Sales Kickoff With An Intent

Each year around this time of the year, companies would have announced their sales kickoff plans. Tremendous time, effort and money would have been taken and spent to ensure the company not only kickoff the coming new year with a bang, but with a clear message across their employees or partners.

Keynote speakers would have been called upon to prepare speeches and presentation slides aligned with the theme of the event.

Event committee busied themselves with project management. Some rushed to meet alignment, while others rushed to meet deadline.

After being involved in many of such committees, it is possible to tell which of these kickoffs are "feel good" events and which of these are "designed for a lasting impact". The "feel good" ones are usually packed with entertaining speakers (even entertainers), speakers from all business aspects (marketing, sales, technical, motivational etc...), but each having their own message to send.

The "designed for a lasting impact" ones each have their speakers aligned to send the same message across the audience. It can be a new product release, a motivation to boost sales, a marketing strategy etc... But each of them pointing their guns in the same direction.

Imagine this - a group of people (speakers) rowing a boat. Each of the person on the boat are strong rowers, but with each pulling in a different direction. Where do you think the boat will end up?

I chanced upon a short but meaningful video that exactly represents the importance of "rowing" in the same direction :

Here's another tip in making your sales kickoff more intentional - hand them a what we call as "A-ha Moment" card. A sample of such a card can be downloaded HERE, or you can easily create one yourself.

The card usually comes with 3 columns - 1) The A-ha moment ; 2) Action to Take ; 3) Deadline.

To reward those who take effort to implement those actions, rewards them after the event and make everyone know about it, or create a "showcase" out of them in the following year's kickoff. Better still, do both!

Whether you are bringing dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people together for your sales kickoff, you are making a substantial investment in your company’s or firm’s future. The cost in labor, travel, entertainment, and lost revenue is not trivial. If you take the steps outlined above, you will increase your chance of seeing a positive return on your investment… and everyone attending will feel that their time was well spent.

"The cost in labor, travel, entertainment, and lost revenue is not trivial. If you take the steps outlined above, you will increase your chance of seeing a positive return on your investment..."

---

Do you agree with this week's article? Share with us what you think about this, or simply your experiences in such a kickoff. We definitely could learn some from you.

Cherry-O!

#Awareness