Will you be remembered for delivering a great SKO that made the difference or will your efforts be forgotten?
It is that time of year when planning for sales kickoff (SKO) is in full swing. Past quarters are behind you and, as Burney Barker would say, “the most important quarter of your life is ahead”. SKO is a time to start fresh and map the pathway forward to increased productivity and increased revenue. It’s time to align the company for faster growth.
One reason that SKO’s fail to deliver is that there is often too much focus on running the event and not enough focus on the desired outcomes. The product and marketing teams in particular need to stop focusing so much on the product and start focusing on how to enable the company, and sales in particular, to be successful in the targeted markets.
Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:
- Rushed product launches that have not been thought through
- Too much focus on product features & benefits instead of value
- Not enough definition of what the exact problems are that are being solved that the customer actually cares about.
- A lack of collateral / incomplete go-to-market for each sales play (it takes 20 touches people).
- Partial or incomplete solution aka “whole product”.
So how do you prevent these common mistakes? Running a strategic messaging workshop with the product and marketing teams will mitigate these mistakes and deliver 5 key benefits that will help your SKO succeed.
Not got time to prepare and run a strategic messaging workshop? We can help – contact us now.
