How to survive this year's annual sales meeting

Sales people prefer selling to almost anything else. If you are a sales professional, anything that barely whiffs of "administration" or "corporate meetings" creates negative images and a vague resentment that your time is being wasted when you and the company would be better served if you could just spend that same time out selling instead of bottled up in a meeting room somewhere with your colleagues. Here are some tips to not only surviving the meeting, but getting the most from it:

1. Have 3 goals that make it a sure-win for you

You get more out of sales calls, meetings and most every other investment of your time if you have a goal on which to focus. For sales meetings, I think that there are a number of strong goals you can accomplish:

-- Alliances. Internal resources, suppliers/distributors/partners, other regional leaders in your company, all of these and more represent a chance to connect and leverage for mutual benefit your affiliation. You can either show up and hope you connect, or you can plan in advance and make certain it happens.

-- Client-specific needs. You have clients who are seeking something with your organization. Possibly knowledge, a concession on terms, support of a new initiative are all examples. Come to the meeting with the details and get the business done.

-- Issue resolution. In any organization and more so for larger companies, there are recurring issues that are hard to resolve at a distance. Be intentional in looking at those issues that have been impacting performance and set the time while you are at the meeting to discuss the issue with the appropriate people. Coffee, cocktails, a break-out session or over lunch - there will be a time to get the issue discussed. Don't wait for the organizer to create that opportunity, make it happen yourself.

2. Come prepared

You have set your goals and built your personal schedule to integrate with the event's schedule, now what? Get everything you can beforehand - presentations, agendas, itineraries and other materials. I know it is cheating just a bit to ask for this beforehand, but if you do, you will be the best prepared with questions, insights and leverage to maximize the time while you are there. Too many sales people show up to a national sales meeting like it was a movie to be watched. This is an event to be maximized. The better prepared you are, the better chance of squeezing every bit of value for your time investment.

3. Never set the party pace

There are usually opportunities for socializing at these types of events. I shouldn't have to warn you, but I will anyway -- EVERYONE IS WATCHING, EVERYONE REMEMBERS.

If you follow these guidelines, you can leverage your annual sales meeting for yourself, your clients and next year's production.