This topic is likely to resonate with many FMCG practitioners, especially those in large and medium-sized brand companies. I have personally experienced this: while accompanying a provincial general manager on a market visit (not at month-end), we had several meetings totaling nearly four hours in one day, plus dozens of phone calls, almost chaining us to our phones. I once had a similar experience: after daily market work, various online meetings would start at 8 PM and last until 10, 11, or even 12 PM, sometimes requiring attendance again at 7 AM the next morning. Occasional late meetings are fine, but over time they exhaust both mind and body. At that point, meetings are not about improving efficiency but about killing employee passion. Today, let's discuss some suggestions about meetings. 01 What is the value of meetings? First, my view is: meetings are a communication tool, but not a mandatory one! Don't hold meetings for every trivial matter. Prioritize issues; for example, some things can be communicated via WeChat group voice messages, with follow-up later. Second, the purpose of a meeting is: based on market facts, from each person's standpoint, express views, build consensus, draw conclusions, and form decisions! This is a results-oriented meeting process. Based on this, the meeting topic must be announced in advance, and participants should prepare. Fewer but more focused meetings are the flywheel for improving work efficiency. Then there is meeting time: strictly control meeting duration. We often see meetings going off-topic, especially when leaders casually exceed the time by an hour. Overtime is a sign that the meeting organizer lacks control. Finally, meeting implementation: often, meetings are held separately from implementation, like two separate skins. This kills corporate profits, reduces organizational efficiency, and wastes people's time. Let me list a few common meeting problems:

  1. Are most meetings in your department ad hoc, with few or no fixed meetings? Do people suddenly have to join a meeting within half an hour or even minutes, followed by long-winded discussions?
  2. Do your department meetings lack formal processes, a moderator, prior agenda notification, speaking order, etc.? Instead, does the leader throw out a topic and everyone chats casually?
  3. Do your meetings have no time limit, or only a symbolic one, actually lasting as long as they go?
  4. Do your meetings often end without a clear conclusion, only discussion and no results?
  5. Is there a meeting recorder? Are meeting outcomes effectively followed up and implemented? The above are common issues. If your department's meetings hit all of them, it's time to suggest the boss replace the leader, because they are wasting the company's human costs. Meeting cost = per-person time cost x number of participants x meeting duration. Suppose the average time cost per employee is 50 yuan per hour; if you gather 10 people for a 2-hour meeting, the cost is 50 yuan x 10 people x 2 hours = 1000 yuan. If a leader does this daily, a small team of about ten people wastes over 300,000 yuan a year. But the bigger loss is not just that: the decline in organizational capability, reduced human efficiency, lost market opportunities, and damaged team morale are immeasurable. So what is the value of meetings? A meeting is an organized, led, and purposeful collective discussion activity. Wherever there is organization, there are usually meetings. The origin of the word "meeting" in Chinese can be traced to the "Records of the Grand Historian": "At every court meeting, he would lay out the options and let the ruler choose, refusing to argue face-to-face." This expresses the essence of meetings: pooling wisdom and leveraging collective strength. Only by bringing together everyone's intelligence can we maximize collective value and achieve the highest efficiency. Image source: Panoramic Vision 02 Several Common Value-less Sales Meetings I have participated in and organized countless marketing meetings. Let me share a few types that drain energy, waste time, and add no value, so you can avoid these pitfalls.
  6. Casual chat-style meetings: They can be lively and allow deep exchange, but beware of turning into aimless, overly casual tea parties that ramble and waste everyone's time.
  7. Blame-shifting meetings: When sales targets are missed and the market declines, morale is low, and inter-departmental harmony is fragile, finger-pointing easily occurs. Such meetings severely damage team morale.
  8. Criticism sessions: Meetings that turn into public criticism of an individual or department are devastating to that person and department. The focus should be on raising issues and finding solutions.
  9. Coercive meetings: Teams or individuals often use meetings to make demands, threatening that they cannot achieve results unless conditions are met, such as "competitors have lower prices and higher margins, our market spending is insufficient," etc. Such meetings yield no results and make the team worse over time. There are many such meeting types; I won't list them all, but I hope you can avoid these "pits" based on my experience. 03 For Sales Teams, Which Meetings Are Essential? Salespeople share a common experience: performance is their mission and dignity. At month-end, some "hardworking" leaders start daily or even twice-daily meetings to track performance, usually with the same lines:
  10. How much have you achieved so far? How much is left?
  11. Have you completed today's collection target? If not, why? Which distributor is underperforming? How to solve it?
  12. How much do you plan to collect tomorrow? Which distributors will it be allocated to? What if something goes wrong?
  13. Tell distributor X, or supervisor/manager Y, that they slipped last month and need to be "careful" this month. Then each person speaks for a few minutes, gets comments, and the meeting ends. For leaders, this approach is acceptable for short-term pressure (usually no more than half a year), because without performance, there is no voice, and without performance, the team has no income; everyone needs to live, so it's understandable. But if this continues year after year, it's wrong. It's a sign of "lazy governance," using meaningless meeting diligence to mask strategic and tactical laziness, harming both the team and distributors. Which meetings are essential for sales teams? By nature, these types must be held: Execution = Knowledge x Attitude x Skills x Tracking and Checking
  14. Knowledge training meetings: FMCG requires basic product knowledge and display knowledge. Without these, market operations are like walking with eyes closed, and you'll eventually fall hard.
  15. Attitude meetings: Attitude stems from work motivation and needs incentives. So these meetings are about motivation and recognition, and about mobilizing for specific events.
  16. Skills meetings: Skills determine work capability improvement and require repeated practice. These meetings are best held regularly as employee skills competitions.
  17. Tracking and checking meetings: Teams need reminders, and meetings need implementation. These meetings should be targeted, with attention to frequency and rhythm. By timing, these meetings are essential: morning meetings, weekly meetings, monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, semi-annual meetings, and annual meetings. These meetings should follow four points:
  18. Fixed time, place, and process: Standardization is the best way to improve efficiency. Before the meeting, think about what problems you want to solve (no more than 3 items; too many priorities means no priorities) and what outcomes you expect after the meeting (design the agenda around meeting goals).
  19. Address current issues, use meetings as training, align goals, boost confidence, provide methods, and develop capabilities.
  20. Encourage the advanced, motivate the lagging, and design team incentives.
  21. After the meeting, form results around the agenda, convert results into specific action plans with people, time, items, and support; otherwise, the meeting was in vain. 04 Avoid Closed-door Meetings; Go Out and Exchange It's easy to see a common trait: excellent internal teams often do one thing—they gather core team members to visit and learn from outstanding companies or teams, then build their own combat effectiveness. This has several benefits:
  22. Broaden horizons: "Oh, so things can be done this way!"
  23. Identify shortcomings: "Our previous approach was so inefficient."
  24. Build confidence: "Our hard work tomorrow is someone else's today," which strengthens conviction.
  25. Avoid pitfalls: Ensure we don't repeat others' mistakes.
  26. Seek advice: We can consult experts on our current problems. This is crucial for FMCG manufacturers and distributors: continuous learning and exchange. There are many marketing methods, but exploring on your own is time-consuming. Join circles, exchange experiences and promotion methods with industry experts, and you'll be more likely to win. This is also the shortest and most effective form of meeting!