Sales Enablement technologies are becoming increasingly popular for an innovative sales organization that wants to empower their Sales reps to deliver great selling experiences — and increase win rates. Your Sales teams can also leverage Sales Enablement technology for your Sales kickoff, the annual sales meeting that sets the stage for Sales performance for the remainder of the year.
Sales kickoffs were once like classroom lectures; with sales reps sitting through keynote presentations for several days, trying to maintain focus and remember all the sales skills materials. Due to the increased use of Sales Enablement technologies, the traditional sales kickoff model has been disrupted. Sales organizations are able to accomplish more prior to the kickoff and reinforce information after it has ended, making the event more effective.
Pre-Sales Kickoff
Sales Enablement programs like Showpad allow you and your reps to get more training done before the kickoff, leaving only the most important training topics in the agenda to be led by a sales trainer at the event itself. Sales leaders and enablement and product marketing teams can create and distribute sales training materials via mobile, video, and other micro-learning content well ahead of the sales kickoff to cover any updated sales processes, procedures, programs, or methodologies. These should be presented in the context of your business and team goals for the upcoming year. Sellers can then study and be tested and certified on this content as a prerequisite for attending the meeting.
By beginning preparations early, you also give yourself and other leaders ample time to create and update training materials as goals shift or agenda changes.
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During the Sales Kickoff
Because of all the pre-work that can be completed before the sales kickoff, the actual meeting can focus on workshops and training sessions that are much more effective in improving seller retention and performance. It’s best to focus all sales kickoff agenda activities on one major theme with three topical areas to keep things simple and centralized.
With sales training and certifications out of the way, your sales force can get real-world training in front of their peers at the sales kickoff. Training and sales coaching between attendees, or standing and delivering to an actual customer, allow attendees to work on their approach and gather feedback. If your Sales team is split up into subgroups based on region, vertical or other differentiator, include break-out sessions in the kickoff agenda for those smaller groups to meet and share problem areas, approaches that have worked, and best practices.
Content may still play a vital role in the sales kickoff. Members of the Product Marketing and Sales Enablement teams can present updated selling materials like successful Sales decks and demo scripts, allowing attendees to get context for how to use them and ask sales managers questions.
Post-Sales Kickoff
The collaboration and practice done during the sales kickoff are effective in increasing the attendees retention and performance; however, reinforcing the skills and knowledge obtained during the meeting is essential for long-term success. Whereas in the past, most organizations would gather and bundle content over the year to roll out at the Sales kickoff, Sales Enablement technology now allows you to distribute timely content at the right opportunity and when it is most relevant for your team.
Additionally, these platforms make your sales and customer success teams more agile, as you can continuously create, send and update content, and measure its consumption. Even after you have deployed certain content, you can make micro-changes virtually at any time. As your sales kickoff matures over time, you may also choose to add and integrate more tools to support your needs during the decision-making process.
Traditional sales kickoff meetings once consisted of hours sitting through presentations and classroom-like sessions with an exhaustive agenda. With the evolution of Sales Enablement technologies, training materials can be reviewed before and after the sales kickoff, saving actual meeting time for collaboration and real-life practice that increases success amongst your team. Improve efficiency in the planning and execution of your sales kickoff and ensure all sales professionals get the information they need to hit their sales goals in 2019. Showpad has all the capabilities you need to engage your sellers and keep them motivated as they work through the coming year.
