Enhance Your Virtual Sales Kickoff with the REVMANEX Sales Simulator

Are you looking to make your virtual sales kickoff more impactful and engaging? Imagine having a powerful tool that can transform your online sales event into an immersive and interactive experience. Enter the REVMANEX Sales Simulator, a game-changing solution that revolutionizes virtual sales kickoffs. In this article, we will explore how you can plan a virtual sales kickoff and harness the power of the REVMANEX Sales Simulator to create an impactful and engaging experience. 

The Main Benefits of Virtual Sales Kickoffs

Let's start by appraising some of the benefits of virtual sales kickoffs, which are becoming increasingly popular in the post-Covid landscape. This period has certainly seen a spike in remote working, with some 80 million Americans (or 26% of the workforce) working from home in 2021.

Incredibly, this trend has continued to accelerate and shows no sign of slowing any time soon, as it's estimated that 70% of the US labor force will spend at least some time working remotely by the year 2025. This will also see the global video conferencing market peak at a staggering $22.5 billion in 2026, as the demand for remote communication tools and platforms continues to scale.

#1. Increased Relevance: These statistics clearly highlight the increased relevance of virtual sales kickoffs, which can be held on a more flexible basis and in line with the business cycle most appropriate to your business. At the same time, you can look to deliver strategic sales kickoffs on-demand, rather than investing in a single event every single year.

#2. They're Shorter and More Accessible: Virtual kickoffs tend to be shorter, not least because they can be more easily broken down into smaller and more engaging events throughout the year. Such events also tend to be more accessible, as guests can be given flexibility about the iterations they attend and simply have to log in from home rather than traveling.

#3. They Can Be Personalized: Holding virtual kickoffs online creates the opportunity to collate huge swathes of data, making it much easier to monitor engagement, speak directly to individual attendees, and develop more meaningful, customized content. So, despite being cheaper to organize, virtual sales kickoffs offer far greater value and convenience to employees.

How to Plan Your Own Virtual Sales Kickoff

Now that you understand the rising trend for virtual sales kickoffs (and the wider digitization of the workplace) and the main benefits offered by this type of event, the question that remains is how can you plan and organize your own such function? Here are some practical steps to keep in mind:

#1. Define the Purpose of Your Event

The first and most crucial step is to consider and define the purpose of your virtual sales kickoff. After all, it's often too simplistic to define SKOs as events as a way of communicating strategy or introducing new products, especially as there may be nuance in your message and a need to impart new knowledge and skills (we will touch more on this in the next section).

So, consider precisely what you want to achieve and your overarching commercial goal, before understanding how this can be successfully conveyed and achieved through the medium of an SKO.

In general terms, this will most likely help you to segregate the event into a number of different disciplines, from providing an overview of your annual commercial strategy and potentially introducing new products to driving engagement and providing the requisite training and development.

The key is to think with clarity and define your event clearly, otherwise, you'll run the risk of sharing muddled messaging that fails to either inform or engage attendees.

#2. Start to Plan Your Virtual Sales Kickoff Strategically

Once you've defined your objectives and created a broad overview of your event, you can begin to drill down into your target audience and refine the agenda in a methodical and strategic manner.

This involves structuring your agenda and giving it a defined order, with a focus on optimizing engagement levels at all times. From a strategic perspective, it's also important to embrace variable types of content and engagement, with the combination of keynote speeches, Q&As, and practical sales demonstrations helping to create a more dynamic event.

In the case of the latter, it's also possible to incorporate interactive elements such as StratX Simulations' sales and negotiation simulator (REVMANEX). Designed by INSEAD Emeritus Professor Jean-Claude Larreche, this simulation helps to translate relevant sales concepts into first-hand and real-time practice, creating an experiential learning experience that's highly engaging.

This also leads to higher levels of knowledge retention and can create superior product knowledge, with this often a fundamental goal of any virtual sales kickoff.

#3. Prepare Your Materials

Before you begin the relatively simple process of organizing virtual SKOs and promoting them internally, you'll need to start preparing your materials and putting some flesh on the bones of your itinerary.

This will mean having keynote speeches finalized and timed, while video content should also be checked and the functionality of the technology confirmed. In the case of breakout and interactive activities, you'll need to create a little more flexibility in terms of timings, while allowing ample opportunity for employees to engage fully in informative question and answer sessions.

The earlier you do this, the easier it is to introduce elements of fun and personalization, without compromising on your core message or delivery. Similarly, this enables you to identify new ways of optimizing engagement, at different stages of the event and regardless of the real-time subject matter.

The Benefits of Using a Sales Simulator for SKOs:

We touched on how adding a sales simulator like REVMANEX can add an interactive element to your sales kick offs, but the benefits are much more far reaching than just that. 

Experiential Learning: Sales simulators offer a hands-on, experiential learning environment that allows participants to practice real-world sales scenarios. By simulating negotiations and sales meetings, participants can develop their skills in a safe and controlled setting, enhancing their understanding and boosting confidence.

Skill Development: REVMANEX focuses on key sales skills, such as negotiation, value creation, and revenue management. Participants can master these essential skills through repeated practice, receiving immediate feedback and learning insights. The simulator helps sales professionals build mental agility, effective negotiation techniques, self-awareness, and preparation skills—all vital components of successful sales interactions.

Realistic Scenarios: REVMANEX creates realistic sales scenarios that reflect the challenges faced by sales professionals in the field. As a sales rep, participants negotiate deals for three products with two clients, conduct sales meetings with different buyer profiles, and make smart decisions to achieve the best market share, gross contribution, and customer satisfaction. By navigating these scenarios, participants gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in sales and learn how to make informed decisions to achieve the best outcomes.

Customizable and Flexible: The REVMANEX sales simulator can be customized to fit the specific needs of your organization or educational institution. It offers online, blended, and face-to-face formats, allowing seamless integration into various training programs. Whether you are organizing a virtual sales kickoff or on-going sales training, the simulator can be tailored to deliver targeted learning experiences that align with your objectives.

Team Building: In addition to individual skill development, sales simulators promote team building and collaboration. Participants can engage in team competitions, challenging each other to achieve the best results and fostering a sense of camaraderie. Collaborative debriefing sessions allow teams to analyze their performance, share insights, and learn from each other's experiences, strengthening relationships and enhancing collective learning.

Embracing the Power of Virtual Sales Kickoffs 

In conclusion, virtual sales kickoffs offer numerous benefits over traditional in-person events. They are more relevant, shorter, accessible, and can be personalized to meet the needs of individual attendees. By strategically planning your virtual sales kickoff and incorporating a sales simulator like REVMANEX, you can enhance the learning experience, develop crucial sales skills, and promote team building.

These factors contribute to a successful virtual sales kickoff that engages participants, delivers key messages, and sets the stage for a productive and successful sales year.

Sources:

• "Remote Work After COVID-19: What's Next?" McKinsey & Company 
• "Video Conferencing Market to Reach $22.5 Billion by 2026." GlobeNewswire