(I posted this article, Sales Managers, Trade Team for a Week in February.  Today, my HBR Management Tip of the Day came across my e- mail on the same topic.  I thought it would be nice to update this post with a link to the HBR Tip, Need New Ideas? Trade Places.)

I had the opportunity to work for a company that created a culture of sharing best practices.  Due to that culture, Sales Managers really developed relationships across territories and had the neatest (seriously, that’s the only word that really described it) flow of best practices.  These managers would even ask to be put on each other’s team distribution lists so they could have visibility into each other’s communication style and content (can you imagine requesting more e-mails!).

From this culture comes a sales meeting idea that should wake up Monday mornings and fit right in with our Guest Speaker spotlight this week.  Why don’t you and another Sales Manager trade teams for a week?  Lead each other’s sales team meeting, conduct one-on-ones and get out in the field with each other’s team.  Get together the next week and share observations, lessons you learned and ideas to improve.  Then, discuss those lessons with your team on your next sales team conference call.

This is fun, enlightening and energizing for both teams and both Sales Managers.  Keep it interesting – trade teams next week.

(Meeting to Win provides sales team meeting agendas and sales team meeting topics for Sales Managers who like to provide sales training and development weekly.  Visit us here:  http://www.meetingtowin.com/)