Kick-Off or Kick-Start?
Get Your Sales Year Started Right!

The sales rep quietly pulls out his BlackBerry and turns his attention to email. He rolls his eyes as the fifth presenter of the morning drones through the corporate state-of-the-union update. The rep can’t believe he actually postponed customer meetings to attend this kick-off.

Sound familiar?

It’s that special time of the year when companies rally the troops for the annual sales kick-off. The goal of these meetings is to recognize top performers and fire up the team for a brand new year of selling. But how often are kick-offs really successful?

Ask any sales professional today and they will say they’re looking for a unique meeting that is engaging, enlightening and entertaining (note—I didn’t say expensive!). Dragging the team through another boring, dry and unimaginative kick-off is a waste of time, energy and money.

What does it take to transform your sales kick-off into a sales kick-start? These are five ideas that I promise will get reps to show up, listen up, speak up, step up and shape up!

#1. Hear the Voice of a REAL Customer
Invite a diverse panel of customers to participate in one of your general sessions. Have a skilled facilitator interview them to learn what they want from vendors in your space. Ask why, given all of the competitive choices available, do they buy from you? Get them to share concerns and discuss future opportunities. Encourage them to share the good, the bad and the ugly. Your reps will love hearing the truth and your customers will walk away feeling valued. Does it get much better?

#2. Invest in Them!
Too much time is spent at kick-offs listening to executives, learning about new products, or focusing on the future direction of the company. It’s interesting how you want reps to be outwardly focused, but you don’t model this behavior at kick-offs.

Spend time investing in members of your team. Provide a world class sales training experience or have top performers host forums where they share “secrets” to their success. Imagine everyone walking away with one new idea they believed would help them achieve more. What a GREAT kick-start to the New Year!

#3. Schedule Downtime
Lack of downtime is one of the most frequent complaints about sales kick-offs. Why cram 10 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound bag? Nobody benefits from that fire drill and everyone leaves the meeting feeling worn out. Give your team some downtime to reflect on what they’ve learned and encourage them to enjoy local activities (sight seeing, golf, shopping, bowling, laying by the pool, etc.). On the surface this may seem like an expensive extravagance; but, it’s a bargain compared to three days back at the office sorting everything out.

#4. Recognize, Reward & Retain
Kick-offs are the perfect opportunity to recognize, reward and retain your top performers. Get them involved in the meeting (see #2 above), have key executives invest time with them, and do whatever you can to make this event special. Upgrade their room, provide limo service from the airport, or give them meaningful gifts (no one really wants another company pen!). These folks have worked hard the past 12 months. Make them feel special, you’ll be glad you did!

#5. Fire Them Up!
Every sales professional needs an occasional shot of sales adrenaline to renew their sense of excitement (we all do!). Instead of asking a member of your executive team to play this role, bring in a professional. Find someone who has the speaking experience and industry expertise to fire up the team. Please note, I’m not suggesting that you hire a purely “motivational” speaker. The last thing you need is to energize everyone with a message that doesn’t fit. Finding the right speaker will provide fresh perspective and a mental pick-me-up about this crazy career called sales.

Speaking of Sales is about finding, winning and keeping customers for life. If that’s part of your job, then you won’t want to miss the next issue.

Until then,

Tim