7 Tactics to Keep Sellers Engaged at Your Sales Kickoff
RAIN Group
Top sales training company delivering results through in-person and virtual training, coaching & reinforcement.
Even the most thoroughly planned sales kickoffs fall flat if they fail to resonate with sellers and engage them. Start with the seven strategies below for a more engaging SKO.
1. Minimize Distractions
Motivated sellers will respond to a good challenge. Start by challenging them to step away from their phones and notifications to focus on the training they’ll need to succeed in the coming year.
2. Invest in Environment
Whether in-person or remote, participants will find it difficult to engage with bland, lifeless environments. To the extent possible, choose polished and appealing venues and online interfaces tailored to your company.
3. Choose Hosts, Speakers, and Keynotes with Purpose
Think about the people your sales team will want to hear from. These might be organizational leaders, such as a CEO or VP of Sales, or interesting people from the outside world. When it comes to expert-led sessions and breakout groups, assign these to facilitators with both the charisma and direct experience needed to drive meaningful conversations.
4. Call Out Participants by Name
Across the board, encourage all hosts, speakers, and keynote presenters to engender an interactive dynamic. A great way to engage the audience is to call out participants by name to keep attention and encourage participation. For example, “Jeanine, I know you had a similar experience recently. Care to share a bit about that with the group?”
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5. Complete Knowledge Transfer Before the SKO
Few sellers respond well to hours of being talked at or big blocks of “sit and learn” time. Avoid this outcome by taking care of the critical knowledge transfer of new concepts, ideas, and definitions before the in-person training event. This might come in the form of self-directed lessons, microlearning, or other activities that attendees complete before the SKO.
6. Keep Sessions Short and Sweet
Expecting to maintain participant attention in four-hour blocks, without decent breaks, is setting yourself up for failure. That’s especially true for people attending the SKO online. Instead, design short, consumable sessions with one or two clear takeaways while leaving ample time for discussion and practice.
And don’t forget this important tip from Gartner: be willing to say no to sessions when planning the SKO. In the lead-up to a sales kickoff, many business units will see the event as their one yearly opportunity to capture the eyes and ears of the entire sales organization. Unfortunately, not every session will align with your goals for this specific SKO. Saying yes to every submission will dilute the clarity and impact of the SKO.
7. Prioritize High-Impact Activities
Instead of delivering lengthy training lectures, use the SKO to contextualize knowledge for how it applies to the sellers' world, which will give a significant boost to engagement. As to how to provide and practice real-world context, try:
Maximize the value of time together by bringing knowledge to life using the ideas above.