How To Optimize Time For Different Meeting Types

Meetings, meetings, meetings!

If there is one thing that can drive people crazy, it is wasting their time attending lots of meetings without head or tails and focus. Just looking at the schedule of meetings can leave you fighting for breath. 

Your boss calls you for a meeting, there may be departmental meeting, a company meeting, and you need to meet up with colleagues to plan something for the team. Heck, you may even need to attend meetings at home. Meetings are usually amongst the most hated routines of work life. Students can find meetings hard to handle but a positive attitude can make a lot of difference.

Meetings in the mornings, meetings in the afternoons, meetings in the evenings:  leaving you little time to do your actual work. If meetings are a big waste of time, why have them at all? If wishes where horses, this would be a wish which would go very far in people’s thoughts. But it is not.

In spite of today’s digitalised world which has made communication easy and mobile, meetings are still a vital part of conducting business and of being on top of what is going on. So meetings are essential and will remain in fashion. However, what can be done to reduce the tedium of meetings is to ensure that they are focussed and on-task.

Meetings can be useful if managed properly. They can energize people and give a sense of purpose and motivation. If it is your aim to have such meetings in your organisation, then do read on to know how you can help ensure that you have useful staff meetings which generates ideas and solutions rather than just descend into a waste of time and effort.

Let us understand the purpose of a meeting and the various kinds of meetings seen in practice.

Purpose of conducting an effective meeting

Conducting a successful organisation requires that meetings be run. They are usually designed for ensuring that organisational strategy and plans are planned, monitored, executed and delivered.  The purpose of a meeting is to ensure that the following are achieved:

1. The purpose of the meeting or the objective, which has to be determined in advance
2. Ensure that meetings take up minimal amount of time
3. Provide opportunity to give and receive feedback on relevant issues
4. To build a sense of purpose and team spirit

To have or not to have!

Deciding on whether a meeting should be held or not is a very important thing.  Running a meeting without a proper plan, objective or goal in mind and without objectives in place is a waste of time, energy and resources. Hence, it is very important to be sure that a meeting is required and that it is vitally necessary for the operation.

There are different kinds of meetings depending on the organisation and the necessity for it. These include the following: Annual General Meetings, Board Meetings, Extraordinary General Meetings, Board Meetings, and Departmental Meetings. All these meetings are for different purposes, the kind of audience will differ and hence the way they are organised and run would be different. What is common to all is the requirement of an agenda and a way of ensuring that enough time is allotted so that the agenda objectives are met. Before deciding the meeting, determine the overall purpose and aim of this meeting!

Managing Sales Meetings at different levels

Sales meetings are very critical for all concerned. Client meetings can occur at all levels in the organisation whether they are catering sales managers, directors of sales or corporate meeting planners. They all are required to interact with their clients to ensure that the sales come through successfully. Meeting planners also need to regularly liaise with their clients to ensure that the meetings are fruitful. It is, thus, very important to know how to effectively manage the time allotted for meetings to get optimum results. Meeting management in the hospitality industry can be particularly challenging to manage. There are different kinds of meetings to be managed at different levels of the organisation. Take an example, the role of a catering sales manager. This involves the direct supervision of events related to hospitality.

Catering Sales Manager and other managerial positions

Catering sales managers are employed by hotels and others in the hospitality industry, related to wining and dining, to ensure that venue space in the premises are sold at profits for the organisation of events with the provision of food and drinks. As a result, they are required to meet a lot of clients and deliver them sales talks of different kinds, based on the events they want to have.  Thus, their tasks involve two things: to develop a clientele list using their PR skills;  using their knowledge of business and sales to bring about sales; to promote and highlight suitably designed and interesting packages to clientele; to retain and enhance their existing customer base. And to ensure that all these roles are successfully carried out, a productive Catering Sales Managers needs to manage efficient sales talks with his clients. Every sales and client meeting count in a hugely competitive industry such as the hospitality industry. Hence, it becomes essential for sales managers in the catering industry to ensure that their meetings are productive and brings in the results- which are to sell an unforgettable experience.

What are his goals from his meetings? In an average Catering Sales Manager’s duties, numerous meetings with numerous clients may be common. The challenge is to ensure that all these meetings occur in time and are adequately spaced and managed. For one order, a number of meetings may be required. The sales manager may need to do the following:

1. Talk to clients and prospective clients through promotions at industry events, social networking and other promotional events to generate sales leads.
2. Give sales talks about the packages they offer at these venues. Respond to clients and engage with them in preliminary talks.
3. Provide them convincing reasons as to why they should choose this particular venue for their package.
4. Once the venue is selected, he has to showcase it to them.
5. He has to arrange menu tasting for the clients.
6.  He has to arrange a meeting between the client and the chefs in charge of the menu as well as the staff manager responsible for the catering arrangements in the venue- manager of the serving staff etc. He has to discuss with clients such things as floor arrangement, seating plans, decorations and other things.
7. He or she may have to meet the clients to receive feedback from them and make appropriate changes in the package.
8. Organise a meeting to check up everything before the day of event.
9. Organise meetings with his staff to check things are ready on the day of the event.

10.  Organise meetings post the event – to obtain their feedback.

So, there are several kinds of meetings, which the manager has to facilitate. There is a need for constant communication. It can be quite tricky to manage multiple contracts.

In the case of more senior staff such as the Director of Sales, they too have to manage meetings   to oversee the functioning of the departments under them. A Director, for example, may have several departments under him or her, such as marketing, sales and advertising and catering. He would need to interact with different team members in a series of meetings. Unlike other meetings, these meetings would be more about getting an idea of how the overall work is going; overall achievement, overall successful sales, and to get an idea on the performance of the department. They would have to ensure that the team is maintaining its focus on the business goals and achieving the departmental objectives. They would be involved in brand building as well as long term goals in relationships with customers. There is a need for coordination and communication between the different departments to be managed, to achieve the overall goal.

 The meetings may not be as fine-detailed as the meetings carried out by the sales managers but they would be more broad-based.  Hence, the nature of the meetings and the way they are required to be carried out may be different, as compared to those of the Catering Sales Managers. The catering sales managers and similar managers may need to conduct many meetings on the move or outside the office, as compared to the more senior staff. Regardless of the kind of position you occupy, you need to be very clear about the objective of your meeting.

Determine the purpose of a meeting

What is the nature of the meeting you want to conduct? Is it an information sharing session? Is it a feedback session? Is it an evaluation meeting or a crisis meeting? Is it a motivational session? The purpose of a meeting will determine the agenda, the content to be presented, the kind of speakers, the outcomes, goals and actions. It will set the tone and the mood.

 If it is an information sharing session, the meeting should strictly focus on the information to be shared, and the reason why people should be aware of it.  The meeting should be participative and needs give and take on views and the time has to such that it provides sufficient time for discussion. If the purpose is to deliver information, then that could be easily done through an e-mail.  This can help save you time and efficiency. The information should be relevant, pertinent and vital for organisational work. Else it would be a simple waste of time and effort.

If the meeting is to generate a course of action on a particular issue, then the meeting has to be structured accordingly. Both pros and cons on the issue need to be presented. Participants need to be given opportunity to ask questions and share views. Call for action in terms of commitment has to be determined and that has to be taken at the end of the meeting. If sufficient commitment to action is there, next steps can to be taken. If not, they will have to go back to the drawing board and take action.

In the case of meetings conducted by sales managers which involve talks and communication with clients on issues such as how events are to be conducted, it would need to have clearly defined objectives for this-pertaining to sales goals to be translated into measurable results. To ensure that your meeting is purposeful and successful in its efforts, chart out the goals or objectives under the umbrella purpose for which the meeting is called. This means, make a list of specific things to be achieved under that goal. These include:

1. The kind of decision you want to take
2. Whether you want to generate ideas, and if so what are you going to do with them
3. Updates, reports, feedbacks
4. Communication plan
5. Any other plans/strategies
6.  Problem solving- solutions to issues previously presented to members through other forms of communication and trying to obtain a consensus on it.
7. Determine the action plan, things to look forward to, possible future plans for next meeting.

Sales meetings have to be energetic and create a buzz. Regardless of whether a manager is talking to his client or to his staff, he needs to motivate and inspire them continuously towards the goals. In case of meetings with client, the sales manager or directors have to be persuasive and yet, be focussed on the objectives. This may require elaborate planning.

Stages of conducting a meeting!

What many do not realise that there are things which happen before, during and after a meeting. You just cannot start a meeting from nowhere and end it abruptly. A smooth, effective and purposeful meeting requires that all these aspects be kept in mind and time allocated for all this. Thus, a one hour sales meeting with clients would require preparation for what happens during the meeting as well as pre-meeting preparations so that the tone of the meeting is set. The manager needs to prepare a brief on his client’s requirement and ensure that all materials requisite to the task are prepared beforehand. The agenda is necessary to ensure that the meeting remains on track and does not get side-lined. All material includes materials relevant to events location, charges, tariffs, logistics etc should be prepared in advance. Alternative options and options according to budgetary constraints may need to be included so that the client knows that their plan is in safe hands. Meetings may be planned in advance to include those staff whose input is essential to a meeting. For example a director-level meeting, may need the input of all the heads of different departments under their purview.  A director-level meeting with an important client, may require the presence of the immediate staff concerned.  Intelligent preparation can save a lot of time and make things efficient. There would be preparation for a proper conclusion so that people are aware of the takeaways and there is a call to action given out. This would help generate motivated attendees. If there is no desired call for action, it would end up a total waste. It would lower productivity.

Time management in a sales meeting!

You can create an engaging meeting but you cannot do away without organising it and giving it a structure. The most important thing to remember in case of a client meeting is to ensure that maximum importance is given to the client- focus on client’s requirements. Whether it is customer sales managers or directors, every meeting should start on a relaxed note. The initial meetings may be more into understanding the client’s background and interests; so they can be casual. It is a meeting of minds. The time allotment has to be ensured so that clients get their due amount of time to share their views and experiences. Failure to do this at the early stage- to get an idea on what clients’ need- can be costly, in terms of time, money and goodwill.

Meetings, depending on their importance and the stage, can be carried out outside or on the phone. For clarifying doubts and introductory talks, telephonic meetings would be sufficient. As the process of engagement grows, more time may be needed for in-depth discussions of the different matters. A regular in-door meeting with staff can go up to 45 minutes.

It is essential to remember that an efficient sales manager spends the least possible time on actual selling. The actual proportion of time spent on selling should be barely 10%.  The ideal time allotment should be as follows:

Active selling – 10%

Prospecting – 10%

 Problem Solving – 14%

Personal phone calls and e-mails – 17%

Travel time – 18%

Administration – 31%

In addition, the number of hours devoted to meetings related to client meetings as per recent industry standard measurements has been determined to be: three to four hours daily for a face to face meeting with client; 4-6 hours on making face to face sale calls; 4-8 hours on prospecting calls for new clients per day. This can go a long way in determining the schedule of meetings. In addition, managers can manage time more effectively by allocating more time for meetings with reliable and regular clients.

In conclusion, effective time management in meetings can help managers and directors help to manage their business goals more effectively and successfully.