Leader's Guide to SKO Success: 5 Do's and Don'ts
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In-person sales kickoffs were declared forever dead at the start of the pandemic. But now theyre back with a vengeance. Done right, SKOs are magical experiences that drive alignment, engagement, and motivation. They require a magical combination of strategic thinking and tactical execution. To help you succeed, weve gathered insight on why now is the perfect time for new thinking when it comes to SKOs. If youre not planning a fundamentally different experience, youre missing a massive opportunity to move the revenue meter. Here are the 5 Dos and 5 Donts for your next sales kickoff.
Leader's Guide to SKO Success: 5 Do's and Don'ts
- 1. Leaders Guide to SKO Success: 5 Dos and Donts Modern Sales Enablement
- 2. In-person sales kickoffs were declared forever dead at the start of the pandemic. But now theyre back with a vengeance. Done right, SKOs are magical experiences that drive alignment, engagement, and motivation. They require a magical combination of strategic thinking and tactical execution. To help you succeed, weve gathered insight on why now is the perfect time for new thinking when it comes to SKOs. If youre not planning a fundamentally different experience, youre missing a massive opportunity to move the revenue meter. Here are the 5 Dos and 5 Donts for your next sales kickoff.
- 3. Here are 5 Next-Generation SKO Strategies, or Dos. We present you with SKO challenges and best practices to help tackle them. 5 Dos 3
- 4. Challenge 1 Theres of pressure to fill every minute of in-person SKOs. Shorter attention spans desire more face-to-face interaction and collaboration. 4
- 5. Do 1: Adding through Subtraction Open the agenda from your last in- person SKO. Then, delete 40% of it. Include loosely structured networking and informal collaboration. 5
- 6. Challenge 2 Marketing, product, HR, finance, sales, corporate strategy many constituents, many things to say this creates disjointed and conflicting messages. 6
- 7. Do 2: Getting Everyone on the Same Page All commercial teams and related functions must be on the same page. Drive alignment by ensuring everyone delivers a part of one interconnected story. 7
- 8. Challenge 3 Larger agenda blocks allow participants to really struggle with a new concept dont let participants off-the-hook with superficial understanding. 8
- 9. Do 3: Balancing Participation Intake with Application Position the meeting as a workshop. Set the expectation that actual work will take place its not a role-play but a real-play. 9
- 10. Challenge 4 Many treat SKOs like the point of arrival vs. the point of departure. Measurement is key its necessary for continuous improvement and expected by leadership. 10
- 11. Do 4: Initiating a Wave of Enablement Define the team behaviors and set measurable goals to focus on over the year. 11
- 12. Challenge 5 Emotion is a big component of engagement and retention now overlay this with the pervasive emphasis on authenticity and informality. 12
- 13. Do 5: Mixing the Fun Make sure your agenda is light and fun find ways to infuse humor and less serious activities. 13
- 14. Now that weve provided next- gen strategies, or Dos, here are some Donts. These are anecdotes based on a host of meetings weve observed as less effective, though often entertaining. 5 Donts 14
- 15. Don't 1: Executive "Talking Heads" Don't bore attendees with long general sessions full of Executive talking heads. People are not very interested in restructuring, new departments, and every new corporate initiative. These sessions are made worse when Executives decide to wheel out stools and a couch on stage to make the session look like a talk show. 15
- 16. Don't 2: Irrelevant Key Speaker Dont bring in a keynote speaker with no relevance at all. While it may be awesome that you attracted a 1988 Olympic Gold Medal ski jumper or a trekker who scaled a treacherous mountain with a butter knife, people dont see the point. Stick to your theme, engage a speakers bureau and select wisely or do not select at all. 16
- 17. Don't 3: Venturing Off-site Dont include off-site activities that require buses, passes, lines, and late returns. Shuttling people around is exhausting and creates higher cost and time. Save the time and expense; offer events that give people a chance to talk to one another and catch-up. 17
- 18. Don't 4: Party Central Dont pick Las Vegas (or other "party" locations). While it sounds awesome, it is almost always a mistake. Your people will be utterly useless in workshops, show up late, party all night, win or lose money, get in relationship trouble and your meeting will invariably blow the budget. 18
- 19. Don't 5: Over-the-Top Production Dont splurge on extravagant productions. Yes, indoor fireworks and tigers riding mini scooters are cool. Its what we do at the circus, not the SKO focused on market growth and product innovation. Keep it simple instead. 19
- 20. Words of Wisdom As you incorporate the Dos and Donts into SKO planning, also consider these Words of Wisdom. We asked sales leaders from various backgrounds to share their personal tips. 20
- 21. Words of Wisdom To me, the best events are those that foster sales team collaboration and networking from top to bottom. I love seeing the team interact and get to know each other on all levels. Doug Cullen, SVP, Global Head of DataSite, Merrill Corporation Start with energy, the meeting gets started on the right foot. 54 slides and a low-energy leader, and you set the wrong tone. Justin Honaman, Head, Retail & Consumer Goods G2M, Amazon Take the routine out of your sales meetings. Dare to try something different. It has set a high bar for us to continue to try new things. Success or failure, you must be willing to try new things to take the routine out of these meetings. Mike Morris, Director, Commercial Enablement, Boston Scientific 21
- 22. Words of Wisdom Bring an element of surprise to your meeting. If you bring in a guest speaker, reveal a new product, or announce a business move, these can work to drive immediate engagement so that you can accomplish the additional objectives you set out for the remainder of the meeting. Trip Eberhart, VP, Client Success, BrightOrg Services "Sometimes, kickoffs need to be high on inspiration and lite on information. The impact of energizing the team and/or re- defining the sales culture can more important than the typical agenda of product updates, operational changes, comp plans. David Fulham, Sr. Director, Global Business Operations, VIAVI Solutions "Sweat the details -- Ensure your presenters are prepped and screen content for relevance and impact. This seems very basic, but if you dont have someone on the planning team who acts as a 'screener' to ensure the content will resonate, you run the risk of having presenters who miss the mark, which makes attendees feel like their time is wasted. Chris Stein, Sales Enablement Leader, Equifax 22
- 23. Next years SKO is an unprecedented enablement opportunity. Dont buy into the myth that SKOs cant drive real results near and long term. They can and this year they must. SKOs that Deliver Results 23
- 24. Dont keep these all to yourself Share this presentation with your team. Download the PDF version. DOWNLOAD 24
- 25. The Brevet Group is a sales consulting, training, and enablement firm. We work with clients who have the vision and guts to re-imagine how they sell to modern buyers. Follow Us: Blog Web LinkedIn Twitter 25