In the nearly ten years since the National Busiess Travel Association (NBTA) introduced it, the concept of strategic meetings management has yet to achieve widespread implementation.  But SMM is an idea whose time has come. The article documents two important ways in which the NBTA is moving to increase its support for SMM. First is the roll out of a new online toolkit. And second is the continued development of the SMM certification process.

Increased industry support for SMM will be crucial. Potential clients will need to be educated on the reasons why SMM is in their best interest. That requires the development of a high level of expertise. As the travel and meetings industries build out programs for their members, knowledge and understanding of key concepts will grow both deeper and wider in scope. This kind of support is crucial in the development of new disciplines. Of course, it still takes talented individuals to communicate the benefits to their clients.

People like Kari Schroeder-Bigot are in a unique position to advise clients, based on their understanding of the SMM concept and their knowledge of clients’ meeting and travel patterns and policies. Once clients “get it,” the adoption of strategic meetings management programs can move to the next level.

There’s nothing like an educated client to take an idea and put it into action.

Why is it that with so much focus on the issue, the results are so disappointing? One reason: many employees feel ignored.

This point is made in an interview appearing in the online Gallup Management Journal (titled “It’s Always About the Boss”) with Gallup Consultant Marco Nink, who discusses his take on a Gallup study of German workers. Apparently even the famously industrious Germans have issues when it comes to employee engagement. Nink states,

Quitting is almost always a statement against the immediate superior. It is a deadening process: Many employees are highly motivated when joining a company but then become increasingly disillusioned. And when continuously neglected, they will switch off at some point. They will resign inwardly, so to speak. This doesn’t happen overnight, but occurs rather as a process, due to experiences during the routine workday.

While some people thrive in a self-directed work environment, many need ongoing guidance. When that guidance is missing, some employees struggle. If these employees receive little or no coaching or feedback for long periods of time, and then get hit with bad news at the annual performance review, resentment can set in. The result: disengagement.

Companies who are serious about employee engagement need to understand this fundamental dynamic. Here are some things senior managers can do to help:

• Ask their managers to identify concerns they have about staff engagement—and use the information to provide concrete solutions
• Train managers on ways to engage and develop their people, making sure that the training aligns with corporate values and strategies
• Encourage managers to recognize and reward employees for desirable behaviors and results
• Reward managers for developing high-performing, loyal employees
• Model desired management practices by spending adequate time with the managers who report to them

Employees look to their managers for a wide range of support. And every employee is different. That puts a pretty heavy burden on the manager. The question managers have to ask themselves is: Do I accept that burden?

If they want to drive engagement within their organizations, they must answer affirmatively.

That’s a lot of information to convey in a short period of time.

When it comes to meetings and incentive programs, the way to draw people in quickly is with a creative theme. When people see a good theme for the first time, it piques their interest and makes them want to learn more. If the information they learn is valuable, they will respond to subsequent messages more readily. The theme acts like a code: it quickly positions a message so the audience understands what it’s about before they read it.

Calling your meeting the “2010 Sales Training Meeting” may be descriptive, but it’s not inspirational or even interesting.  A creative theme will influence the way people think about that meeting.  A theme like “Winning with Wisdom” will surely do more to create a positive first impression—and help people see how they will benefit from attending.

A good theme provides a platform for the look and feel of the meeting or incentive communications materials. It can also suggest content. Using the example above, a theme based on the concepts of winning and wisdom could lead to the creation of competitions based on mastering training concepts, with awards for the winners.  It could lead to the presentation of case studies of successful companies who have used training to create a strategic advantage over their rivals. Or it could lead to the selection of a speaker whose bio aligns with the theme.

A good theme will help you create awareness of your meeting or incentive program—and help you generate great ideas for its execution. In addition, the theme will make the meeting or program memorable well into the future.

Work with your marketing agency to help you create your theme and weave it into your meeting, event or program. You’ll get a different perspective on your challenge. And you’ll wind up with a better, more focused value proposition which in turn will lead to higher levels of attendance and participation.

Get your theme on!

Project work is difficult to price, unless you have all the facts. And you never have all the facts. In most bid processes, your client contacts don’t have all the facts themselves.

What the agency has to do in this situation is ask as many questions as are necessary to understand the client’s requirements. If, as the bidder, you don’t really understand what you’re getting into, you run the risk of either significantly underbidding or overbidding the project.

If you overbid the project, the only unpleasant consequence you are likely to experience is to lose the business to a lower bidder. However if you underbid the project, there are two disagreeable outcomes. You can lose the business because it becomes clear to the buyer that you don’t understand their needs. Or, you can win the business and then have to provide a much higher or broader level of service than you planned on—destroying your margins or eliminating them altogether.

When an agency wins a piece of business based on a low bid that results from a lack of understanding (as opposed to a low bid offered as strategic business decision) the client/agency relationship is doomed from the start. The agency is put in the position of having to either ask for additional funds (thereby admitting they didn’t understand the requirements and scope of work) or accept tiny or negative margins in the hope that the client can be retained for future work and will pay full price.

Business-to-business marketers can avoid most of these negative consequences by having the discipline to ask enough questions up front to ensure that they know what will be required to do the work.

Asking great questions is the mark of a professional. And clients understand that the way that they are sold mirrors the way they will be served.

This program is truly turnkey. All the Meeting Planner needs to do is verify that their hotel partner is participating in the program and include the information in their proposal or RFP response. Participating hotels take care of all the work on-site and Clean the World does everything else.

The program’s concept is simple but profound. It takes personal care products that would otherwise be wasted, then recycles and redistributes them. The products include soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion. The soap recycling process is extremely thorough, and includes testing to ensure the end product is safe to use.

The recycled products are distributed to people in need. As a result, the program provides a public health benefit in addition to an environmental benefit. It helps the recipients achieve better hygiene—which helps minimize disease—while it reduces the amount of waste dumped into landfills.

Clean the World tracks and measures the total number of donated items and number of families that benefit.  They provide that information back to participating organizations so that attendees and management realize the value of their efforts.

For the Meeting Planner and their client, the process is pain-free and filled with both practical and feel-good benefits.

Check out this You Tube video to learn more.

It’s easy to confuse goals with strategies. They are close cousins. For example, you might decide that you want to improve communication with your customers. But is that really your goal? Why do you want to improve customer communication? You may find that you want to improve communication with customers in order to increase their satisfaction. If that is the case, customer satisfaction is the goal—and communication is a strategy.

It’s important to state the goal correctly because then you know what to measure.  

If you want to make a goal actionable, it needs to be tightly defined. One way to do this is to make it SMART. SMART is an acronym; each letter helps you add precision to your goal.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

So, if you want to improve customer satisfaction, you might state it this way: “Improve customer satisfaction 5% by year-end.” The art here is to know what’s achievable and what is realistic. Goals set too high or too low are motivation killers.

It’s important to try to understand what will be necessary to achieve the goal before you commit to it. If you are unwilling or unable to put the time or resources into a 5% improvement, adjust your goal accordingly.

There is an art to good goal definition. It’s tempting to underestimate the difficulty of the task and set a goal without much thought. But without a firm understanding of what you want to accomplish and what you think you can accomplish, you’ll find yourself restating your goals.

It’s harder to hit a moving target than it is to hit a fixed target. When you know that you have a worthy goal, then you can make your adjustments in the areas of strategies and tactics.

It makes life a little simpler.

Lots of client/agency meetings start out with the agency describing their capabilities, presenting case studies, and so forth. In the past, this may have been a useful format. Clients may not have understood all the things an agency could do for them. But the internet has changed that. Clients typically check your website before a meeting to familiarize themselves with your agency and its resources. They’ll also check LinkedIn to learn more about the people who will be in the meeting.

Bottom line: clients walk in more prepared than they did ten years ago to accept the idea that your agency has the ability to handle their business. The internet has made it easier for them to complete their initial research prior to deciding to meet with you in the first place.

With this in mind, it makes sense to have the client “go first” when you’re kicking off an initial meeting. In addition to being good manners, it makes strategic sense. After all, you’ll always learn more by listening than you will by talking.

I get a chance to field a fair number of “cold” sales calls. Very few of the callers stand out as excellent. Many are dreadful.  They all seem to make the same mistakes…

Mistake #1: They don’t introduce themselves properly. In any selling situation, and especially in B2B sales, salespeople must sell themselves first. A strong, confident introduction is a great first step. At minimum, I need to know your first name, last name and the name of your company before I will continue the conversation.

Mistake #2: They rush and try to cram an hour’s worth of information into a five-minute phone call. There’s only so much new information listeners can absorb in a short amount of time. Salespeople who patiently explain three major benefits, as opposed to speeding through ten product features, are more likely to pique my interest.

Mistake #3: They don’t ask any questions. Once they have me on the line, they invariably launch into a monologue that is all about them. This puts them at a great disadvantage.

Good salespeople see themselves as problem-solvers.

This “consultative” approach requires some discovery work to identify problems. That means asking questions and then listening for the answers. Very few salespeople know how to listen.

Mistake #4: They don’t do any relationship-building. People like to buy from people they like. And people like it when others show some interest in them. I believe that in the early part of a business relationship, the subject matter should be “strictly business.” If you are trying to sell to me, you might consider looking at my website or blog or doing a Google search on my company and making a relevant comment or asking a logical question. As we get to know each other, the conversation can move into other areas. Coming on as my best buddy before I’ve even met you is annoying.

These ideas are not new or original. They incorporate concepts primarily from Dale Carnegie’s writings and the Solution Selling methodology. Unfortunately they are largely ignored by a great many salespeople.

What do you think?

Please comment. I’d love to get a discussion going on these ideas.  

The quote is, “Winning solves everything.”

In other words, when the team starts winning, it doesn’t matter if the coach is out of touch or the star player is a step slower or the owner is a cheap skate.

Winning solves everything.

The business version of this aphorism is that “sales solve everything.”

Of course it’s not that simple. There’s more to running a successful business than sales. But without sales, a for-profit business is doomed.

A recent article in the American Express Small Business Forum addressed this issue head on. The article disputes the idea that the reason small businesses are hurting is that small business owners can’t get loans. Author Kate Lister cites a January 2010 National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trends report, which states that “loans are not in short supply, but reasons to get loans certainly are,” due to weak demand. According to a NFIB poll taken in late 2009, only 8% of small business owners surveyed were concerned about access to credit. They identified “declining sales (51%)” and “economic uncertainty (22%)” as the main problems they faced.

The report goes on to state: “Sales have declined for most U.S. companies over the past two years.”

When the problem is stated as clearly as that, the solution becomes clearer as well.

For businesses large and small in 2010, the ability to sell has never been more important.

1. Promote it. Awareness and understanding are extremely important factors in the success—or failure—of any marketing program. To get the word out, use multiple channels and sufficient frequency. Give front-line managers a role. Give them presentations, talking points and answers to anticipated questions. Front-line managers are in the best position to drive participation, which is the most important factor in determining program success.
2. Provide accountability. Top performers probably won’t need to have their manager watch them. But others may need help. Encourage front-line managers to regularly check in and consult with their “B” and “C” players. If the program is sales-based and focuses on a specific set of products, a manager might help the employee close a pending sale involving a featured product. Interested managers create positive attitudes.
3. Recognize and celebrate small successes. Major accomplishments are built on a series of small successes. Managers can build up a great deal of enthusiasm by recognizing their people for demonstrating the right behaviors or achieving great results. In addition, recognition establishes key behaviors and results as norms. (See my previous post regarding norms of behaviors and their importance in shaping and changing employee behavior.)
4. Reward desired behaviors and results. Most reward programs feature a specific set of rules which spell out the behaviors and results that qualify for rewards. But every work group is different. It’s difficult for program planners to come up with a set of rules which covers the needs of the entire organization. To add some flexibility, put some reward currency in your front-line managers’ hands. That gives them the discretion to reward actions are important to them.

Rank-and-file employees take their cues from their managers. If something is important to their manager, it is more likely to be important to them.

Similarly, front-line managers look to senior management for guidance. When senior management provides tools and ideas—like the ones listed above—for running a performance marketing program, front-line managers are in a better position to make that program hum.