Introducing a guest speaker to your meeting

Aim: Look at the business as a whole and understand how each department is interlinked and relies on each other for success. Demonstrate that there is greater opportunity working together.

How: At least once a month introduce a guest speaker from another area or department of the business who can give an update of how their work fits into the whole business and how it interacts with sales.  This can be a manager of another department or any member of staff – they should be given a full briefing of the requirement and time to prepare, and the benefits of this activity should be explained to them.  The speaker should be introduced by the Sales Manager and given a maximum of 10 minutes to describe; their role, the output of their activity, their direct link to sales department (there always is one), how their activity influences the customer experience or relationship and the effect on the bottom line.  At the end of their talk the sales team will be given 10 minutes to ask questions which must include “how can we use your department to generate more business?”

Outcome and follow up:  Ask each member of the team to describe how they will use this insight to increase sales or improve the customer experience.  Ask for practical examples of this working in subsequent meetings.

John Brannigan,
Managing director, Fimtrac UK and RTS Automotive
www.rtsgroup.com

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