Planning and Executing a Successful Sales Kickoff

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I get it! You’re pumped to finish the year strong BUT you also are thinking in the back of your mind… we have to get ready for a successful Sales Kick Off! So today I’d like to share a couple of learnings on how you can set yourself up for success.

Strap in! You’ve punched a ticket to ride on the SKO rocket ship.

Rally the team

The holidays are here and it’s an opportunity for your team to spend time with friends and family. On top of that it’s an opportunity for each of your team members to reconsider what they want out of their careers. Similar to a customer renewing with you for another year, an employee also has to decide if they’re going to re-up for another year. As a revenue leader there’s nothing more important than keeping your stars and the bulk of your core together. Setting up a successful SKO is an opportunity to boost confidence that the team has made the right choice.

There are three fundamental questions you need to provide to the team.

1. What are the organization’s priorities? Do they have a mission and does that mission align with their own?

2. How does their work contribute to that mission? Does their work matter? Is it valued?

3. Is there a reasonable plan? Or is the plan pure fantasy and a fantastical pursuit of pies in the sky?

You have to absolutely nail all three of them! If you do that your team members are likely to opt in to stay with the company for a new year.

The “R” word

2023 SKO is not going to be like one we’ve seen in a long time. In 2021 we had virtual SKOs. In 2022 we snapped back to in person events. In 2023 you’re like to see more hybrid SKOs and recession based messaging. So let these lessons below serve as a few ideas for you to consider as you start planning.

Goals and Objectives

Remember, your team is wondering whether there’s a real plan. Will the issues of yesteryear persist? Are the issues they care about going to be addressed? Start with the mission and define your goals. Incorporate the Q4 QBR (see previous article on operating cadences) as a lookback and wrap up for the year. This is your opportunity to clearly communicate goals and outline the initiatives for the year.

Developing an Operating Cadence

Before going into the SKO you should have your goals well defined. You may set up your OKRs and initiatives in a format like below.

This is where the fun begins. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What sessions can we have that match to a row in the OKR sheet above?

• Who will design and lead that session?

• What will be the format? Interactive?

Once you’ve completed your operating model (previous post on operating model) and your Annual Operating Plan, the answers to these questions will serve as the foundation for the SKO sessions. When done right, there’s a natural flow from SKO to the objectives of the business. As leaders, it’s our job to set direction, guide team culture, and motivate the team.

What is in a Revenue Operating Model?

Preparation

SKOs are a stressful time for leadership, enablement, and operations. It can sometimes seem like SKO is around the corner and you are WAY BEHIND on planning.

It’s okay.

We all feel like that!

When planning an SKO in an environment where hybrid or completely virtual is on the menu, there will be uncertainty in how to make the SKO pay off for the business and the team. For 2023 here are my five guiding principles to a successful SKO.

1. Bring in other teams to support. Sales isn’t just the Sales Department’s job believe it or not. Selling takes a village.

2. Get executive support. An Executive Fireside Chat can help open up the big picture for the reps

3. Wipe the slate clean. Incorporate the Q4 QBR as a lookback and wrap for the year. You want to connect the dots but you want to turn the page and say the scoreboard has set to zero. It’s a brand new ballgame.

4. Turn your SKO from a monologue to a dialogue! Make sure you have surveys for before and after the event.

Commercial Kickoff vs Sales Kickoff

Instead of just keeping it limited to a sales-only audience, how about bringing in the entire Go To Market team to get involved. Turn that Sales Kickoff into a Commercial Kickoff.

Sessions that could bring in the broader team:

• Marketing strategies for FY23

  • ABM

  • New verticals and personas

• Sales Engineers

  • Upgrading the demo experience

• CS

  • Customer interviews

Monologue to Dialogue via feedback

Work with Revenue Enablement to develop a productivity survey. Ask four simple questions:

1. How much time do you spend on enablement activities such as per week on preparation, mutual action plans, opportunity assessment tools, training and proposals?

2. How much time do you spend on engagement activities such as emails, phone, and sales calls?

3. How much time do you spend on administrative tasks such as expense reports?

4. How much time do you spend on relationship management activities such as customer calls?.

Relative Productivity Matrix (RPM) framework from Sirius Decisions

The four quadrants can be described as seen below:

BEFORE READING BELOW! 

I’m launching a brand new course called the Sales Ops Masterclass. Next week I’ll delve into a portion of lecture 1 and post a video here for everyone of the snippet!