Course Content
Daily Huddles That Drive Results: The Manager’s Guide to Focused, Energized Teams
You go.
Alright.
Alright.
Good.
Good.
So welcome, everyone.
And we're gonna talk about huddles.
And since I can see many of you, which is a beautiful thing, tell me this.
Something made you come.
So what was it?
What was it about this topic, about Huddl's that made you think, I think I should go to that?
Yeah.
Well, Matt and I will jump in.
In the the past year, I've made a really Owen and I have made a really valid effort of meeting every single day with our sales team at 09:20.
And, we've seen some changes in the responsiveness, the ability to retain information, updates, and just an overall increase in communication from the top down on our company.
So but I'm always looking for helpful ways, you know.
Everything you talk about in the sales lead meetings, like sketching, I've just been talking about sketching every single day, which is okay.
Right?
But I'd love for things to be efficient.
Evan gives me the feedback that they're too long.
So I'm like, okay.
Well, thanks for the feedback.
We'll we'll shorten these up.
So Right.
Here we are.
Perfect.
Excellent.
Thank you, and thanks for leading us off.
Anyone else, when you what what had you what is it you wanna get out of this?
And I'm actually taking notes on this.
So what would you like to get out of this?
What do you wanna leave here knowing or being able to do that you think would be valuable to you in this?
So, Chris, you can take yourself off mute too.
Anything you'd like to get in particular, Chris?
Well, I think it's something we'd like to implement.
Nothing we've done previously.
I think, you know, we're here.
You, last week at the end of our training, you had mentioned it, and, you know, I thought that was a good idea.
So this is, our first education on it and something, we intend to, start using.
Yay.
Okay.
Good.
Thank you for that.
Alright.
So here's how our time together is gonna go.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go over some sort of brief things about Huddl's.
I'm gonna walk you through the chronology of what it is, and then I'm gonna show you two documents that you can have if you send me an email and ask me for it.
Two documents that are preparation for sales managers or whomever is gonna be covering or manage or running the the Huddl that I will send you, that gives you a format to keep you on track of what what it is.
And then, oh, and then if we have time, we might do one so that you can see, like, a mini one and what it would actually look like.
I'm happy to demonstrate it if that's what you'd like or to have someone practice it on their own, which would also be wonderful.
So let's talk about that.
So first of all, what they are.
A Huddl is just what you see.
It is a stand up meeting, a very brief stand up meeting, and to begin either a day or a shift.
It is the sales manager's ultimately, the sales manager's role to get everyone starting in the right direction and to establish what the day is gonna do.
What are you meant to accomplish individually and as a team today?
What are the markers?
What are the targets?
How's it gonna happen?
So that's what ultimately what it is.
Why it matters speaks to what Erica said, which is when you start implementing them, you're gonna see you're gonna see a lot of things.
You might see a level level of cohesiveness on your team that may not exist right now, that you don't know it ex doesn't exist until you actually see it change.
You're going you will see, a level of focus with your team members because they, in front of everyone, said what they're out to do today.
Right?
You will see, people managing their time better collectively because if someone says I have a 02:00 appointment, then we all know that they've got a 02:00 appointment.
So they're off the up sheet at 02:00, and we need to manage around that.
So it just it sets the tone for the day.
It sets the direction in the target.
It sets who's doing what so that everybody knows it.
And we commit to to hitting that target today.
Like, together, we're gonna hit that target, and this is how we're gonna do it.
So it not only sets what the goal is for the day and where where you're at so far, But it, we know how it's gonna happen.
So where is that gonna come from?
And I'll go into that a little bit more deeply, especially when I show you the two documents that you can use to line up what your meeting's gonna be.
And then if you ask me to send you one, I will send them to you.
And they are they're word documents.
So if you wanna massage them and blend them into one or whatever you wanna do with it, once you get it, it's absolutely yours.
So that so how often should you have Huddl?
I say every day.
I say every day because you wanna line them up every day.
If you wanna start once a week, start once a week.
If you wanna then say, well, you know, that actually worked on Saturday.
Let's do it Saturday and Sunday.
Okay.
Then do it that way.
And then let it grow to I really encourage you to do it daily.
And I know that there are probably people on the call that might have the store opens at nine and the morning group comes in, and then there's an afternoon group that comes in at eleven or twelve.
I say do two huddles.
You know?
So some will say, well, I don't because I hear that.
I don't do huddles because I have two shifts.
It's like, then do two huddles.
Like, how is this difficult?
So, because the intention is to get people going.
Alright.
So who should be there?
Everybody.
Like, you might start with the sales team, but let's imagine that you've got let's say that the drivers don't go out.
Let's say if the drivers might I don't know.
They might have their first at 10:00, their first delivery at 10:00.
If you've got a 09:00 huddle, do it in do bring them.
Bring them in.
You might say, well, where am I gonna do this?
I don't know.
Pick a place.
If you are you can, there's a team that I know that works does it a lot in the mattress department because they're looking to beef up the mattress sales, so they want people to actually feel more comfortable in that space.
Like, pick a place.
But I would encourage you to have them stand up to do it.
Don't nobody sits down for a huddle like nobody.
It's not long enough.
Stand up.
Stand up.
Attention.
Alright.
So I would say that some of the sort of broad stuff about Huddl.
Now I'm gonna break it down and give you some chronology to this.
So I would say, first of all, he fits you fifteen minutes.
Don't exceed fifteen minutes.
It's a brief it's a huddle.
It's not a meeting per se.
It's a huddle.
And some of you are in my sales management program.
When we talk about this, at some point, we might we might break up a Huddl and do it as a motivational meeting instead of a Huddl.
That's great.
But the Huddl is really only fifteen fifteen minutes.
You wanna start with celebrating successes.
Like, what are the successes before you even get into the data?
What are the successes that we're here to celebrate?
And so let's say that let's say that the alright.
So we're the end of the third month of the first quarter.
Right?
So you might have a lot to celebrate right now.
Or and you might have that your goal has been for the first quarter to get sketches from 12% to 20%.
And you might have that to celebrate because month to date or quarter to date, you're actually on, hitting that target.
Or you might have something like, let's say stay with sketches that someone had a sketch yesterday that they've been really trying to sketch and they've been struggling with it, but they had someone who came in for, oh, let's say, a chair and ottoman yesterday and ended up buying a sectional to go with it because the salesperson sketched.
Like, that is not unusual.
And the more you sketch, the more not unusual you're gonna find it to be.
And so those are the kind of things to bring up, things that are really yay yay yay.
Let's let's start this on a really up note.
So I would say start it that way.
And then I would say to start to move it to the data.
So here we are March 19, which is about, I don't know, two thirds, almost three quarters of the month in and say, you know, that that our goal is x.
Our goal is let them say, let's our goal is 500,000.
Our goal to date is x.
Our actual to date is y.
So we're either above or behind simply.
Like, there's no story in it.
There's no opinion right now.
There's just the facts of it.
Here's what we are.
And, that.
So to say, for us to stay on track or to get on track, what we need to write today is x.
So if you were on track, then today, which is a Thursday, might normally be, say, a $20,000 day.
But you say, let's make it up.
You know, we've got a $5,000 deficit from where we should be by the end of the day today.
Let's make that up today.
So that's what it's gonna be.
You don't have to tell all that, but if you need to make it up, then just say that that's what the goal is today.
So I would go around and say what's happening.
Personally, I would start with appointments, And I would say, who has appointments today?
And go around the group.
Who has appointments today?
And then I would ask a few questions to go with that.
Who has appointments?
What are they coming in for?
What time is the appointment?
Have you made a confirmation call to secure this?
And then I would ask, what are you expecting to close today?
And they're gonna say whatever they say.
I might ask, any objections that you're anticipating, and they're gonna say something or not.
And I would ask, do you need anything from me to help you with this?
And they're gonna say what they do or not.
So I would start.
If I need 25,000 today, then I would start.
That's 5,000.
Okay.
We're down to 20.
Let's keep going.
So that's the only appointment we have today.
So let's work from the ease let's work from the door, Or let's work from, is anyone calling on sole quote?
Or does anyone have after delivery phone calls to make today?
But I need $25,000.
So I wanna see who's gonna be writing it.
So I'm gonna get a commitment from everyone on what they need, what they're bringing into the party today.
And if you get through everyone and you still have a gap, then we're going around again.
Right?
Because we wanna find $25,000 today.
So who do you need to call?
What unsold quotes have you, have you not reached out to?
And what helps do you need from me?
So a little bit of an aside is that, one of the wonderful people in my amazing, sales management group right now, tray in the training group, she had a person who got sick couple of weeks ago, and she called all of his quotes and closed, like, four out of five of them.
I thought, oh my god.
And she said, you know, they're out for a few days, and I wanna get back.
I didn't want you to feel stuck.
And, you know, do we wanna do this over the phone?
Whatever she said for closing, she just, like, closed them all.
I thought maybe we ought to do this more often in a different way.
So what is it gonna take?
Like, what's it gonna take?
So you might find yourself saying it's a Thursday.
Our traffic on Thursday tends to be about eight people.
There are four of you on the floor, so it's likely you're each gonna get two.
So, Erica, at your current close ratio of 32%, your current average sale of, you know, 4,200, you need to close at least one person today at 4,200.
Like, use their data to say to do the math because you wanna end up at zero.
Before they leave the Huddl, you wanna end up at zero.
And then to be able to ask anything else that you need from me to help you to do that.
Okay.
So you wanna go so what the the the, month to date or quarter today or where you're at, what you need to write, who's gonna write that, how that's gonna get written, and then, get down to zero.
That's the intention.
I would go around again maybe and say, is there a selling I know that our focus this month is is sketching or it's protection or it's mattresses or whatever the focus is, whether it's product or service or we're looking to beef up our financing, opportunities.
What are we gonna focus on today?
What's the selling skill we're gonna practice today or practice with each other if it's quiet?
And just say that.
Say, okay.
Great.
Just looking to know.
I just wanna know that so that you can use this as an opportunity to bring, practice into the conversation so that if you're out on the floor and it's quiet you know, I'd say, Erica, we're gonna work on sketching today.
I know one of the things that you were working on was how to initiate it and how to start that conversation.
So why don't I demonstrate it first, and then we'll switch and you do it?
It won't take longer than fifteen minutes.
Is this a good time to do that?
Right?
So that we can have a focused practice.
I call those skill drills sometimes that it's a focused practice, very small practice topic, and a very small amount of time to do it.
15 notes.
Okay.
Where you go, do you wanna measure that ceiling upstairs for those arrangements?
Yeah.
I'm gonna do it.
Okay.
You know where they are kept at the, counter?
There's that window by the ceiling.
Hi, Christina.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
So, so I would lastly end with a motivational quote.
Some sort of a quote to get us or you might ask actually, I think as I think about this, I might have that be something I would delegate.
And maybe at the end of the meeting, like, who's got a motivational inspirational quote for today?
And I would ask who wants to have it for tomorrow so that you delegate it out there so it's not all on you to do.
And then I would say plan to check on on your team two to three times throughout the day to see how they're doing with their achievement.
And if you have to have someone else do the Huddl, the more that you do this as, as a daily practice, if someone else has to pick up the Slack because you're not there or on your day off, it's really easy to do if you prepare them with the information.
Okay.
So one of the things that I wanna do with you is I wanna show you I wanna share my screen with you, and I wanna show you, I wanna show you what I meant when I said, the Huddl sheet.
So let me, let me share my screen.
All right.
So this is, I have a couple of them.
So you'll notice that you'll notice that it has on the right hand side, you're gonna see a time line.
One minute, four minutes, like, how much time to designate for that particular thing.
So one minute for for, successes that you wanna celebrate.
You're gonna spend about four minutes.
What's the monthly goal?
What's the month to date actual?
What percentage of the month is?
What's the percentage to goal?
And what's the goal for today?
So you prepare this and have all of this ready.
You're not shooting from the hip.
And then if you got if you have people that do appointments, I would go through who are they and what are they expecting to bring in that.
What are they what's the what's the appointment coming in?
And you might have two or three of these that that's gonna take care of the day if they're doing, a design presentation.
So the the thing about this is that in rather quick time, if you have people huddling up every day and somebody never has appointments, doesn't have anything they they they don't have any unsold quotes to call.
They don't have any, after delivery phone calls that they're planning as a sales call.
That stuff's gonna show up pretty quickly, that all they're relying on is a turn at the door.
That stuff starts to show up pretty quickly, and you wanna allow the peer pressure of the group because that group right now is carrying that person.
Like, they're not they're not proactively engaging in the process.
So that stuff really does start to show up pretty quickly.
Alright?
So anyone need any help today?
Because these are your notes.
Anyone need any help today?
They say yes, and that's what, you know, what do they need, and you'll set time for that.
And then, again, what's the skill to practice?
What are we working on today?
And I really encourage you to have that, as part of your conversation so that whether you pick someone up to do it or you encourage a couple of people who are scrolling on their phones, it's like, okay.
The skill we're practicing today is the initiating actions to start a sketch.
One of the two of you do that.
I'll be the observer.
I'll observe.
Who wants to go first?
Like, I know that I mean, I can I can just feel the eye rolls about that?
However, we gotta practice.
We've gotta make practice part of what we do.
Right?
We can't keep practicing on the customer.
And then lastly, what's the inspirational quote?
Especially if it relates to a selling skill or to success itself.
So that's the first document.
The next document is similar in celebrations to success to celebrate, one minute, and the monthly performance.
This one is down to three minutes, though.
So it's pretty much the same what the goals are.
But the next one is is that, like, these are what some of the what the contributions are going to be because this one has it with the current close ratio is, current average sale, current traffic, and what you need for the sale.
But now you might say, alright.
So, Chris, what are you gonna do from the door today?
What are you gonna do from appointments?
What are you gonna do from outreach?
Bringing Chris's total to whatever it's gonna be.
So now you can start to look at this, and this is a great way to go back around the floor and say, like, how is your how are you doing with your outreach?
You're gonna get that from two unsold quotes and one after delivery call.
Which of those have you made and what came out of them.
Right?
Because I really am a firm believer that Saturday and Sunday are days to be closing opportunities that walk in the door that can close today and scheduling opportunities that walk in the door that cannot close today and scheduling appointments Monday through Friday so that your Monday through Friday business really should be a lot of outreach and a lot of appointments because it's quieter.
Right?
So that's what this is now you can really see.
Now this is really now you can see when you have people's names down and where they're gonna how much they're gonna get from each of them, it really is gonna give start to show patterns, especially when you have several days of of this kind of data.
And then, again, on this and that's ten minutes.
I'd allow ten minutes for that.
And then this is going to be, again, ending on a motivational quote, spiritual quote, whatever, motivational, inspirational quote that is going to align with the culture of the company and what we're out to accomplish today.
So does anyone have a question about either of these documents?
Okay.
And I'm gonna stop sharing that.
Okay.
So so that so what given that and and this might be more sort of organized than what you have been doing.
Yeah.
It might be more structured.
It it definitely requires a little bit more work, but all of that data, you you should have readily available.
And some of it, you're just writing down.
Like, you you probably do know where everyone already is for the month.
You you know, you've got access easily to their current close ratio and average sale for the month.
So you have that data available.
So I would say that as a sales manager, it's probably Didn't hear nothing.
Fifteen minutes of time to do that, to get it prepared?
Party wants us to come over there.
Pick it up.
Okay, Jessica.
Picture.
No.
We can hear you.
No.
Okay.
Who said that?
Chloe wanted us to.
Get fucked.
Hey.
Excuse me.
We can hear you.
Okay.
So, so I would say that if it's not if it's more structured than you're used to, that's okay.
It's just more structured than you're used to.
But it's not a lot of work, especially if you're using a structure to manage the information and what you wanna get out of it.
Okay.
What so now I would love to hear from anyone about what you're hearing for yourself with this.
Oh, and we've got a couple of things in the chat.
Are anything else that you would like to do with with with, Huddl's, but you don't know or that you have done with Huddl's and they weren't as effective or successful as you'd like?
Thoughts, questions, examples, anything.
But it's your turn now.
So hi, Tony.
This is Tanya at decorative materials.
I apologize for popping in late.
You know, we do one huddle a week versus, every morning, and our our showroom is a little different than maybe some of the other folks that are on here that have more of, like, a retail and open on the weekends.
So we're just a Monday through Friday showroom.
But, I I love that you mentioned the inspirational quote and aligning with the company culture, and that's a huge part of what we try to do here, during during that time.
But also to I I love the takeaway of a skill to practice, and I wrote it down as a skill to practice for the week And then we can check back in with one another, the following week.
I definitely feel I need a little more structure in my huddles, and this this has been great.
So thank you.
So Oh, you're very welcome.
And what what are your what are your huddles currently structured to do?
What are you doing with them now?
Well, we we do talk about our numbers.
We talk about what the week looks like.
So similar to what you said as far as we don't break down each person's schedule because we have a calendar that goes out that shows what everybody has going on.
But we do talk about if someone has outreach calls, if we've got a lot of people out of the showroom at any particular time, what our what our goals are for the week, regarding amend that, Tanya?
What would you if you're doing it, let's say, Monday morning.
Yep.
Right?
So you would what are the quotes you're looking to close this week?
What's your goal?
What is your goal to goal.
What's your goal to write this week, and what's your goal to quote this week?
Right?
What do you wanna put in the system?
So Tanya's in a trade showroom in Denver, in Colorado.
So so that's what I would ask is, like, what's your week look like?
What appointments do you have?
What's the intention of the appointment?
Is it a you know, are you doing any, like, library drop offs?
So you do it like, what are you doing with your week?
And what can we expect you're gonna contribute to the team as a result of that?
So what are you putting in the system, and what are you taking out of the system?
What are you closing, and what are you what how much are you gonna put in for quotes?
And I'd be looking for two times.
Like, two times the quotes in as what they're taking out.
Okay.
Yeah.
At least, actually.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
And we we also we just discussed what we have coming in for product knowledge trainings, that type of thing.
But a lot of discussion, you know, geared around our outreach and what that looks like.
Huge.
Right?
With the outreach is.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And I would say that if you're doing events in the showroom or events in the building, like, how are you gonna be what kind of preparation should be happening for those events?
Because those when those events happen, they sort of they sort of, I don't know that we give the the amount of preparation necessary to make an event a really good event, Especially if you have targets for the event, like, you know, we're expecting 25 people.
We wanna build, you know, five we wanna walk away with five new appointments like that.
To to start, I think that we need to sharpen our our, intentionality around making events, more meaningful and and get more business from them.
Thank you.
I like that.
Yeah.
So thank you.
And thank you for thank you for going first.
Sure.
Yeah.
So who else?
When it comes to like, based on what we've talked about or what you've been doing, let me ask it this way.
Either to start doing them or to amend what you're doing.
What can you imagine based on what what I've shared with you?
What would you like to do with your Huddl to make them more effective?
That would be the question.
So who wants to do that?
My name is Sean, with Bruce Furniture.
Oh, hi, Sean.
Hey.
So we have, our meetings once a week.
I think I think what we would like to do more is, actually sitting down and maybe not really putting people on the spot.
I mean, but maybe like you said, say, hey.
What's your plan for the day?
What are we gonna get done today?
What are we gonna do to make some money today?
And things like that instead of just sitting around saying things about, you know, not those things.
Everything but the accountability part of, hey.
What are you gonna do for us today?
Okay.
So are they are you asking them for what they're gonna bring in today with that question?
Right.
I mean, because we don't really we don't.
We just have our morning meeting.
We talk about what's going on with the store itself.
Not not anywhere about, like, the goals and thing.
I mean, like, that's talked about outside of the meeting.
So it's not really, like, in a group setting of, you know, like you said, having a Huddl.
We don't really have Huddl.
Yeah.
So, so what do you so thank you for all of that.
And what do you see would be what do you see would be the value of bringing that level of information or intentionality to the group?
Even if you didn't hold people to an amount to contribute.
Mhmm.
But to say, we're at 75% of the month in terms of time in, at 75%, we should be at four twenty five and we're at three sixty.
What would be what would be the the difficulty in sharing that kind of information with the team?
I don't think it would be would difficult.
I mean, we have access to, you know, every day of what we're where we're at, we're at with our goals.
So it's, I mean, I guess that part is talked about, not put into a different perspective, I guess, though.
But Yeah.
So what might be the value of having that information be information that's gonna help you to target what your activities are gonna be, or where can you peck away at the gap between where you need to be and where you are, especially since you have time to to change the the course of that ship now.
Mhmm.
You don't have that same kind of time in ten days.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, I guess a lot of it is just, you know, I guess was I don't know.
I guess was staying on top of it.
Like, with me, personally, I don't have hardly any manager experience, which I know will get into the manager part next week or the week after, whenever.
But John is starting my the next sales management cohort.
Yeah.
In April.
So all this is all this is new.
So I'm just looking for ways of being the manager and not just a friend or a Yeah.
You know?
That.
Mhmm.
A joke along guy that likes to crack jokes and not seen as a manager, but as just a coworker.
Well, that's exactly right.
And I and it's and and, and Huddl's with this kind of structure and information really are a conversation of intentionality and accountability that I know makes a lot of people squirm.
Like, even people that have been doing this a long time because, because it is a level of accountability that you're asking someone you're say saying what the facts are, and if you're off goal, that you're not on track to make goal, that in and of itself is not a great conversation.
It's great to celebrate when you are tracking or ahead of goal.
But when you're behind, it's not as comfortable a conversation.
However, as someone who it didn't happen this year, but the New England Patriots are known for that.
Right?
That if we, at some point, take on that we wanna teach our team how to come from behind, because they're always gonna be behind at some point.
They're always gonna be behind.
Stuff happens.
You get sick or you had a cancellation or something is gonna happen that puts you behind staying on track to make goal.
It's always gonna happen.
So our ability to help our team build the skills because coming from behind actions are not the same are not the same as staying on track actions.
And so that whole area of accountability and speaking in the real terms of what's really happening versus what we wish was happening and to teach our people the skill to actually turn that ship around and what and to push themselves to take action, to do things that they might not do.
I mentioned before that, manager that who called the people the quotes in the system and closed them all.
Now that salesperson might have done done that too, but I thought, well, now that's kind of fascinating.
What would it be like if a sales manager were to go and sit with a salesperson when they call their unsold quotes and put it on speaker?
So or so that they could hear it and say, say this, do this, ask now, shh, don't say another word.
Like, if the sales manager actually coached that salesperson in a calling an unsold quote call, what would happen with that?
But I and I think that that with the very best of intentions, we often are, get caught up in the sort of tender soullness of our salespeople.
We don't want them to feel uncomfortable, but a sales job has a lot of discomfort in it.
It just does.
And if we teach them that our relationship with discomfort is really critical to be a good salesperson, because you're gonna have a lot of it.
And if you don't have a good relationship with discomfort usually means movement forward or being able to use something that didn't work, a failure, to build on and learn from so it doesn't happen again is extraordinary.
And when we wanna only make them feel good, and I know that's not what you're saying, Sean, but when we focus a lot on making them feel good so that we're not talking about the realities of something and putting them in a position to state what they're gonna do and to be accountable, we're actually robbing of the robbing them of the ability to learn that skill.
Because as Ed Sheeran says, we only learn from failure.
We don't learn from success.
Right?
And it's kinda it's pretty true.
So how do we like, my little phrase of commission tuition is that either you wrote it up and made money or you didn't write it up and you learn something.
But if you didn't write it up and you didn't learn something, that's a huge waste of time.
Right?
So, so I encourage you you can have that.
Tuition or commission.
Like, what's it what is it this one?
So what did you learn?
Okay.
So we won't do that again.
How are you gonna anticipate and avoid that happening in the future?
Okay.
Great.
So, so, Sean, the way and this is for Sean and everyone.
However you start your Huddl doesn't mean you'll keep them that way.
You might just start your Huddl's meeting in the morning.
You might do do that.
I would encourage you just because and you'll know exactly what I mean, I would encourage you to do it when the door opens.
Like, if it's if the door opens at 09:00, do it at 09:00.
I would not have them come in for an 08:45 meeting for fifteen minutes.
All it does is piss them off.
Right?
And so you know that there's one person there may be one person at the door when it opens.
That the person who's always in first knows that that's gonna happen.
Let them go write them up because that person always gets written up.
And they you know, they'll come back.
Right?
But I would just I would just say that if you start it right then, rather than make them come in early and start it with, we're gonna do this every morning.
This is what our goal for the day is.
You might just do the goal for the day.
Anyone have any appointments?
And then leave it at that.
And then build up to getting accountability from the group as they get used to the Huddl.
The way you start it doesn't have to you don't have to start it with everything I'm giving you.
You can start slowly and work your way up.
As they get more comfortable with huddles and talking about accountability, now you can dial up the level of intentional and articulated accountability.
So, Sean, thank you for that because I don't think I would have gotten to that place right now the way I did without your question.
So thank you.
Yeah.
So anyone else?
I mean so, Chris, you're gonna start doing Huddl.
So what does this have this conversation have you think about with your team as you are actually two teams, as you wanna start them with Huddl?
What does it have you think about?
I love the concept of accountability.
I mean, you know, they're kinda putting some chips in, first thing in the morning.
I mean, you know, saying what they think they can do.
I mean, you know, so they gotta answer that.
I love the accountability factor in it.
And, I was actually just chit chatting with Bill here.
Nobody likes change around here.
However, if Jody says it's a good idea, I'm I'm I'm maybe we make it, Jody's idea.
So Oh, there you go.
He could play Mick.
Absolutely.
Do that.
So, I mean, I think I think that'd be a great way for us to implement it in the in the current, training that we're going through with you.
So I think that'd be a a a great, you know, a great add on.
Well and you can and, again, you I mean, you can just ask what they've got coming in.
And you you may not ask for all the money right away, but as you as you develop and see what your team's tolerance level is to start making that accountability, more rigorous, let's say.
Right.
And I like I like it.
Yeah.
I I think it's also I think it's also important, you know, we're channeling some of you know, we're we're we're letting them know ahead of time we're gonna channel some of their activities throughout the day, you know, with the the the skills, and, you know, the different things we're gonna do that day.
So I think that's I think that's important, and I think it'd be Well great tone setter.
You know, as you say that, Chris, I was thinking about it because I'm looking at the sheets here because I printed them out.
So so this is these are as the sales manager, this is what my day is.
Mhmm.
My day is to go around and see how many of these have closed, what's happened, what is the one they're avoiding, how can I help them with that, can we practice it before they pick up the phone and call?
So this is my day.
Like, my day is making sure this happens as the sales manager.
Their day is executing it.
Right.
But this sets my day Not at all.
As the sales manager.
Right?
So and so everybody's accountable on this, which is awesome.
Right?
Okay.
Cool.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes, please.
Hi, Karen.
Hey.
Hi.
How are you?
Long time no see.
Yes.
Hey.
Question for you, and I'm not sure how you feel about this.
So usually when I do my huddles, we talk about, obviously, the goal, where we're at, who has appointments.
I always ask if there's anything they can use assistance with, whether it's myself or their teammates to prep for that appointment or Okay.
House call.
But one thing is I always do an area of improvement.
How do you feel about that?
Well, that would kinda be the skill to practice.
It's still in that same sort of vein.
Yeah.
How do they feel about it?
I think it depends on the topic.
So some of it could be area of improvement is is really just cleaning up after yourself.
You know?
Some of it could be that.
Some of it could be protection dollars are down.
Let's talk about it.
So Joe over here gets, you know, a 100% protection.
What are you doing, Joe, that you can bring to the team to help them increase their protection dollars?
So I try to reach out to the team for those areas where we may not be performing as well as we should be.
Well, you know, you made me think about something.
What if what if the skill to practice what you could what if we have it as a skill to practice and or a contest for the day?
So what if we say, if we get 100% of all sales written today that have protection, then, pizza's on me at 05:00 or something, or everyone gets Starbucks gift cards, or, like, if everyone closes protection today on every single sale, they get protection, then this is what's gonna happen at the end of the day.
Right.
And I I usually do I have part of our motto in our practice is the golden eggs.
So I bought a big golden egg, and there's little prizes in there.
So if something's wrong, I'll write that down if I was everybody on the call.
That's pretty adorable.
They can draw they can just draw, and it could be simple things.
It could be, you know, a a notebook.
It could be Mike and Ike's.
It could be kinda like the prizes we had at the table.
And so I did I did notice since we moved, we've kind of gotten away from that.
So I wanna put it back on the table because we had a lot of fun with it and everything.
So I started filling it up two weeks ago.
So so I'm now ready to go.
But but I was just curious because I know some people think area of improvements are a negativity, but I feel like you have to talk about those things as a group.
Yeah.
Well, yes, we do have some of those things.
And I don't know.
Maybe it was twelve years of Catholic school for me that I didn't like staying after school for stuff I didn't do.
And, and so if there's an area that's not that like, I don't wanna hear about what somebody else isn't doing when I could be calling a customer.
So if someone's not cleaning up an area, then that's it's usually not everybody, but it's usually a few people, and that would probably be a separate separate conversation.
Right.
Okay.
Well, thank you.
I appreciate your feedback.
Oh, you're very welcome.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Yeah.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
And so it's this is a good one with contest too.
I would if you've got how many of you run contests regularly with your team?
We do.
You do.
Okay.
Well, I can't I can't I can't see everyone, unfortunately, but, you know, I love them.
And but, you know, as a dominant influencer, I would.
But, I just I think that they really spark things around.
And if you tease people with them or bring them up or if there are contests that people have a chance to win, it's not always the same person who wins.
Just think about it.
And you can let them know that in the huddle in the morning.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Any other any other questions or thoughts or what you're gonna do with this, how you see this happening for you?
I think, hi, Jody.
It's Christina.
Hi, Christina.
Hi.
So, I think what I will be doing is, you know, continuing to have a somewhat organic feeling about this because we have a tendency to gather in the morning around the UPS board.
It's also near the coffee maker.
It's also where I'm doing paperwork in the morning, and, they're checking their mailboxes.
And so, you know, I think that I will continue to do that in sort of that organic location Okay.
And try to bring a little bit more structure to it and almost almost, boil the frog slowly, and, you know, just kind of, add a little bit more structure each time.
And so and so we get to a point where it feels, more intentional, rather than being like, okay.
Chop chop everybody.
We're having a meeting.
Because that's we do that on Saturdays when we don't have trainings and, you know, we have a core but and that and that's a little bit different.
But, you know, sort of more casual at least, you know, on the days when we have that more full schedule.
You know, as you mentioned, there are two different shifts at some stores.
So certainly on days when we have that more full schedule, I'll be looking to do that.
Well and if you've good for you.
Because and and if you've got, in the successes to when you open the meeting with a with successes, it just is a different it's different from getting into the numbers right away, especially if, there's a contest to give a success for from yesterday or something so that it it it gets us on an upbeat to the start of the meeting, which is really sort of important.
Yeah.
That's a great approach.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Okay.
Anyone else?
Well, if anyone needs a copy of this, please let me know.
I you might be able to, like, get a sense of it from what was on the screen, but if you want a copy of it, please let me know.
And this is part of, as you know, I once a quarter now, I start a new sales manager training cohort that's a 20 session program.
And the next one starts on Thursday, April I wanna say April 6.
It's the first Thursday in April at, noon, I believe.
And, that's gonna start.
And Sean is already in that, and so we're starting that up.
And for those who've already been through the program, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be doing either coaching, like, once a month coaching or putting together other cohorts that would be once a month meeting with people who've been through the program before and the ongoing thing.
That was one of couple of requests I got was to do ongoing coaching around difficult conversations and that sort of second level of sales management, training and execution.
So anyone who's interested in that, go to my website, pick up the phone, and call me for either of those.
That would be wonderful.
So I hope this was helpful to you.
You know how to reach me.
You've got my contact information.
If you want these, documents, please send me an email, and I'm happy to send that to you.
And anything that you challenge with or struggle with, please reach out to me and also share your successes.
I would love to hear what you're doing with this and what it's changed for you, what you've gotten out of it as a sales manager in organizing your day, and when it's done for your team to help them to organize their day and predictably produce results.
So thank you for your engagement.
Thank you for your partnership.
Thank you for being present on this, and I look forward to hearing from you.
So thanks.
Thank you, Jody.
Thank you, Jody.
Bye, everyone.
A huddle is not just a meeting. It’s how you start the day with intention.
It’s where the sales manager sets direction, establishes focus, and creates accountability before the day gets away from you. When it’s done well, it changes how the entire team shows up.
A huddle should answer three simple questions. Where are we right now? What do we need to accomplish today? And how are we going to get there?
Most huddles fall short not because they’re unnecessary, but because they lack structure. They become too long, too general, or disconnected from the numbers. Or they avoid accountability, which is the very thing that makes them effective.
A strong huddle is simple and consistent. Start with a quick win or success to set the tone. Bring the numbers into focus so everyone understands where you are relative to goal. Then move into the most important part of the conversation—what needs to happen today and who is going to make that happen.
This is where you begin to ask better questions. Who has appointments? What are they expecting to close? Where is additional business going to come from? What needs to happen to get you to the number?
As a sales manager, your role is not just to run the huddle, but to lead it. You’re guiding the conversation toward action. You’re helping the team connect their activity to the outcome. And you’re setting the expectation that results are created on purpose.
As you listen, pay attention to what’s underneath the answers. Who has a clear plan? Who is relying only on walk-in traffic? Where are the gaps? These are the things that will shape your coaching throughout the day.
This doesn’t need to be perfect to start. It needs to be consistent. You can begin with a simple structure and build from there as your team becomes more comfortable with the process.
When huddles are done well, you’ll see the shift. The team is more focused. Time is used more intentionally. There is clearer ownership of results. And performance becomes more predictable.
Take a look at how you’re currently starting your day. Where can you bring more clarity, more structure, and more accountability into that first conversation?
That’s where the impact of the huddle begins.
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