5 Reasons why your Sales Kick Off meeting is not fit for purpose
If there’s anything tech sales teams can learn from the 2022 World Cup, it’s that a kick-off doesn’t mean everyone’s going to win.
A lot of sales people hate the annual sales kick off. I found some complaining on Reddit saying things like the keynote guest was ‘pointless’. “These rah rah sessions are a complete waste of time.”
“Ours was three days,” read some of the comments.
I’m not trying to put anyone off the sales kick off meeting. I’m saying this because they’re important. You can’t afford for sales people to talk about it like this. It will become a long-term drain on productivity and sales targets when your team can’t tolerate time with executives.
A sales kick off meeting done well should create motivation and momentum to take SaaS and tech businesses onto better ARR than ever.?
In our recent LinkedIn Poll, we asked our audience of SaaS & DigiTech Leaders when they were planning on having their SKO in 2023
Here are five reasons why your sales kick off meeting might not be fit for purpose yet.
But first –?what is a sales kick off meeting?
A sales kick off meeting or (SKO) is an annual event involving the entire sales team and executives. The aim is to get everyone pumped up for the new year, and hit higher revenue goals or other targets.
SKOs are typically in January. Since COVID-19, they’ve moved online, and some are staying there.?
Some SKOs are hours long. Others run on for a few days, and involve speeches from c-suite executives, the CEO, department heads, and keynote guests.
1. No motivation?
To create a successful sales kick off meeting, we’ve got to think as a team.?
What’s the purpose of the sales kick off meeting? Your sales people want to be in front of customers. Sometimes sales people haven’t had their comp plans for the fiscal year (in the US) in January when the SKO comes around – they’d rather their executives worked on that than three days of speeches.
Your salespeople want to be out there making sales. So sales should be the obvious objective of the sales kick off meeting.?
Ask yourself: how will this SKO benefit the sales team? What can we help them to do differently this year? Have they got the tools, processes and training to hit their sales targets?
If you can confidently answer these questions, you’re naturally going to motivate your sales team to come along and make the most of it.
2. No breakout spaces?
The post-COVID question: will our SKO meeting be online or in person?
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I recommend doing it in person. Many sales teams are permanently remote, and so the annual SKO can build teamwork and collaboration. Sales reps can swap pitch tips and build relationships with team members they’ll go to for advice.?
Your Q&As will be much more effective in person. Assuming you’ve got great speeches to give, great training, and fresh ideas, it’s easier in person for the sales team to air all their doubts and questions.
That said, sometimes it’s impossible to do this in person. If your SKO has to be online, see if you can facilitate breakout spaces. These have been found by Harvard Business Review to create more ‘clarity’ and ‘alignment’ among team members.
3. No departments?
The problem of silo mentality can become obvious in an SKO.?
The event is for your sales team, but the sales team always works best when it talks to marketing, customer success, finance and product departments.
Why don’t you bring them along??
Information silos have become a big topic in SaaS and tech businesses, leading to missed opportunities, and it’s the same in an SKO. Make sure that the agenda includes all parties and facilitates the kind of discussion that will drive revenue.
4. No honesty?
By this I don’t mean don’t lie, but give your sales team a chance to air their problems and challenges.
The Pareto principle says that 20% of your sales people will generate 80% of sales revenue. The only way to shift the balance more in your favour is to help the lesser performing sales people overcome their obstacles.?
Is there a difference with how your top-performing and lower performing sales reps pitch the product? Then your SKO could give tools and training about the best pitch possible.
Find a way to let your sales teams get guidance on their biggest challenges and the SKO will much more likely be a success all round.?
5. No development?
The last thing you want is an SKO that fails to move the needle.
You could get a great keynote speaker in, you could entertain the sales team and motivate them to come, but an SKO is ultimately weighed on its ability to generate revenue and hit long-term objectives.
You might want to make your SKO a great time for training or courses.?
So long as training is relevant to the sales team, helps with their challenges and builds the team towards higher ARR, you can find that personal development is something that lasts long after everybody’s gone home.