Speaker 1: The knowledge, skills, and cultural updates should all be tied
Speaker 1: to metrics. How are we planning to measure success in
Speaker 1: these areas? In the next thirty sixty ninety days.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Audible Ready Podcast, the show that
Speaker 2: helps you and your teams sell more Faster. We'll feature
Speaker 2: sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create
Speaker 2: a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth,
Speaker 2: presented by the team at Force Management, a leader in
Speaker 2: B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm
Speaker 3: Rachel Klett Miller. Today we are going to be talking
Speaker 3: about what we need to do after the SKO, After
Speaker 3: those sales kickoffs. There's so much focus on the planning
Speaker 3: of these events from a leadership level, and as reps
Speaker 3: and managers, we often are just focused on the event itself,
Speaker 3: but we also have to have a game plan coming
Speaker 3: out of the SKO. John Kaplan joins me today. Hi, John, Rachel,
Speaker 3: how are you good?
Speaker 1: Tidy? Yeah? Tis the season and this is kind of
Speaker 1: the what happens after the Hoopla podcast exactly.
Speaker 3: So we're going to break this down with kind of
Speaker 3: people in different roles and talk through how you want
Speaker 3: to think about your game plan after the hoopla dies
Speaker 3: down to use John Schwartz. So, John, let's just start
Speaker 3: with people who are listening right now that are managers.
Speaker 3: These people have gone through the SKO. What are their
Speaker 3: action steps as a manager immediately afterwards?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, I think any good SKO should consist of
Speaker 1: a distribution of from the company to the troops, a
Speaker 1: distribution of knowledge, skill, and culture. There should be like
Speaker 1: a minimum those three things that are being discussed at SKO.
Speaker 1: And so what new knowledge was brought forth at the SKO.
Speaker 1: As a leader, I have to learn that new knowledge
Speaker 1: and just like the reps. And then what new skills
Speaker 1: are required to act on that knowledge? And how will
Speaker 1: we put them into practice and measure them either by
Speaker 1: the company level or certainly for my team? And what
Speaker 1: were the overall cultural themes that were introduced at the
Speaker 1: SKO And how am I going to break those down
Speaker 1: and break those messages down and make them consumable and
Speaker 1: meaningful for our team based upon where we're at right now.
Speaker 1: So that's the mindset you should be going into with
Speaker 1: the SKO. You should know the agenda figure out that agenda,
Speaker 1: get a head start on sitting in your seat thinking
Speaker 1: about day after that SKO or plane ride home or whatever.
Speaker 1: And those are the things I would be thinking about
Speaker 1: as a leader.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and reinforcement is a big component here. What are
Speaker 3: you going to be reinforcing after that event? What am
Speaker 3: I planning to do thirty sixty ninety days out?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the knowledge, skills and cultural updates in any
Speaker 1: adjustments should all be tied to metrics. How are we
Speaker 1: planning to measure success in these areas in the next
Speaker 1: thirty sixty ninety days. So if I'm thinking about knowledge,
Speaker 1: I've got to get that new knowledge into skills. I
Speaker 1: want to see if that's translated into activities, and so
Speaker 1: I want to put those measurements in place that said,
Speaker 1: what should I expect in the next thirty days, sixty days,
Speaker 1: ninety days. So, like you're saying here, it's very very
Speaker 1: important that we take this thinking all the way down
Speaker 1: to the measurement level.
Speaker 3: Yes, okay, so that's some great advice for managers. I'll
Speaker 3: go ahead and put some additional manager resources for reinforcing
Speaker 3: in the show notes. Be sure to check those out.
Speaker 3: Let's shift to the rep, the quota carrying account executive.
Speaker 4: What am I taking from the SKO.
Speaker 1: Well, I think prepare yourself for these skos, and whether
Speaker 1: you say it or you don't say it, it's going
Speaker 1: to be. My message to the leadership too, is that
Speaker 1: there's a vast majority of you that use skos to
Speaker 1: figure out whether or not you want to be in
Speaker 1: the company for the next year. And I think that's
Speaker 1: just the nature of things that companies have to take
Speaker 1: it that serious that the men and women that are
Speaker 1: going to be sitting in those auditoriums or on those
Speaker 1: zoom calls, or however you're going to do it, you
Speaker 1: need to make sure that you're putting forth the right knowledge, skills,
Speaker 1: and culture, and you're painting a picture of something in
Speaker 1: the future that I'm going to want to be a
Speaker 1: part of. So I just wanted to kind of put
Speaker 1: that out there. But at the REP level, it's the
Speaker 1: same reference of knowledge, skills, and culture, which becomes character.
Speaker 1: I'd like to take the knowledge for just a second.
Speaker 1: You should be looking for supplemental information on knowledge that
Speaker 1: helps you with the four central questions, what problems do
Speaker 1: we solve for our customers? How specifically do we solve those,
Speaker 1: how do we solve them differently or better than our competition?
Speaker 1: And where have we done it before? And if you're
Speaker 1: on the leadership team, you should be bringing knowledge to
Speaker 1: the company and put them in those four buckets. So
Speaker 1: with that, I now have that information that's going to
Speaker 1: help me attached to big business issues for my customers.
Speaker 1: And I now have information that's going to help me
Speaker 1: these are the skills that are needed that's going to
Speaker 1: help me influence the decision criteria with my differentiation. So
Speaker 1: you should be really really keen to go into that
Speaker 1: SKO and really think about what you're hearing as it
Speaker 1: relates to the answers to those four central questions. How
Speaker 1: is that going to help you attach to big business issues?
Speaker 1: And how is that going to help you influence decision
Speaker 1: criteria with your differentiation? And then when you come out,
Speaker 1: ASKO commit and say this is either a place I'm
Speaker 1: going to be or it's a place I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be, and then get that out of the way
Speaker 1: and roll put your plan together and roll right right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this comes down to that concept you off talk
Speaker 3: about around this time of year, John, the plan to
Speaker 3: make the plan you want to also look at the
Speaker 3: opportunities that are now being offered to you. Maybe they
Speaker 3: talked about it in SKO, maybe in other conversations, but
Speaker 3: you want to make sure you're taking advantage of all
Speaker 3: of those opportunities your company is giving you.
Speaker 1: I would be working on my plan to make my
Speaker 1: plan before SKO, and I utilize the updates to drive
Speaker 1: the execution on my plan and even further cement my plan.
Speaker 1: The problem great is that a lot of companies, they're
Speaker 1: often late with the distribution of quota, and they try
Speaker 1: to do as much of this as possible as SKO.
Speaker 1: And I know many companies that have people in for
Speaker 1: an SKO knowing people are going to be in the seats,
Speaker 1: knowing that they got to be fired up and ready
Speaker 1: to go, and they haven't even distributed the quota yet.
Speaker 1: They haven't even that's like a cardinal rule for me.
Speaker 1: So there's no plan to make the plan going on,
Speaker 1: there's no deciding whether or not I'm going to be
Speaker 1: here or not, and it just becomes a big you know,
Speaker 1: drink faster, food faster. Hey, we'll see what happens when
Speaker 1: the quota gets out there. It's just I think that's
Speaker 1: why so many people miss Q one. So if you're listening,
Speaker 1: most people aren't doing that till the end of January,
Speaker 1: beginning of February, what have you, And then they don't
Speaker 1: have this stuff in place. You're going to miss your
Speaker 1: first quarter, so get it out there. So many people
Speaker 1: want to get a head start on things. If i'm you,
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about, whether you're a leader or a
Speaker 1: rep how do I get off to a fast start?
Speaker 1: And I think this combination of knowledge, skills and culture
Speaker 1: and then getting my mindset adjusted to getting off to
Speaker 1: a fast start is the best way to go.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: And you know you might be in a situation too
Speaker 3: that you might be asked to do things differently in
Speaker 3: the upcoming year. There may be some changes, you might
Speaker 3: have a new different segment you're targeting. Whatever, change is hard,
Speaker 3: we know it, We've lived it, and if you need help,
Speaker 3: don't be afraid to ask for it.
Speaker 4: If that guidance isn't clear for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you never have to give that advice
Speaker 1: to the elite sellers because they know life is pretty
Speaker 1: boring without change. So you know, change is inevitable, and
Speaker 1: I think that people that have the best mindset are
Speaker 1: the ones that really just kind of get theirselves geared
Speaker 1: up for change and they're impacting the change. So if
Speaker 1: I'm doing the right things and people are deciding about
Speaker 1: things to change, let's be in that camp of saying, well,
Speaker 1: let's change things for the better for this individual. But
Speaker 1: your point is really valid, Rachel, like some of the
Speaker 1: stuff you might not have a great handle on in
Speaker 1: order to get off to a fast start, And for me,
Speaker 1: it's okay not to know or not to understand, but
Speaker 1: it's not okay not to be doing anything about it.
Speaker 1: So coming out of ask KO whatever you don't understand,
Speaker 1: even down to the point of is this the right
Speaker 1: company for me? I always respected people because I could
Speaker 1: see it in their eyes and the people that kind
Speaker 1: of came to me and they're like, hey, I just
Speaker 1: want to share with you. You know, I've had a
Speaker 1: couple of interviews or what have you. And I always
Speaker 1: encourage people to do that, like you got to go
Speaker 1: and see what the value of what you have is.
Speaker 1: And I never discouraged anybody from interviewing or looking at
Speaker 1: other opportunities. And I want to feedback on how to
Speaker 1: make our opportunity the best opportunity. But I think that
Speaker 1: communication part is really really important. Is that if you're
Speaker 1: not feeling it or if you don't understand right after
Speaker 1: that SKO, get with your leadership team and leadership be
Speaker 1: on the lookout because you can see it in people's eyes.
Speaker 4: That's true, Okay, John, great advice.
Speaker 3: I think depending on when people are downloading and listening
Speaker 3: to this, you've got about fifty weeks left in the
Speaker 3: calendar year cooking as they move into twenty twenty five,
Speaker 3: what's the bottom line.
Speaker 4: You have for them?
Speaker 1: Again, I would have said start now before the SKO
Speaker 1: to work on your plan to make the plan. So
Speaker 1: by the time this runs, if you haven't done that
Speaker 1: and you still have time, start working on your plan
Speaker 1: to make the plan, and then use that SKO to
Speaker 1: supplement your plan and your knowledge and your emotion and
Speaker 1: your emotional connection to your plan leaders. You got to
Speaker 1: remember many sales reps use the SKO as a barometer
Speaker 1: decide if they want to be in the company for
Speaker 1: another year, and you have to help them get the
Speaker 1: right mindset. You got to set them up, help them
Speaker 1: get set up for success in the coming year. Keep
Speaker 1: your eyes and ears open at these skos, and after
Speaker 1: these skos, if i'm you, I'm putting eyes on everybody
Speaker 1: that works for me within a few days of that
Speaker 1: SKO and so companies also, if you want to get
Speaker 1: off to a fast start, get your quotas and assignments
Speaker 1: out there early. If you haven't done it by the
Speaker 1: time you did the SKO, put a rush on it
Speaker 1: and say we got to get this done immediately. The
Speaker 1: longer you do that, it's kind of like a feeling
Speaker 1: of pause or an idle mind. And elite salespeople, elite leaders,
Speaker 1: they don't like having idle minds. Idle minds is not
Speaker 1: a good thing in a sales organization at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year. So if that's going to be the
Speaker 1: case at all, step it up and get those quotas
Speaker 1: out there, get everything distributed, make those decisions, make those promotions,
Speaker 1: and just get yourself off to a really, really fast start.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure we let everybody know, John,
Speaker 3: you're hosting a plan to make the planned conversation that's
Speaker 3: going to be yes geared towards reps. Maybe a little
Speaker 3: bit for that first line managers that's coming up Thursday,
Speaker 3: January twenty third if you want to go, Yes, for
Speaker 3: all you listening, everyone's invited, open invitation. Check out the
Speaker 3: link in our show notes.
Speaker 1: Are we doing something like something special for.
Speaker 4: That, Yes we are.
Speaker 1: We're not going to announce it yet though.
Speaker 4: No, yes, yes we can announce it.
Speaker 3: So for that webinar, we are going to be raffling
Speaker 3: off giving away a free one on one coaching session
Speaker 3: for a quota carrying rep who attends the session or
Speaker 3: first line manager who attends the session.
Speaker 4: We're going to be giving that away.
Speaker 1: And who's that going to be with?
Speaker 4: That's with you getting there? Y, Let's just see.
Speaker 1: Let's just see, you got to attend the webinar to
Speaker 1: get it. Let's just see. I would love to help
Speaker 1: somebody get off to a fast start. I think that's
Speaker 1: an awesome idea.
Speaker 4: H awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're excited. So the links in the show notes.
Speaker 3: Make sure your registers you can and join us for
Speaker 3: that conversation and potentially have a one on one with
Speaker 3: mister Kaplan here.
Speaker 1: And get ready for that one on one. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you what. Be ready, be ready, let's go.
Speaker 4: Let's go. All right, John, thank you, you're welcome. See
Speaker 4: Rach Yeah, see.
Speaker 3: You and thank you to everybody for listening to the
Speaker 3: Audible Ready Sales podcast.
Speaker 5: At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into
Speaker 5: elite teams. Are proven methodologies, deliver programs that build company
Speaker 5: alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the
Speaker 5: ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale.
Speaker 5: Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results.
Speaker 5: Let's get started. Visit us at forestmanagement dot com.
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