High Performance Sales | Blog

It’s that time of year for many sales leaders -- time to gear up for the annual sales kickoff meeting.  Is this a dreaded or anticipated task at your organization?

Knowing the opportunity costs of pulling your reps out of the field and the expectation of value that comes with that, we’ve rounded up perspectives on what makes a great SKO from twelve sales leaders, sellers, and executives from marketing, product, learning and development, and outside consultants. 

We asked each about an essential ingredient or a highly effective agenda item they have seen work well based on their experience.  Thank you to our colleagues who contributed their insights! 

A Sales Kick-Off meeting (SKO) is a huge investment for any company gathering more than 100 sellers in one place to gear up for a new year. In our experience participating in myriads of SKOs, we have seen an unfortunate disconnect between what companies think they’re delivering versus what their sales teams are actually taking away. While companies leave their SKOs believing their sellers are energized and educated, attendees often view the experience as a three-day string of mundane sessions, offering little or no tangible takeaways to use in their sales activities going forward.

What are the elements that make a great Sales Kick-Off meeting and what are the pitfalls to avoid?

If you hang in a professional sales, consulting or sales leadership role long enough you will spend a few weeks of your life at the ANNUAL SALES MEETING.  You know, the ones with clever themes that are going to make you feel like changing the world: “Aim Higher,” “Deliver,” “Innovate and Motivate,” “All Together,” “Amp it Up.”  I could go on forever about the time and money companies spend to differentiate their yearly sales rendezvous - I have the t-shirts, water bottles, bag tags and pens to prove it - but at the end of the day, these meetings share a common purpose that usually boils down to a combination of the following:

Another plane ride filled with random thoughts, and on this flight home I started thinking about football! No surprise, given we are in the middle of the greatest football event on the planet, the World Cup, but it is the currently idle and completely off the radar American version I am thinking about tonight. How did my fickle brain find its way to this topic?  Well, let me explain…