I’ve been in management for a year now and I know there’s a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my weekly 1:1s with my reps. If you think weekly is too often, this is set by our CRO so I have no option to change it. What have you fellow sales managers/directors/VPs done to make your 1:1s effective?
Have an agenda set before. This can be as simple as:
- Forecast (if you do these in 1:1s)
- Manager feedback
- Rep feedback
Most important part in my opinion, is to allow the reps to set the talk track for a portion. is there anything they need help with? Any feedback they have?
Too often I get into a 1:1, my manager nit picks everything I do, and then we close. I did not get a chance to talk about the things I actually may need help on, or need escalated internally.
Be transparent and open as well. I can tell when my AD is spewing BS to tell me what I want to hear, that helps no one. Process change coming? Tell me. Something I need to improve? Tell me. Honesty breeds trust.
Weekly is fine as long as they are productive - no issue cutting them short if neither side has anything major to discuss.