5 Keys to a Successful International Sales Meeting

When you're bringing together a sales team from around the world who represent different cultures and countries, what you do to energize the sales meeting can go a long way toward buiilding a strong corporate culture. Our experience on a successful meeting in Prague last week highlighted the keys to creating just such an event.

1. Hire an experienced, knowlegeable producer

The client retained ELLEN MICHAELS PRESENTS, INC. , out of Campbell, California to oversee the entire event: design, planning, theme, travel, hotel and logistics, staging and agenda. Their team has over 20 years experience in global corporate comunications, event management and production and, with months of pre-planning and a team of experts on site, all aspects of the meeting were executed flawlessly.

 

2. Select an attractive, convenient location

Prague was selected as a central location for the sales team - convenient for the European contingent and easily accessable to members traveling from the Far East and the Americas. The city itself is charming, steeped in history and not overwhelming in size. Plus, not incidentally, it's considerably less costly than London, Paris or Rome.

 

 

 

3. Create meaningful team building exercises

The Ellen Michaels team developed a clever team-building event that took full advantage of Prague. It was a scavenger hunt throughout the Old Town incorporating jaunts on the city's safe and efficient subways and tram systems and visits to the famous sites, ending up in an historic banquet hall for an evening's celebration.

4. Treat sales team members with respect

Respect their time by keeping general sessions and breakout meetings to their scheduled times. Respect the customs and cultures of sales team members by providing a wide selection of foods at meal functions. Allow time in the agenda for team members to check email and make phone calls. And, of course, recognize their accomplishments and contributions.

5. Incorporate humor, the universal language

Sharing laughter creates a powerful emotional bond among team members. For certain cultures where respect for authority goes unquestioned, self-depricating humor by the boss is a foreign - and refreshing - experience. Kronos created a hysterical video spoof of their CEO, featuring him as "The Most Interesting Man In The World" in a takeoff of the Dos Equis commercials. And the VP of Sales used our Corporate Sidekicks character "Willie Sellmore" throughout the general session and awards banquet. The audience's response was positive...and quite vocal. The use of humor demonstrated to the sales team that management is confident enough of themselves to enjoy doing business.

 

 

CORPORATE SIDEKICKS in the OHIO BIZ JOURNAL - Part 2

He's No Dummy

Published in the OHIO BUSINESS JOURNAL

Written by John Sullivan

Corporate Sidekicks began in New York City when Fiala parted company with an animation house called Aniforms. He met the Aniforms people while doing the "actor/waiter/cab driver routine" in New York after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., where he earned an English degree and acted in theater productions. When he visited the Aniforms offices, he saw what they did and thought, "Wow, it's like theater, only with real money." After a few years of performing as a "business character" and writing scripts for corporate events, he was offered a deal. "The deal they offered me encouraged me to start my own business." So he left Aniforms in 1978 to start Corporate Sidekicks.

From the start, Fiala knew he needed something different for his business. Production companies that competed against Aniforms were eager to offer their clients a character, and Fiala wanted one that could be both an intermediary and an entertainment device. He contacted puppet builder Danny Seagren, who had worked with Jim Henson of Muppet fame, and asked him to develop one. The instructions were simple: "Big nose, large chin, funny face." The result was Max.

Max and Fiala moved to Chicago in 1987 after Fiala married Pauline. They moved to Ohio in 1996 and ran Corporate Sidekicks from a small building behind their home.

Max's philosophy is summed up in the phrase, "Maximum success with minimum effort," Fiala says. "He's the ultimate slacker who thinks the world owes him a living. A very good living. Max blurts out the things everyone thinks, but has the good sense and courtesy not to say out loud.

"Max speaks a language that is often foreign to corporate communications — the truth," Fiala says. "In research, we find out what's on the mind of the audience members — good and bad — and bring it right out in the open."

Tom Pappert, former vice president of sales at DaimlerChrysler, says Max "brings credibility. He proves, in a humorous way, that management understands the problems out there."

Grant Erikson, director of corporate communications for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., says hiring Max was "the best thing we ever did to improve communications with our people."

 

CORPORATE SIDEKICKS in the BUSINESS PRESS - Part 1

He's No Dummy 

Published in the OHIO BUSINESS JOURNAL

BY John Sullivan

The Max Q & A Max certainly has a way with words ... and interviews. He graciously sat down with Ohio Business for a quick conversation. We’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether it was a constructive interview. Ohio Business: Max, I have so many questions for you. I hardly know where to begin. Max: Why not near the end? OB: You’ve been performing in business meetings for more than 25 years, yet your looks never change. Do you follow a strenuous fitness regimen? Max: No, I get enough exercise just pushing my luck. OB: Max, I don’t think... Max: Of course you don’t think. You’re a reporter. It’s not in your job description to think. OB: I’ve got a good mind to end this interview right now. Max: If you had a really good mind, you’d be writing for Time.

Most folks are afraid to tell it like it is to an executive. Not Max.

Executive: Since you're a communications expert, what's the key to crafting a memorable and effective speech?

Max: That's easy. The best speech has a good beginning and a good end. And they're both real, real close together.

Executive: What would you say to a senior executive whose organization is stagnating?

Max: Just keep having long meetings every day until you find out why nothing's getting done.

Executive: OK, one last question. What have you learned by working with some of America's greatest business leaders?

Max: That half of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

Max knows dumb. He's a dummy himself, though he prefers to be called a "character with an attitude for business." For 26 years, he and Jack Fiala have been telling business leaders the things that no one else would dare tell them.

Fiala's Dayton-based Corporate Sidekicks, the only business of its kind in Ohio and possibly the nation, has been setting the record straight with executives. Max comes to life at corporate events and interacts with an executive presenter based on a custom script, written by Fiala with executive input. Max's — and Fiala's — success is based on one of the oldest theatrical principles around: the audience's "willing suspension of disbelief" and acceptance of Max as a real person who knows what is going on and speaks out about it.

Max is operated by Fiala and his wife and business partner, Pauline. Both remain out of sight during the live performance while Max is projected onto a video screen for his routine with the executive. Hidden microphones pick up audience reaction and allow Jack to ad-lib.

Max gets more than laughs. He also proves to the audience that while managers may not have solved the problems lampooned in the presentation, they at least acknowledge their existence. This eases tensions and makes for a friendlier crowd, one more receptive to new ideas and change. That explains why clients as large as General Motors, United Van Lines, Goodyear and Boston Scientific Intercontinental all use Corporate Sidekicks to help deliver their message. All of them get higher ratings and better attendance at their events because, after seeing Max, attendees return to future sessions to see what he will say next.

TO BE CONTINUED...

PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEIFITS OF BUSINESS MEETING COMEDY

By DALE DAUTEN, a/k/a "The Corporate Curmudgeon"

Nationally Syndicated Columnist

Instead of "humor consultants," perhaps corporate executives need a modern version of the Royal Fool. Hiring a humor consultant is a humorless act; it's usually management bringing someone in to fix the employees. The Fool would understand that humor doesn't make the environment; the environment makes humor. The Corporate Fool role would be to executives what the Royal Fool was to kings and queens -- to amuse, yes, but also to put a clown suit on the truth and slip it past the guards.

What got me thinking about humor, truth and bosses was talking with Jack Fiala of Corporate Sidekicks, out of Dayton, Ohio. He's the voice of a puppet that travels the country getting paid to insult executives. The puppet works under various aliases -- my favorite is Harvey Hightrousers, who keeps his pants pulled all the way up "to make sure your butt is always covered." The puppet becomes the Corporate Fool.

I watched a videotape of a top executive of an auto company talking with the puppet, while hundreds of field reps sat in the audience. The executive was new, taking over after layoffs and cost-cutting had sapped morale. The puppet said to the new executive: "So you're the Big Gun they brought in to solve our problems. Big Gun -- low caliber and big bore." And then the puppet asked: "So why did you drag us all to Detroit? Is it one last pink-slip party before we're all fired?" And then there's this exchange:

Executive: We'll be meeting all day, till 5:30.

Puppet: Till 5:30!? We're going to be locked in here till 5:30? Who planned this all-day snooze-fest?

Executive: The sessions were planned by a cross-functional team at headquarters.

Puppet: A cross-functional team at headquarters? The last time a cross-functional team at headquarters actually made a decision it took them two weeks to figure out which of two substances was the Shinola.

And why would executives pay Fiala to insult them? Because Fiala takes the part of the audience, saying what they are thinking but would never say. And that allows speakers to respond to the otherwise unspoken questions and complaints, and in doing so, prove they know the problems and, moreover, are unafraid of the truth.

Speaking of fear, the decisions about the content at corporate gatherings usually flow from one of three mind-sets about the nature of the meeting: the opportunity to inform, the opportunity to learn and the opportunity for disaster.

Some meetings are carefully scripted and rehearsed around the unspoken theme of "Here's What We Want You to Know," with a subtheme of, "Here's How You Should Think." On the other hand, the best companies treat meetings as a kind of festival of learning. Not just teaching, but learning. The best meetings are built around what management can learn and how management can help innovate.

 There's a huge difference between figuring out what you want to tell people vs. figuring out what they are thinking. That's the beauty of working with someone like Fiala and his Harvey Hightrousers -- you can’t make fun of what's wrong unless you understand it. And it's not funny when it's preaching; the inside joke is that you know they know your weaknesses and mistakes.

 In sum, people are always going to make fun of the boss. It's just that in good companies -- the ones that can admit mistakes and try again to innovate - it happens when the boss is around.

 

Hey, why don't you call me on the Corporate Curmudgeon message line, 612-673-9030, and leave me your opinions, questions and suggestions? Or you can write me in care of King Features, 235 E. 45th St, New York, NY 10017, send e-mail to dale@dauten.com or visit http://www.dauten.com on the Web. Distributed by King Features.

 

 

BUSINESS MEETING HUMOR VS. POWERPOINT PURGATORY

A prescient article  in the New York Times back in 1999 warned of the adverse effect of PowerPoint presentations on effective communication. If they only knew how bad it would get in the years to come!

Before PowerPoint presenters actually had to - GASP! - write speeches! This meant thinking about what you wanted to say before opening your mouth. If a presenter - say at a major corporation - enjoyed the luxury of visuals, the speech would have to be written weeks before it was presented to give the photographers and artists time to storyboard it and create the visuals.

This didn't make all speeches great, but at least they stood a fighting chance. For one thing they were timed out. A person reading from a script isn't likely to blab on way past their alotted time limit.

Today presenters sit down at their laptop the day before and bang out a rough outline  in PowerPoint - words on slides - and call it a speech. The first time they actually hear it is when they read their outline off the slide along with the audience.

In our line of work we sit through a lot of meetings and lately a lot of factors have come together to turn them into PowerPoint Purgatories - truely hellish punishment.

Bad PowerPoint is one factor. But tight budgets cut back on rehearsal time. Speakers come in to the ballroom on rehearsal day, quickly look through their slides on the screen and move on to their next appointment. Skimpy budgets also often mean longer sessions. Instead of two or three morning general sessions with afternoon breakouts and even - is this dating me? - free time, general sessions can run from 8 in the morning until 6 at night, then a half hour break and right into the dinner program.

The need for business meeting comedy in today's sales meetings or employee meetings is acute. Imagine the relief the audience feels after two 40 minute bouts with speakers reading from overcrowded PowerPoint type slides when Willie Sellmore pops onto the screen to interact with presenters and comment on the proceedings.

A three minute comedy routine is enough to re-energize the audience and elevate their powers of concentration for the next presentation.

Without this comic relief, the program can be much more tedius, and much less effective.

FUNNY MEETING VIDEOS TO RECOGNIZE YOUR TOP PERFORMERS

 

A key component of every sales or employee meeting is recognizing the top performers. Your key contributors do more than drive the bottom line. They lead by example, showing the way for the other members of the team.

Unfortunately following the same recognition format year after year gets very predictable. And recognition events and awards banquets have to maintain a delicate equilibrium between giving those who are winning the awards their due…an making sure not to bore those who are not.

Our client MIKE MASSA, VP of Sales at Hayward Pool products came up with a terrific sales meeting idea: create a funny meeting video that gives the top performers added recognition, but in a way that’s entertaining to winners and non-winners alike. Awards were presented at an evening dinner function, but the next day Mike ran this video we created to gently poke fun of the winners at the same time giving them some well-deserved extra attention.

Take a look at how it turned out. (Out of respect for the winners’ privacy we’ve deleted their names and photos.)

We can easily create a similar video for your award winners. You supply the photos and we’ll supply the jokes. And turnaround time is very fast.

How did the audience enjoy this fun employee recognition and other custom sales meeting videos? This from Mike...

"The Meeting Update Videos were the hit of the week. The random videos throughout the meeting left everybody wondering what was coming next.  I received nothing but compliments on how the meeting flowed and how the videos were such a key part of the event." - Mike Massa, VP Sales, Hayward Pool Products

Funny Sales Meeting Survival Guide: Willie's Sellmore's Prague

Willie on location at the Prague Hilton

 

Sure sales meetings are about effective business communication, team building, boosting employee morale and enhancing the corporate culture. But it's okay if the team enjoys themselves, isn't it?

Everywhere you go you see scenery like this

If you're lucky enough to find yourself in Prague for a meeting, take in the cultural stuff and enjoy the architecture, go to your sessions, but be sure to check out some of Willie Sellmore's discoveries in this terrific city.

Restaurants Not Found in the Typical Guide

An authentic Czech tavern, truly old-school. http://www.baracnickarychta.cz Great beer, traditional Czech cuisine (vegans need not apply!), highly atmospheric and cozy. The restaurant's name, translated into English is "The Municipality of Cottagers for the Lands of the Czech Crown" and it's been a beloved tavern in the Czech tradition for nearly 150 years. Not much English spoken here but they have a menu in English. Great place to unwind after a trip to the Castle. In Malastrana a short walk from the American Embassy.

Here's a spot you won't believe. Imagine you've just toured the National Gallery at the top of Wenceslas Square, you settle in, order your pivo  (beer) and it's delivered right to your table by a miniature railroad train! You gotta check out the Vytopna Railway Restaurant - http://www.praha-en.vytopna.cz/

Here's how your beer comes to you!

 

 

 

Funny Sights Around Town

Prague is a great walking town - you can cross Old Town and New Town in a half hour, not that you'd want to. There's too much to see. But besides the standard stuff, keep your eyes peeled for the oddball sights.

Everything seems different there...but some stuff is the same everywhere!

No, this "Sex Machine Museum" is not a tribute to Willie Sellmore's prowess!

 

Okay, all kidding aside Prague's a great place to host an meeting for a global audience. Centrally located, fresh and fun, reasonable prices for a truly world class city. Great place to motivate the sales team, a terrific location for effective business communication.

A Funny Office Holiday Party Idea

Our clients come up with the best ideas!

 We created a series of custom meeting videos for a client to energize their national sales meeting. The head of another division of the company was in the audience and thought, What a funny office holiday party idea.

Our characters usually energize sales meetings or employee meetings, either live or in videos. But we never thought about integrating them into an office holiday party.

It turns out it's a perfect application. At an office party you want to keep the atmosphere light. Give everybody a memorable experience. Don't make a presentation so "business-y"or "inside-jokey" that spouses and significant others are left out.

Still, with everyone gathered together in a pleasant atmosphere, management shouldn't pass up the opportunity to reinforce the company's goals and give a shout out for a job well done.

In the video, Corporate Sidekick "Willie Codemore" (you guessed it - a tech company) introduces himself as the newest member of the team and host of the Year End Update. He starts with a few of the things he enjoys about the job - and a few things he doesn't - then in a rousing, silly rant of a finale, he reinforces the key themes and goals of the company and pledges his loyalty - and affection - to the boss.

A fun, cheeky way to kick off the holiday season.

Team Building at a Large Conglomerate

      A large conglomerate can be a pretty soulless entity. Scores of different businesses scattered all around the globe with the only thing in common being the parent company name.

     A large conglomerate used Corporate Sidekicks at a recent Management Symposium in Orlando to help enhance their team building efforts. The key objective  was to bring together the leaders of the company's far-flung businesses and get them thinking - and acting - like members of a large, singular team to get behind the organization's Value Based Commercial Excellence initiative.

"You took a stuffy company and brought it to a human level"                                             -Vice President, Marketing and Business Development

     Over three days Willie interacted live with senior management in carefully scripted - and hilarious - segments that not only added fun but helped drive home management's message in a surprising, memorable way. 

Here's Willie interacting live with the Senior Vice President of the Division

     Willie became the main touchpoint that united this diverse, global audience, bridging cultural and language gaps.  He was the buzz of the meeting, the lead topic of conversation and toast of the banquets.  He became the voice of the audience, the Doubting Thomas who asked the tough questions and pushed back at management to defuse sensitive issues.

     In the end Willie was won over to management's point of view and became a zealous convert. He made such a contribution to the success of the event, he's become a part of their corporate culture and has already been invited back for next year's meeting!

     

How to Use Business Meeting Comedy to Address Difficult Issues

In a business meeting it's difficult to stand up in front of an audience of customers and acknowledge your company's product shortcomings.  Talk about a hot seat!  Being over-apologetic can shake the audience's confidence in your product and company.  On the other hand, playing down the problems can make you sound defensive and insensitive.

Third-party intervention can help. An outside expert to cooly analyze the issues. A facilitator to engage both parties.

Or you can short-circuit the process by addressing the problem...with humor!

When carmaker Chrysler was having serious quality issues a few years back their Sales VP knew he couldn't stand up in front of thousands of dealers and gloss things over. So he decided to use business meeting comedy to tackle the tough issues head on.

Take a look at how he stays fully in command by taking the hits from a Corporate Sidekicks character about his company's shortcomings...

The Sales VP's credibility actually got a boost by showing the courage to confront the "elephant in the room". Through humor he showed that at Chrysler, they're confident enough to take the hits and keep smiling!