Having regular one-on-one conversations with your salespeople is one of the best ways to drive sales performance. When done well, these conversations can help you establish trust and rapport with your team. They can also help you understand your employees' individual strengths and weaknesses. When you know them better, you can motivate them, guide them and ultimately help them achieve the best sales results.

Whether you meet weekly or bi-weekly with your sales reps, Gallup's State of the American Manager report shows that employees who have regular meetings with their managers are almost three times more likely to be engaged as employees who don't.

So, how do you run a successful one-on-one? What questions do you ask? Lance Baker, the editor at Good Life, Deep Roots, has compiled a list of questions that set the tone for a thoughtful and engaging one-on-one. We share his suggested questions in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

1. What has become clear since last we met?

2. What is the area that, if you made an improvement, would give you and others the greatest return on time, energy and dollars invested?

3. What is currently impossible to do that, if it were possible, would change everything?

4. What are you trying to make happen in the next three months?

5. What's the most important decision you're facing? What's keeping you from making it?

6. What topic are you hoping I won't bring up?

7. What area under your responsibility are you most satisfied with? Least satisfied with?

8. What part of your responsibilities are you avoiding right now?

9. Who are your strongest employees? What are you doing to ensure that they're happy and motivated?

10. Who are your weakest employees? What is your plan for them?

11. What conversations are you avoiding with them right now?

12. What do you wish you had more time to do?

13. What things are you doing that you would like to stop doing or delegate to someone else?

14. If you were hired as a consultant with our company, what would you advise?

15. If you were competing against our company, what would you do?

16. What threatens your peace? What threatens the business? Your health? Your personal fulfillment?

If you're not regularly checking in with your direct reports or if you're not using your meetings effectively, commit to making a change. Sales managers often get busy, but it's important to make time to actively engage with each member of your sales team.

By asking better questions in your one-on-one meetings, you can ensure your team members have what they need to do their jobs well and feel empowered to do their best work. You also help your team members feel engaged and on track, which leads to better results for the whole team. What questions will you ask in your next one-on-one?

Source: Lance Baker is the editor at Good Life, Deep Roots, a publication centered around the cultivation of one's self.
Share this content with your clients (without the ad) by clicking the ClientSafe button below.