Your 2018 SKO is a critical component for the upcoming year’s success.
They give your sales organization the opportunity to:
- Set the tone and vision for the year
- Establish sales goals
- Engage the sales force through knowledge-sharing
- Share new product and sales strategies information
- Encourage face-to-face team-building
- Reward last year’s effort
- Build excitement
But not every SKO will achieve all of these amazing benefits. In order to reap the benefits, you need to put in the planning effort. Make sure you plan your 2018 SKO for optimal success by using the following tips.
Set High Level Goals
Every successful SKO has four parts. Each of the component is essential to generating a positive ROI on time and money invested. Consider each of the parts below when setting high level goals and plans:
- Event goals
- ROI and budgeting
- Themes
- Sales enablement efforts
The most successful 2018 SKOs will blend each of these components into one seamless event.
Focus on the Agenda
Your SKO agenda can make or break your event. You can set yourself up to deliver a powerful message through engaging activities, or schedule a snoozefest. All strong SKO agendas should include:
- Review of sales
- Company direction
- Marketing updates
- Department updates
- Product review
- Competitive review
- Social time
- Sales-focused sessions
- Guest keynote speaker
- Call to action
Don’t forget to start high-level, have a get emcee and end sessions with a social hour to keep attendees interested.
Include a Follow Up Plan
Your 2018 SKO will be an impactful event, but it’s really about what happens afterwards. When planning the perfect SKO you need to include a strong follow up plan.
One of the best ways to reinforce your SKO messaging is by using technology to make your content easily accessible. Immediately after your event use a sales training solution like LearnCore to deliver content like:
- Presentation decks
- Brochures
- Training guides
- Product manuals
- Video training
With easy access to your SKO content you can ensure your team will keep the momentum going all year long.
Leave Some Stuff Behind
While you’ll be mostly focused on what TO include in your 2018 SKO there are some things you’ll want to leave behind too.
Forget about long PowerPoint presentations, and forcing your audience to sit still. Salespeople like to move and interact. PowerPoint’s lead to the ultimate snoozefest which will mean low interaction and low retention.
You should also avoid product launches, or other informational launches that require too large of an information download in one time period. You can’t expect too much of your sales reps without burning them out. Keep it short and sweet.
Your 2018 SKO can be the starting point for an amazing year. Take every opportunity to max out your ROI with tactful planning using the tips above.
