A company’s SKO is arguably the most important event of the year. Teams celebrate wins, learn from losses and get amped for the next year of quota-crushing sales.
A study by CSO Insights found that companies with air-tight sales enablement processes outperform those without by 8.2% in higher revenues. However, only 25% of companies surveyed have a formal sales enablement process in place.
The following infographics highlight some of the key aspects to consider when planning the perfect sales kickoff, including:
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The 8 pillars of sales enablement that build a successful sales kickoff (Source)
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What sales reps really thought of your sales kickoff
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Sales kickoff design principles (Source)
Structure and Collaboration:
It’s difficult to create an amazing SKO if you don’t have a dedicated team to manage the logistics and create value for your reps. If your company is part of the 75% that doesn’t have formalized sales enablement process in place, it’s worth developing them. That way, teams can work together to ensure smooth execution and a measurable event ROI later on.
Growth Strategy:
When else are you going to have your entire sales team lazer-focused in one room? Use the time to explain long-term strategic goals, engage your team in meaningful conversations and deliver immersive personal development experiences.
Training & Coaching:
Plan interactive training and coaching sessions so at the end of the day your team doesn’t leave empty-handed. Try “fun” case studies, group excersizes and gamification to tap into your sales teams’ inner competitive nature.
Guided Content:
Your sales team will be absorbing content like crazy during the SKO. Make it easier for them (and everyone) by making note of the most important assets, such as new case studies, top-performing ebooks, infographics and blog posts. You even might want to consider mapping them out visually so your team can understand how they fit into the buyer’s journey. Don’t forget to share success stories about how top reps used content to win over prospects.
Communication and Feedback:
You want to get your team psyched for the event, but you don’t want to ruin the surprise. Encourage top reps, sales managers and leaders to push the event internally, explaining what they’re most excited about. Share the agenda, speakers and topics of discussion to get people talking. Communicate the idea of collaboration by ensuring people have a way to providing ongoing feedback.
Analytics & Measurement:
Management guru Peter Drucker said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The same goes for SKOs. Measure assignment completion, attendance rate, content consumption and overall effectiveness of the event. Analyzing the impact of the event will allow you understand how experience affects customer conversations, and your much your reps retained overall.
Ongoing Operations:
For the event to be a success, your sales enablement strategy can’t end when the SKO does. Reinforcing training process and innovative content approaches is essential for greasing the machine all year round. All departments need to be involved. Make sure to outline expectations for each sales department in the coming months.
Tools & Technology:
Having the tools and technology will help sales pros hit those goals in the next year. The modern selling environment requires user-friendly, mobile and measurable sales enablement platforms to use content, communication, training and sales tools. When your team’s back in the office crushing quota, it’s the tools, processes and technology that will help them succeed.
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