Put your heart in your Sales Kick-Off! Here's how and why.

During the first week of February, we hosted our annual Sales Kick-off week in Prague in our HQ. I'm not going to lie, I was skeptical. Because of the amount of time, energy, and stress we've put into the organization of that event, and the outcome I assumed the sales teams would take away from it. If the only thing they'll keep in mind is the party, what's the point? I was so wrong. This kick-off week went better than my wildest expectations and was a great emotional connector with the teams I need to train. So how did we do this? 

Design your kick-off agenda around your company values. For real.

Company values are more than stickers you put on the wall. If we really believe in them, we have to live by them and think about them every time we schedule an activity. From the first meeting to the last-minute update regarding the preparation of the event, we've highlighted the three most important values we wanted to live by during this week. On top of that, we took personally care of all the feedbacks coming from the previous kick-off. Our people are involved in the making of that event. Once this is done, we think about the activities.

Create a dream team to organize your kick-off.

Design, Sales, HR, IT, Office management, Event team... Everybody has a contribution to bring. We listen and trust each member of that dream team (between 10-15 people max). The consistency of the follow-up meetings we schedule is key. 

Learn from each other, have fun, and be aligned on the message you deliver.

Each strategic presentation must be consistent and aligned for a better understanding and better engagement from the team. From the Strategy Day to the Sales Awards, the Learning Day, and the Sharing Day, everything we do and deliver needs to be aligned with the unique vision and goals we set for the company. Also, we emphasize the idea of sharing best practices from our international teams. The newcomer from Singapore has probably something to learn from the top performer from New York. Let's make it happen and support them in the way they structure their presentations and deliver the workshops. One of the main feedback is that people enjoyed learning from each other. Let me repeat that one more time: PEOPLE ENJOYED LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER.

Create a fun and healthy competitive environment.

We have decided to help people work with team members they don't really know yet and make sure they have fun competing against other teams in some pub quizzes and challenges we've created throughout the week. The experience they'll live by will have an impact on their motivation to work and support each other. "Have fun" is one of our core values. We lived by it every single day, in every single human interaction, and in every single activity. It basically means that when we're planning anything for our teams, we ask ourselves the questions: "where is the fun?"?

As a Director of Learning and Development, it's important for me to feel an emotional connection with the people I want to help. The good news is that I fell in love with 200 people from all around the world (New York, Mexico, Brasil, France, Germany, UK, Czech Republic, Singapore and more...). From that week, people are asking for help, coaching, and are willing to share their success with the rest of the company. If you're working at Socialbakers and you're reading this, I thank you from deep inside of my heart and I want you to acknowledge that I'll always make time for you and your development.

I'm looking forward to working on the next one and I hope you'll probably read another love letter from me about the amazing people I have the chance to work with.

Putting your heart in the making of your Sales Kick-off will connect your people with your company culture!

Here is the video we made about this memorable moment we spent together: