Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador
5 Must-Haves for the Ultimate Sales Kickoff
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5 Must-Haves for the Ultimate Sales Kickoff

Lisa McCarthy, Megan Allen and Jenna Dunkle
Business Insider UK, 2020
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8

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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how organizations work. Annual sales kickoff (SKO) meetings, so effective for motivating and educating a sales force, have gone virtual. In this Salesforce-hosted video, Jenna Dunkle of Salesforce and Megan Allen of Zscaler talk with host Lisa McCarthy of the Fast Forward Group about how to ensure your virtual SKOs are at least as powerful as traditional events. Surprisingly, virtual SKOs may offer advantages over in-person gatherings. 

Summary

Five factors make a virtual sales kickoff (SKO) succeed.

A successful sales kick-off meeting must include five essential elements: a theme, engaging breakout sessions, equality-focused events, an inspirational keynote speaker and leadership meetings. Planners can weave the SKO’s theme throughout the breakout activities and use it in the virtual resources. Megan Allen of Zscaler notes that its SKO had an Olympic theme and featured keynote speaker Olympian Apolo Ohno, who captivated and energized the audience.

The general audience for a breakout session might include as many as 30 people, but the meeting should also include Zoom-type breakout rooms with as few as half a dozen. This facilitates informal conversations and information sharing. Engaging breakout sessions prove particularly important in a virtual environment. Bringing in several customers from large and small businesses always makes for lively Q and As...

About the Speakers

Lisa McCarthy, host, is CEO and co-founder of Fast Forward Group. Jenna Dunkle manages commercial field enablement at Salesforce. Megan Allen is the global buyer enablement manager at Zscaler. 

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