Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Closing the Deal

Use your 2012 kick-off sales theme year-round

By Lisa Dennis, president, Knowledgence Associates

It’s that time of year again:  the great Sales Team Annual Kick-off. Whether your company is large or small, the impact of this meeting is extremely important. It’s the time to layout the strategy for moving forward for the year: new product, new initiatives, new guidelines and new goals. Having both participated, as well as project managed these events, I can tell you that great effort is made in determining the theme and then designing the event to flesh out its meaning. However, I’ve found that it is the rare company that ever mentions the theme during the course of the year! There is more mileage to be had around a strong kick-off theme than just the event itself. Sales leaders and managers should consider how to weave the theme into ongoing activities so the “call-to-arms” that is sounded at the beginning of the year is a consistent beat throughout the year.

Here are some ways to give the kick-off theme life beyond just the event:

1.    Take the theme you used for this year’s kick-off and reuse it in every “All Sales” communication that goes out to your team. Think about how the theme relates to the content of what you are sending to the reps – and tie it in at every opportunity.

2.    Ring the bell when something happens that ties into the theme. What actions, activities or occurrences are contributing to achieving the goal of the theme? For example, if the theme is “Leading Customer Success,” then every time a customer has become successful using our product or service, share it with your organization. Note — be sure that to share the customer’s success means waiting until the product is installed, used and shown to be successful. This is about embodying the theme, not just celebrating the sale.

3.    Use the theme to announce quarterly progress, goals and accomplishments. There are four times during the year that you can reuse the theme as a way of communicating results and refocusing the team on the overall goal for the year. Be inclusive of other groups in the company as well. So if the goal is “Leading Customer Success”, in addition to sharing the key wins, revenue numbers and the like, also share stories of successful outcomes in operations, product management and customer service that contributed to a customer’s success. Did you solve a major issue or problem for an existing customer? That counts towards living the theme!   

4.    Use the theme to highlight individual or team performance. Consider creating an “award” that you can give to any individual or team that does something that embodies the theme. It could be monthly or quarterly – with one final award for the year, which you can announce at next year’s kick-off. This turns the theme into something that people can individually achieve. Unsung heroes in your organization can be poster children for the theme – further motiving themselves and others.

So the choice is yours. Is the Sales Kick-off theme just an event slogan, or should it be the rallying cry to move everyone in your organization – sales and others – to continue striving and achieving? The use of a theme or metaphor is a powerful tool that can go far beyond just branding an event. When I go to a kick-off, I don’t just want the T-shirt. I want a reason to do my absolute best – individually and with others. Let’s get out there and make the annual theme a reality!
 

Lisa Dennis is president of Knowledgence Associates in Cambridge (www.knowledgence.com). "Closing the Deal" is a new weekly feature in MHT where sales experts share their advice on technology sales.