Lunch and Learns for Sales

Lunch and Learns can be used as a fun, less intrusive and less formal way to communicate an idea or pitch a solution to an existing problem. A Lunch and Learn is a learning session set up by an organisation for its employees. The session usually lasts between 30 to 60 minutes over a lunch period. A lunch and learn is usually less formal than a mandatory training session, often taking the form of a presentation, but can sometimes be interactive. Lunch and learns are usually delivered ‘face-to-face’ but can also be delivered through a webinar.

Why lunch and learns for sales?

Lunch and Learns bring a community of people together who all have a vested interest in a comparable subject. During the session, important points are often made, which can open up a channel of communication or introduce a new concept.

Large organisations, especially IT Departments often have a regular lunch and learn program, where they discuss new ideas and hot topics that may have some form of influence on their work now or in the future. Some departments run Lunch and Learns monthly and some quarterly. Although there is usually a dedicated program manager, the responsibility to find fresh new content often sits with leaders within the departments that make up a division. For example, within IT, the CIO might look to the Head of Information Security for topics on cyber security and the Head of Data for topics on data protection legislation.

Organisations don’t have all the answers within their walls and very often rely on education from subject-matter-experts within vendors that provide services. Organisations have a duty to educate their employees in the latest trends and developments. Demonstrating deep knowledge in a subject and being seen as a subject-matter-expert makes you a valuable resource. Where a knowledge gap exists in an organisation, getting a vendor to provide education is a low-cost solution.

Through a willingness to educate and share, you can get valuable face time with a customer and in turn create a vehicle for business development. Account Managers can utilise this method for up-sell or cross-sell to existing customers. Through a Lunch and Learn a Sales Professional can look to expand into new departments or entirely new customers.

Here are some Lunch and Learn ideas you can try. Remember the focus is always on education and not selling, so be sure to include a detailed agenda and list of objectives. If your marketing team will support it, sponsoring the lunch is a nice touch that can boost your chances.

7 tips for delivering successful lunch and learns

1 – Check the environment and facilities – For example, are your customers going to be comfortable in the room? Is the equipment set up and working? Is the lighting just right? How will you deliver lunch and refreshments to the room? Make sure you have note books and pens available and any datasheets or brochures.

2 – Delivery Format – Delivery is key to engaging your audience. Different formats work for different styles of delivery. What room setup do you require, for example, boardroom, banquet or theatre style. Whichever way you choose to deliver your presentation it is important to make the session your own and ensure you cover the agenda items.

3 – Get your audience involved – Interaction drives engagement. Part of your presentation could have some audience participation. It’s not just you who has to provide a solution to solve a problem. For example, a team building game can help bring colleagues close together and better aligned to your thinking.

4 – Key speakers – The subject you want to present and talk about may be outside your fountain of knowledge, and therefore it may be beneficial to have a key note speaker. You want someone who is captivating and memorable. Bringing in a technical person such as a CTO is a great way to ensue your Lunch and Learn provides authenticity.

5 – Promotion, promotion, promotion – In case you haven’t guessed promotion is key to reaching a wide range of people and getting bums on seats. Take advantage of whatever social media, portal, email, calendar updates and messaging service is available. Ask your host to put up signs in the cafeteria/kitchen and set out plenty of internal reminder emails.

6 – Think about the fun – Not every lunch and learn has to be sitting down and learning. Occasionally it’s fun to throw few other ideas in to the mix and shake things up a bit. For example, if your lunch and learn session is about wellbeing, then you could throw in a 10-minute wind down session (de stressing and practicing breathing). Or, if many of your colleagues are in to sports then why not a have a mini table tennis competition.

7 – Finally, feedback – All your hard work has come down to this. You want to know what works? What doesn’t work? Also, ask the question of how they intend to use the information that they have leant and how they are going to apply it to their work or personal lives in the future? You should seek feedback whilst the subject is still hot, so pretty soon afterwards. Keep the form short and sweet but welcome any comments your audience give you. If things don’t go quite how you had planned, then don’t get disheartened. Learn from it, move on to making the next lunch and learn a success.