Sales kickoffs are always a busy time of year. There’s so much to do and so little time to do it. As the sales manager, you’re responsible for making sure your team is prepared to hit their quotas. But what can you do to make sure your sales kickoff activities are a success? This blog post gives you some tips for successful sales kickoff events:
Sales Kickoff Activities To Help you Close More Deals
A Sales Kickoff Meeting is an annual event (typically in January) where the entire sales force comes together to celebrate the previous year’s successes, review goals for the upcoming year, and motivate one another.
A sales kickoff is an event where the entire sales organization comes together to get pumped up and ready to hit their goals for the next 12 months. This is a time to set the tone for the year, and get everyone on the same page.
Sales kickoff activities are typically designed to energize and motivate a sales team at the start of a new fiscal year. The activities might include a keynote speech from the company president, training on new products, and discussions of sales strategies.
The goal is to get the sales team focused and excited about the year ahead so they will be more likely to achieve their goals
Sales kickoffs are a great way to build team morale and ensure that everyone is on the same page. By following our specific tips for planning your kickoff, you can make sure that your event is a success. Keep reading to learn more.
8 Tips For Successful Sales Kickoff Events
Here are 8 best practices to keep in mind when preparing for a kick-off meeting with a new client.
1. Begin With Objectives
Before you dive into your annual plan, make sure you’re clear on the corporate strategy and goals for the following year. This will help you make sure your plan is aligned with your company’s overall direction and focus.
Before you start your outbound campaign, it’s important to have clear goals and a strategy in place. Without these, you’ll waste your investment in sales training and hiring.
Creating objective statements is a great way to make sure that everyone on your team is working towards the same goal. By clearly stating what your company is trying to accomplish, you can make sure that everyone knows what they need to do.
2. Build a balanced agenda
Throughout a year, you and your team are likely to be inundated with emails. Some will be from your customers, some from other teams, and some from yourself.
Your sales kick-off is the chance to deliver important messages to the team and to remind them of the most important things they should be focusing on.
When planning the agenda for your upcoming meeting, make sure to balance your guest speakers, customer perspectives, and networking opportunities. This will ensure that your team is focused and on-point for the new year.
3. Networking and team building are priorities
A great way to get your sales teams together is by hosting a company-wide meeting, such as a sales kickoff.
When companies invest time in building trust and rapport with their employees, they can expect to experience an increase in productivity and overall organizational well-being.
To make sure you have enough time to network, leave plenty of the agenda for formal networking and informal networking opportunities.
One of the best ways to encourage creativity and collaboration within your team is to create opportunities for unplanned conversations. Make sure there are plenty of chances for your team members to bump into each other and strike up impromptu conversations. You never know when someone might have a brilliant idea!
Networking and relationship building are key to your success. Make sure to make time for them so that it happens naturally.
4. Get your team involved in the planning
If you want your team to be fully engaged in the planning, make sure to give them a chance to weigh in on what goes into the agenda. Asking them what topics they want to discuss in advance will ensure that everyone’s invested in the outcomes.
It’s important to include their feedback and agenda points when doing this.
Another way you can include your team is by delegating specific tasks to them.
5. Sales kickoff event pre-communications
While not every salesperson can be involved in the sales kick-off, all salespeople should be informed and prepared for it. Just as a good film has an exciting preview, your sales team should be excited and prepared for the kick off.
To make sure that everyone is prepared for the kick-off, make sure to send out the prework that highlights what will be discussed, the theme, and any materials that can be viewed beforehand.
If you have any big announcements to make at the event, now’s your chance to give everyone a little taste of what’s to come!
6. Use technology to your best advantage
With everyone constantly on their smartphones, it’s important to integrate technology into your event.
During your sessions, you can engage your attendees with live polls, or develop an app to keep track of your breakout sessions and sign-ups.
Technology can be a great way to engage and inform your attendees before and during an event.
To ensure that your conference is a success, send out a survey or poll to prospective participants several months before the event. This will enable you to identify common knowledge gaps in your market, allowing you to tailor the event to your specific audience.
7. Share success stories and celebrate
Your customers are everything to your company. Your annual kick-off event is a great time to recognize achievements, celebrate successes, and motivate your sales teams with customer success stories.
Make sure to highlight your successes in a variety of different settings, whether that’s in a one-on-one presentation or in a panel.
Recognizing achievements can increase your productivity by 50% and result in 20% more positive outcomes. (Source).
8. Plan the aftermath
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the sales kickoff is the end of your communications. Instead, you should continue the efforts you started during the sales meeting.
To keep your team members focused and on track, you should provide a platform for them to continue the conversation started in your sales kick-off. You can do this through regularly scheduled sales meetings and internal social platforms.
It’s not only the salespeople’s responsibility to keep sales kickoff meetings lively, but event coordinators and organizers need to step up and take responsibility for keeping the energy level high.
To get the most out of the event, have participants identify the top 3 things they learned and how they plan to apply them going forward.
It’s important to have a plan in place for collecting attendee feedback on your event. It’s also important to have a plan to respond to that feedback and take action on it. By doing so, you show that you value their input and are dedicated to improving future events.
In general, people will be more willing to give you feedback if you show that you value it and are actively listening to it.
The Purpose of Sales Kickoff Meetings
The purpose of the kickoff meeting is to ensure that everyone involved in the sales process has all of the information they need about the product, service, and company. This way, everyone can start working together effectively and efficiently.
The kick-off meeting is the first opportunity for everyone to come together and discuss what needs to be done.
This could include identifying the key people who will be working on the project – such as account executives, marketing managers, and software engineers.
A sales kickoff meeting is the perfect opportunity to learn more about your target market and customer base. By taking the time to research common objections customers may have, you can be better prepared to address them when they come up.
Additionally, this is a good time to consider pricing models and strategies that will work best for your product or service. Finally, creating timelines for executing your sales plan will help ensure that everything stays on track.
Conclusion
If you follow these tips, your sales kickoff will be a success. And remember, don’t forget to include some fun sales kickoff activities to help your team reach their goals!
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