Do Segment-Specific Kickoffs Ever Make Sense?

Last week at Gong all things were buzzing as we had our RKO, GKO, P-club announcements, and one thing that was new to me: a Sales Dev, Segment-Specific Kickoff.

FY25 is going to be a big year for Gong. While I won't share exactly what's cooking, I'll share that there were many thoughtful, deliberating meetings between me, SOPs, and the VP of Sales Dev, Julian Alvarez about one thing and one thing only - Pipeline! With so many strategic changes, it only seemed right to dedicate two days to announcing and enabling the team for the new year.

So here are 5 recommendations to consider if you find yourself planning a segment-specific kickoff:

1) Involve the team

Something special about the SDR team at Gong is the establishment of SDR-led committees. One of the committees is called the Culture Committee. This committee keeps a pulse on what the org wants to see and advocates for ways the SDR org can drive connection with each other, engagement in Gong core operating principles, and contribute to careers progression/performance through SPIFFS and other activations. We had an entire segment dedicated to the Culture Committee. It was planned and run by SDRs.

2) Use as much information from the centralized kickoff as possible

Keeping aligned to central GTM enablement is always a balancing act when supporting segments but it's important to deliver a unified message. It's also key in ensuring efficiency. Resources like the agenda, RSVP forms, FAQ sheets, and GTM slides were replicated and modified in order to move swiftly through the planning phase.

3) Inform & enable leaders

Prior to the two days of the Sales Dev Kickoff, we had a Leadership Kickoff. This was to bring the leaders together, inform them of the changes first and ensure that they would be able to lead the charge from the front. It was important that they felt comfortable and capable of explaining the what, how, and why behind the changes.

Many of the leaders were in fact part of designing the mechanisms for the "how" which was ideal. It meant that a good portion of the presentations weren't coming from Enablement or Senior leadership but from Frontline Managers themselves.

4) Get a guest speaker

Early on, Julian starting thinking about what kind of keynote we would want to have and who we could bring in to run a facilitation. This is where Michael Wilson of joyful GRAVITY came in. Michael spent a half-day with the SDR Leadership team helping the org determine key components of how to operating in FY25. I believe these sessions with Michael were so successful because of the keynote he delivered. Michael's keynote was directly related to the focus of seeing obstacles as opportunities to rise above a challenge. Michael was honest and open which in turn created an environment where the leaders could be as well.

5) Gamify

Kahoot! is a great way to test knowledge retention and have some fun. An overarching theme for Gong's Revenue Kickoff this year was from Ryan Holiday 's book The Obstacle is the Way. That's why Carolyn Allen put together and led the most competitive session of Kahoot I've ever seen, asking questions that only people who had read the book and thought critically about what they read would be able to answer.

We also did a "Rumble in the Jungle". First introduced to Gong by Danny Wasserman , we had brave contestants "rumble" or test out new messaging in a head to head style. Prizes were on the line as well as glory and both Cat Rife and Luke Bradley impressed us all in the final rumble!