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Sales Kick-off Research – What Does Your Sales Team Want?

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

During the holiday season, Vorsight had completed a survey to analyze the importance of sales kick-offs. Before we dive into what these means for sales leaders, give this a quick read – Vorsight Sales Kick-Off Research

As a sales leader, we’ve all been in annual and/or sales kick-offs. Some are boring, some are too product driven, and the occasional meeting is inspiring. The inspiring kick-offs are typically very tactical tools that your team can run with ASAP. When I say tactical, I mean they are not “pie-in-the-sky” concepts of methodologies. Tactical means steps, roadmaps and examples of what a sales rep can do tomorrow to win more business.

The Top 3 Things we Can Take Away From the Sales Kick-Off Research From Vorsight

 

1. Kicking-Off the Year Motivated is Not Always a Priority?

I thought this was an odd statistic – 13% of sales “kick-offs” were in February! Like Vorsight, we train companies, and have noticed many companies want sales kick-off training months after January 1st. I remember my first sales job where the CEO used to have us hit the phones within 2-3 days from New Years. His philosophy was “start making calls a week before your competition”. While I’m not certain that’s the best philosophy now, it does demonstrate the power of hitting the market ASAP. When we do our internal monthly KPI meeting, I ensure it’s on the 1st day of the month. I want to use all 30 remaining days to my advantage, and make adjustments right away. I don’t want that meeting on the next Monday, as I’ve already lost a week. The same goes with February/March sales kick-off’s, in which adjustments in the sales process now have only 10-11 months to work.

2. Who Leads the Sales Kick-Off Was as Memorable as a Basic Cable TV Show

It was very sad to see sales professionals aren’t remembering their sales trainer. The event was “so memorable” that can’t think of the new sales style, methodology, they had just learnt. I’m not sure if this is a wake-up call to sales training companies, or to sales managers making poor choices. Either way, what benefit is spending all that money, only to make the event as memorable as your latest Dr. Phil episode.

3. There is a Conflict Between the Topics and Sales Needs

The most surprising was the glaring need for lead generation help (40% of sales reps were expected to NOT hit quota in 2012), and lack of lead generation training at kick-off events. Why the disconnect? Product training is great, but you have every day in the office to learn the product. Remember, top sales professionals are not always best acquired (or plucked off a tree) – they are grown!

The Bottom Line

Take a read of the Vorsight Kickoff research – and make sure not to just have a sales kickoff meeting because you are expected to have one. Have a kickoff meeting that people will remember and that will start your year/quarter/month on the right foot.

If you don’t want to be left behind the 8 ball – you need to start to take action. The following dozen blog posts on utilizing Social Selling strategies using LinkedIn can help you start. If you are really looking for some hidden gems on how you can attract a very specific prospect, I recommend you check out – 42 LinkedIn Tips

Jamie Shanks

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