Diagnosis
You look foward to the National – but are you actually getting anything out of it?

Prescription
Preparing and putting in the effort will make it more than worth your while.

Your travel plans have been arranged, you've selected your roommate, and your pre-meeting forms indicating your shirt size and recreational-activity preference have long since been filled out and submitted. You're packing your bags and heading off to the airport for a week in the sunshine. You've been through this before – the welcome reception, speeches in the general session, fancy dinners, awards night, breakout sessions with your district, some downtime at the spa or on the golf course, and then before you know it, you're waving goodbye to your friends from new-hire training and climbing back on the shuttle to the airport.

Ahhh ... the national sales meeting. An opportunity for the field and the home office to come together for a few days each year to pursue ... wait a minute: Why exactly are we having this meeting?

If you've ever asked yourself this question, this article is for you.

From the point of view of the folks in the home office, having the entire sales force under one roof for a few days offers the opportunity to present the company's goals, direction and vision for the coming year. For the members of the sales force, this is your chance to work on honing skills and building knowledge that ultimately will help you improve sales performance – which can lead to more bonus dollars. So, if the home office gets everyone on the same page, and the sales force comes away with the tools needed to achieve sales targets, then everyone wins – right?

In theory, yes. But is this what is really happening at national sales meetings across the country? We wanted to know if the national sales meeting is a productive event that brings together a geographically diverse work group, or if it's a yearly boondoggle that takes time away from the territory to chat with old friends and play some company-sponsored golf. To find the answer to this, we interviewed field sales personnel and home office staff alike for their insights into this pharmaceutical industry staple.

Field viewpoint

For the most part, the representatives and managers we spoke with enjoyed attending their national sales meetings and looked forward to them each year. Some of the more positive comments that we heard centered on how well their company treated them at the meeting by providing fun activities, giveaways, great food and special entertainment, such as well-known bands and celebrity guest speakers. One representative told us that she can't wait for the meeting each year, as she gets to see old friends while "learning so much about how other people sell that it just makes my head spin!" A manager located in the Midwest who works for a specialty company echoed these sentiments by saying, "We're so spread out, it's hard to get my district together more than twice per year. Having the National is a real boost to my team-building efforts, as I can really rev everyone up for a few days so they're really stoked to get back to selling."

With regard to improving the meeting, one manager suggested that there be more time allotted for districts to spend time by themselves to address the issues that are unique to their circumstances. "I know there's a lot to cover and the agenda is very full, but to bring everyone to one location and then I only get two hours with my group, it's just not enough," said one DM we spoke to. "We have district business to conduct, and face-to-face is the best way to get it done. If I could change one thing it would be to get a full day with my district – or at least a half day."