Episode 97

Why Your Monday Morning Sales Meetings Are Killing Productivity

Are your Monday morning sales meetings a waste of time? Leah Bumphrey, Paul Boomer, and Dennis Collins dive into the pitfalls of traditional sales meetings and explore innovative ways to make them more engaging and productive. Discover how changing the format and fostering creativity can transform your team's start to the week. Connect With Us Website: ConnectAndConvertPodcast.com Got a "true confession" or a question you want us to cover? Email connectandconvert@wizardofads.com

Transcript
Leah:

Monday morning sales meetings.

Leah:

I remember when the first one I ever went to and I was like 19 and I wasn't in sales.

Leah:

I wanted to be and it was here we go and we sit down and it's Monday and you got to be there for 8.05.

Leah:

You're in the big boardroom and somebody brings the donuts and who gets the fritter and who gets the one with the donuts.

Leah:

It's the biggest waste of an hour.

Leah:

I think Monday morning sales meetings should be eliminated.

Leah:

I think they're garbage.

Dennis:

Garbage.

Dennis:

Really?

Leah:

Garbage.

Dennis:

Well,

Leah:

I

Dennis:

so that's interesting.

Dennis:

I'm a little shocked hearing that from you because

Leah:

know.

Dennis:

one of your superpowers is that you are a great storyteller and

Dennis:

Ah, so Monday morning meetings. Yes, I've had a tortured relationship with Monday morning meetings for my whole life.

Dennis:

But here's one thing that I, that you mentioned that I think can be beneficial.

Dennis:

When I heard my colleagues around the table say,

Dennis:

oh, hey,

Dennis:

I sold this person, I sold this business,

Dennis:

I sold this, I sold that, and they told the story, the obstacles they had and what they had to overcome to get that sale,

Dennis:

I actually learned something from that.

Dennis:

Okay.

Leah:

don't you think that organically it would happen if you're all in the pit and you're chatting like this sit around the boardroom tables and

Dennis:

Maybe.

Leah:

you got these boring sales manager doing this

Dennis:

Well, there you go.

Dennis:

Maybe the leader of the meeting is what you're objecting to.

Dennis:

Are you objecting to the meeting or to the leader of the meeting?

Leah:

Okay, well,

Leah:

there's been moments where it's been the leader,

Leah:

but sometimes it's just the format.

Leah:

Is there not a better format?

Dennis:

Yes. What's the format?

Dennis:

All right, Leah,

Dennis:

you brought this up.

Dennis:

What if you could change and control the format of every Monday morning meeting?

Dennis:

What would it be?

Leah:

i'm glad you asked paul you're gonna love this it's about the culture okay so it starts with the you know you got to have the coffee you have the donuts and then around why not instead of having

Leah:

Every week, it's Leah in charge of the meeting. You rotate it so that it's something a little bit different.

Leah:

I've been in meetings where.

Leah:

someone was assigned to bring something fun video man there's so many fun videos on on youtube but back in the day even having a dvd where it's get everybody laughing get everybody talking and then use that as a jumping off board just but but put the responsibility so it's paul one week and then leah and then dennis and then yahoo and then you know

Dennis:

I

Leah:

And don't she's entitled to her opinion.

Dennis:

know.

Dennis:

That's an interesting thought.

Dennis:

I like it. So different leaders every week and different kind of icebreakers like a video or some type of.

Dennis:

activity or

Leah:

i would exercise bring that

Dennis:

or

Leah:

so you pull

Dennis:

something

Leah:

it in and i'd make omelets for everybody like what's with the donuts why why are donuts a thing like

Dennis:

yeah I don't eat the donuts so I'd come for your omelets or whatever

Leah:

i'll make your little and then you're interested in coming and you have it all going or i don't even care if it's something microwaved or you bring something from like there's just got to be a better way to keep it engaging as opposed to

Dennis:

So why do you think apparently you have attended a few Monday morning meetings that were less than stellar?

Leah:

Yep

Dennis:

Why do you think that is?

Dennis:

What what's causing that to happen?

Dennis:

Like you said, you have.

Dennis:

endless possibilities of how you can make a meeting interesting but most people don't what's the problem there

Leah:

They're agenda driven.

Leah:

It's boring.

Dennis:

you

Leah:

It's this to this to this to this and you got to be there for an hour because that's what the magic book says.

Dennis:

got to be there for an hour so

Leah:

You got to stay for an hour.

Dennis:

when do you do you get a have you ever had a chance to lead a monday morning meeting

Dennis:

And what

Leah:

and

Dennis:

did you do?

Paul:

look at that smile dennis look at that smile i have drawn

Leah:

i don't know it's funny you should ask but

Dennis:

It's funny,

Dennis:

yeah.

Leah:

but but you keep getting it's like the godfather you get drawn back into the stupidity every time you have to join another

Paul:

back

Leah:

meeting

Paul:

into stupidity

Leah:

yes it's obscene

Dennis:

Well, what did you do that was different?

Dennis:

Tell me, you know, you're advocating here.

Dennis:

And you're making a great point, but, you know, I would like to hear what your solution would be.

Dennis:

What did you do when you did it?

Leah:

Simple stuff. Simple stuff. Sitting in a different chair.

Leah:

Whoever is chairing, don't be at the

Dennis:

front. Sitting in a different chair?

Leah:

A different chair.

Leah:

You know, you're at the big boardroom table and you're always Yeah, at the front.

Dennis:

but everybody likes to sit in the same chair. Ever notice that? People like to sit in the same chair.

Dennis:

Don't let them.

Leah:

Don't disrupt them. Absolutely.

Dennis:

Dennis:

Make them feel uncomfortable.

Dennis:

Yes.

Dennis:

Strike that.

Leah:

Right.

Leah:

And do something that challenge something, do something a little bit different. I've had meetings where, you know what, everybody all of a sudden has a different kind of chocolate bar where they're sitting,

Leah:

or you, you give them coloring pages. Don't laugh, you guys, coloring pages,

Dennis:

Coloring

Leah:

they're, they're

Dennis:

pages?

Leah:

little.

Leah:

Yes.

Leah:

They sit down and immediately they're doodling or they turn them over and they start using it for notes. It doesn't matter.

Leah:

Change up.

Leah:

I just,

Dennis:

So

Leah:

what

Dennis:

how does this forward the business purpose for that meeting?

Leah:

is the purpose of the meeting? And that's, I

Dennis:

Well,

Leah:

guess that's

Dennis:

it's a business, you're in a business,

Dennis:

and I assume that has to have something to do with that business,

Dennis:

right?

Dennis:

So how does coloring relate back to the goals of the business?

Leah:

Because if you change, you change how you're thinking about something.

Leah:

If you are surprised,

Leah:

wizardacademy.org,

Leah:

what does it teach us?

Leah:

Surprise Broca,

Leah:

surprise the brain,

Leah:

and all of a sudden something else happens.

Leah:

Why is Monday morning memos? It's about you go down the rabbit hole because when you look at something over here, all of a sudden I'm going to have a solution.

Leah:

for this problem here any

Dennis:

So you're saying use these different activities to stimulate creativity or stimulate idea generation.

Dennis:

Is that what you're talking about?

Leah:

connection and yes just just something completely different

Paul:

I'm

Leah:

i had

Paul:

picking up

Leah:

a in

Paul:

the fact that

Leah:

high school i had a great teacher and he

Paul:

I'm going to point out the fact that Dennis keeps saying it's a business meeting,

Paul:

it's a business meeting, it's a business meeting.

Paul:

Yes, it's a business meeting,

Paul:

but what operates a business?

Paul:

Who operates a business?

Paul:

People.

Paul:

People operate a business.

Paul:

So why would you not engage them the way that they want to be engaged with?

Paul:

So that their productivity,

Paul:

so that their creativity,

Paul:

so that their problem solving solution,

Paul:

so that all these things are heightened and even better.

Dennis:

How

Paul:

Sure.

Dennis:

do they want to be engaged with? That's a great question.

Paul:

Well,

Paul:

I think we'll leave for president is what I'm saying.

Paul:

But if Leah can't be president,

Paul:

you know what? Fine.

Paul:

The leader of a business should ask,

Paul:

hey, how do you guys want to make this Monday morning meeting happen?

Dennis:

Ah, so

Paul:

Ask the

Dennis:

ask

Paul:

damn question.

Dennis:

the damn question,

Dennis:

Paul says.

Dennis:

Yes, ask the damn question.

Dennis:

So what do you guys think would

Leah:

I'm

Dennis:

be the answer

Leah:

anywhere

Dennis:

to that?

Leah:

with a walk.

Dennis:

A walk?

Dennis:

What do you mean you walk somewhere?

Leah:

Take the team on a walk.

Leah:

Yeah, go for a walk. Go for

Dennis:

How

Leah:

a walk.

Dennis:

did that work out?

Dennis:

How did that work out?

Leah:

It was great.

Leah:

It was a great

Dennis:

So

Leah:

experience.

Dennis:

what was accomplished at that?

Dennis:

Except what?

Dennis:

I couldn't hear you.

Leah:

it's called when you go for a walk you you have no control over the conversations that are happening right but it sneaks on to your week differently so it was good it was actually it was very

Dennis:

So

Leah:

positive

Dennis:

what did you personally get out of the walk?

Dennis:

What did you take away from the walk?

Leah:

it was a refreshing

Leah:

different way to begin your day right you walk across the street to the coffee shop so the sales down you could have been walking across here but

Dennis:

You could have done that by yourself. You didn't need to walk with the group.

Leah:

again back to what you were saying it's about business so we're trying to inspire people in business so they come back they sit at their desk and they're like I think one of the best things that can happen in our day is after you meet with someone

Leah:

and and you you go home at the end of your day because you love going to work you love coming home and then you're able to say oh Sean you'll never guess what happened today for a sales meeting we ended up walking over to the picnic table and the sales manager had coffee there waiting for us and man there was this bird that was singing and kept everybody crapped out because it was crazy and then we started feeding the squirrels and then yeah then we went back to work

Leah:

It's something. It's something engaging.

Leah:

Change

Dennis:

Interesting.

Leah:

your mind.

Dennis:

Leah:

I just want all of our listeners,

Leah:

all of our viewers,

Leah:

if you're a small business owner,

Leah:

change how you react to people.

Leah:

Paul,

Leah:

you're the big culture guy.

Leah:

Dennis,

Leah:

you lived this.

Leah:

But when we're willing to do something different,

Leah:

I think it's important.

Leah:

It's important to see the problem ahead.

Dennis:

I, you know.

Dennis:

I totally agree.

Dennis:

The way we ran our business in Miami was exactly like that.

Dennis:

Total surprises. We surprised people.

Dennis:

We did things they didn't expect.

Dennis:

We had events both during the workday and after the workday.

Dennis:

We did family events.

Dennis:

We did, you know, like lunches. We would cater a lunch at a hotel or something nearby and have a guest speaker,

Dennis:

have somebody that had something to offer.

Dennis:

like a lunch and learn so i agree with that i agree with that but why don't more people do that it's available to everyone this

Leah:

I think people get into this little box of business,

Leah:

a box of business,

Leah:

box of business,

Leah:

box of business,

Leah:

and they forget business is part of life.

Paul:

This is

Leah:

Well,

Dennis:

is

Paul:

part

Leah:

you

Dennis:

it can life

Paul:

of

Leah:

get,

Paul:

the people

Dennis:

or

Leah:

yep,

Dennis:

is it life as part of business

Leah:

I love it.

Paul:

All

Leah:

Okay,

Paul:

right.

Leah:

so I want everybody listening,

Leah:

if you have an interesting way to keep those things,

Dennis:

Yeah, send it to us.

Leah:

let us know.

Dennis:

In our episodes, if you've been a faithful listener to Connect and Convert.

Dennis:

We have talked about sales process.

Dennis:

We've talked about sales problems.

Dennis:

What's the root cause of your sales problem?

Dennis:

The Sales Trust Playbook gives you a head start without spending any money, zero money,

Dennis:

to get an idea of what your process is like.

Dennis:

In other words, is it something you trust or are there signs that there are things in your sales process that are?

Dennis:

That are flawed like one episode we had here.

Dennis:

We've talked about a flawed sales process.

Dennis:

So,

Dennis:

Paul,

Dennis:

how do you get that? It's on the it's in the notes of

Paul:

Yep.

Dennis:

our podcast,

Paul:

Look

Dennis:

right?

Paul:

for the notes in the podcast and on YouTube,

Paul:

and you can just click

Dennis:

You

Paul:

on the just link.

Dennis:

click on it and Yep. there it is.

Paul:

All we ask is that for your email address,

Paul:

we are not going to spam you. We do not email very often at all.

Paul:

I don't think we've ever sent

Dennis:

We

Paul:

an email actually.

Dennis:

don't we tell

Leah:

Is your business process an apple fritter or is it a donut with sprinkles?

Leah:

Sometimes you want an apple fritter.

Leah:

Sometimes the sparkles work best.

Dennis:

I want a chocolate.

Dennis:

I want a chocolate iced donut. That's my business.

Leah:

Really?

Dennis:

Yeah, I do.

Dennis:

Yeah.

Dennis:

Oh yeah. I want it, but I don't eat it.

Leah:

What crunches? Those are the best.

Dennis:

Okay,

Leah:

Unless we're

Dennis:

kids.

Leah:

allergic to walnuts, then they're not that good.

Dennis:

Probably not.

Dennis:

Avoid those at all costs.

Dennis:

Hey, see you next time.

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