt. In some instances corporate “characters” have become as much a part of the organization as the coffee break.

Variety Is the Spice of Life

As you can see, there are many ways to give a flavor of variety to your meetings. Keep your salesmen guessing. Variety is truly the spice of sales meetings as well as the spice of life.

When more variety is needed, use some of the ideas explained in this chapter. They will spark still other ideas ideas of your own. Use them. Be a showman. Good showmanship is essential.

HOW TO USE VARIETY AND SHOWMANSHIP
Rotate Chairmanship* * Goal Merchandise
Seminar* * * * Christmas Presents
Panel Discussion* * Quiz Programs
The Big Switch* * * Contests
Discussion Groups* * Steak-Bean Dinner
“Interpreters”* * * Candle or Ice
Courtroom Procedure* * Interruptions
Impromptu Speakers* * Skits
Costuming* * * Crossovers
Outside Speakers* * Giveaways
The Great Swami* * * Jackpot
Coroner’s Inquest* * Promptness Drawing
Entertainment* * * Testimonials
Interviews* * * Corporate “Characters”

Some marketing firms do not enjoy an employer-employee relationship with their salespeople. These sales companies must work exceptionally hard at conducting good sales meetings, as attendance can hardly be required when an employer-employee relationship does not exist. The salespeople are independent contractors. Because less can be required, attendance at meetings is often low. Further, some of the people attending may not be very productive. Under those conditions, a jackpot drawing can do much toward improving the situation.

As people enter the meeting room, they sign slips of paper which are put in a large bowl. When the meeting begins, a slip is drawn from the bowl and the name is read aloud. The person whose name is drawn must prove he has made at least a minimum number of sales since the previous meeting. If he can do this he receives the jackpot.

This type of drawing is good for several reasons: it helps get people to the meeting, it encourages them to get there on time, it gets them there with a sale or two to their credit, and it adds sparkle to the affair. Perhaps a promptness drawing or some sort of jackpot will give a flair of showmanship to your meetings. Why not try it?

A manufacturing firm featured a bedroom suit as the promptness prize; however, when the prize was given away it proved to be a pair of pajamas!

Let them tell about the benefits

Testimonials help sell sales meetings. Some of the more popular and successful salesmen are asked to give testimonials. They tell exactly what sales meetings have done for them. To pinpoint it, a salesman reports on how he was helped by something presented at the previous meeting or he even tells of benefits received from the meeting presently being conducted.

It’s refreshing to the audience to hear such comments from salesmen, because too often they come from company officials. It’s a good way to vary the routine.

Small giveaways help make one meeting different from the others. At a meeting designed to motivate, those present were given lapel type badges. Printed on each badge was “IRMG-BGOMB.” The letters stand for “I’ll Reach My Goal By Getting Off My Bottom!”

One firm, putting emphasis on its first advertisement in a national magazine, passed out large lapel buttons containing the words, “I’ve seen it-have you?” Any novel idea related to the theme of the meeting might be used as a giveaway. At a meeting based on the Valentine theme, wives and sweethearts were invited and small heart-shaped boxes of candy were distributed. On another occasion, hats that reflected the theme were passed out and donned on the spot.

At a meeting of salesmen who were all being compensated on a commission basis, large wallets were given away. The name of the salesman was engraved on his billfold, making the gift personalized. The wallets were, “For carrying the additional commissions you’ll make by applying the information imparted at this meeting.”

Another unique giveaway is an unsigned check. A company in Texas offered $50 to every salesman who produced a certain amount of volume within a specified period of time. An unsigned check for the $50 bonus was made in favor of each salesman. The checks were distributed at a meeting. The men kept the checks as constant reminders of the extra “half-hundred” that could be earned. This made the cash offer more meaningful, caused everyone to work harder at earning it.

The crossover, a technique of the theater, tends to animate a meeting. Signs are carried across the stage, the bearers remaining silent. Each sign contains a major point. As the point is made verbally, it is also made visually. Another use of such signs is in providing humor. As an example, the point of a speaker’s talk might be, “Know your merchandise.” At the proper time someone crosses with a sign which states, “Only a goof …” A few steps behind him there’s another person, his sign stating, “Would ever fail …” Then comes the third person, his sign saying, “To know his merchandise!” All crossovers are rehearsed to perfect the timing. Persons crossing the stage act casual-even a little indifferent.

Skits can be an effective means of keeping interest. The best skits are the short ones only a minute or two in length. Through the use of skits some valuable lessons can be put across in a way that will be remembered. Here are some skits that have been successfully put on at various meetings. They are effective because they are brief, lively and easily staged. Each of these should spark several ideas for skits of your own.

Six skits you can use

1.* At a prearranged time a salesman in the audience starts moaning loud as if suddenly stricken quite ill. Two other sales men rush him to the front of the room and supposedly inject five hundred thousand units of “spizzerinktum” from a five gallon water bottle. Promptly revived, the salesman starts showing enthusiasm. He grabs an order book and rushes out of the room as if to call on prospective customers, following which someone gives a few words on the need for enthusiasm.
2.* Any salesman is called to the front and asked to hold his breath as long as he can. The emcee acts as timekeeper. After the time has been announced (usually 20 or 25 seconds), the emcee gives the salesman a goal at which to shoot, adding ten or fifteen seconds to the time of the initial try. The same fellow holds his breath again. Invariably, he will hold it long enough to attain the goal set for him. The moral should then be explained: one always
does better when he has a goal.
3.* Two members of the audience start arguing in a very realistic manner. They get louder, so the emcee asks them to be quiet. They continue arguing until the emcee asks them to come to the front and explain the disagreement. One gives the opinion that servicing a customer is more important than obtaining the account in the first place. But the other argues that service is of little importance. A show of hands by the audience decides the issue. The point is then further clinched by the emcee’s remarks.
4.* Someone posing as a newsboy interrupts at an appropriate time, yelling “Extra, extra! Salesman shot for asking for the order!” The emcee then explains that no such headline has ever been printed, that no such paper will ever be sold. No salesman has ever been shot because he asked for the order. “You won’t get hurt because of it, and you might make more sales. So always ask for the order!”
5.* Three people are called to the front and given balloons to blow up. The emcee explains that each balloon represents the individual’s opportunity with the company. All blow together to see who can make the most of his opportunity. By prearrangement, one person tries in vain to inflate his balloon. The next inflates his but lets it go. The third inflates his balloon until it bursts. The emcee then points out that the first person didn’t make anything of his opportunity, and that the second person let the opportunity get away from him. “But the third person burst the opportunity wide open. And that’s what we want to do-burst this opportunity wide open!”
6.* At a suitable time in the program a salesman in the audience hollers-”I want to become a top producer. How can I do it?” The emcee has the man come to the front and stick his head in a bucket of water. The salesman soon needs to breathe and struggles to get his head out. But the emcee holds his head down a few seconds longer to create a real struggle. After the salesman gets his head out, the emcee says, “When you want to be a top producer as badly as you wanted to get your head out of that water, then you’ll be a top producer that’s how to do it!”