Question Page

What follow-up activities or resources should be provided to reinforce the kickoff content throughout the year?

Katie Duzan (O'Brien)
Veeva Systems VP of Product MarketingNovember 8

The "one and done" model for kickoff does not work, so it's a great question. What happens AFTER kickoff is equally, if not more, important than sessions at kickoff.

Follow-up resources and activities:

  • Immediately after kickoff, be sure that Sales has access to the content shared, so they can refer back to it. Content should be easy to find in a single place. Ideally, a sales leader emails this notification out to their teams to reinforce the importance.

  • About 3-4 weeks after kickoff, have check-in calls with sales teams to hear/answer their questions. This is ideally done in smaller groups or regional team meetings (<20 people) vs one big call. After kickoff, sales should have had time to digest this information. Now, they will have practical questions as they try out new messaging, materials, etc. This is also a great forcing factor to ensure they consume the information.

  • Pull through kickoff content into your sales newsletters, if you have them. Consider focusing on one key topic each time.

  • Stay close to sales leaders, so you continue to get the "real" feedback. Ask what's not working, so you can adjust and adapt the content. Ask what is working, so you can weave that into your sales newsletter. Depending on your business situation, you may want to have a standing invite to their monthly team call to continue sharing new updates and reinforcing the message.

  • About a quarter after kickoff, host a reinforcement training. Round up the sales leaders and reps who are most successful with this content, and have THEM lead it. It's most credible that way, so it's not just "our" content.

  • About 6 months after kickoff, consider a survey to see how seller's confidence has changed since pre-kickoff and where the gaps are. Then, react in 2H accordingly (and start planning next year's kickoff, too!)

655 Views
Crafting Compelling Messaging
Thursday, February 27 • 12PM PT
Crafting Compelling Messaging
Virtual Event
Nipul Chokshi
David Aponovich
Jennifer M. Ryan
+208
attendees
Top Product Marketing Mentors
Jeffrey Vocell
Jeffrey Vocell
Panorama Education Head of Product Marketing
Mary Sheehan
Mary Sheehan
Adobe Head of Lightroom Product Marketing
Kevin Garcia
Kevin Garcia
Anthropic Product Marketing Leader
April Rassa
April Rassa
Clari VP, Solutions Marketing
Alissa Lydon
Alissa Lydon
Dovetail Head of Product Marketing
Marcus Andrews
Marcus Andrews
Pendo Sr. Director of Product Marketing
Susan "Spark" Park
Susan "Spark" Park
Pinterest Director of Product Marketing
Jackie Palmer
Jackie Palmer
ActiveCampaign VP Product Marketing
Leah Brite
Leah Brite
Gusto Head of Product Marketing, Benefits
Katharine Gregorio
Katharine Gregorio
Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud