The most popular theme for Sales Kick Off (SKO) 2023 was Unity, togetherness, and strength.
I would like to take it to the next level in the upcoming year and emphasize on better together kick off a new partnership between human and non humans.
SKO is the kick start of the year, setting the tone for what we are going to do, how we’ll do it, and where we’re heading.
We Must Invite our AI Employee to this Year’s Sales Kick Off
I can promise your AI employees will not require a chair or a plane ticket, but their participation, inclusion, and representation are directly tied to our ability to achieve our work plan for a successful next year.
The purpose of Sales Kick Off is to bring together the entire sales team, aligning them with the organization’s goals, strategies, and initiatives for the upcoming year.
SKO Objectives
Setting Goals
Sales Kick Off is an opportunity to communicate and clarify sales targets and objectives for the upcoming year.
Training and Development
Providing space for training sessions, workshops, and skill development activities to enhance the capabilities of the sales team.
Team Building
Fostering collaboration by bringing the entire sales team together, often including remote or distributed team members.
Motivation
Designing the event to motivate and inspire the sales team, creating enthusiasm and a positive mindset for the challenges ahead.
Product Knowledge
Introducing new products or updates, ensuring the sales team is well-versed in offerings.
Recognition
Recognizing and rewarding top performers, instilling a sense of accomplishment and motivation in the team.
Communication
Facilitating clear communication of the organization’s vision, strategies, and expectations, fostering a unified understanding among team members.
In essence, SKO acts as a launchpad for the sales team, equipping them with the knowledge, motivation, and direction needed for a successful and productive year. When we acknowledge the participation of AI and automation is actively taking in supporting our working plan, we can’t ignore it needs to be represented.
Representation doesn’t mean just by the team that deployed it or any technical team, depending on your organizational structure and investment.
Participation means actively discussing it under any applicable topic, from its achievements in the past year to setting goals for the next year and how it will contribute, showing results with or without its involvement.
Let’s demonstrate the practical implementation using the list above, illustrating how we can seamlessly include and integrate our non-human employees into our SKO .
SKO Objectives: Integrating our non-human AI employee
Setting Goals
AI should have its own set of goals for the upcoming year, presented collectively during SKO alongside human team members.
This ensures a shared understanding of expectations and responsibilities.
Defining AI’s goals helps create a clear delineation of tasks and fosters collaboration between human and non-human team members.
It also contributes to efficient time management by identifying areas where AI can take on tasks, freeing up human resources for more complex endeavors. This approach positions AI as an active participant with defined objectives, promoting a strategic and collaborative team dynamic.
Training and Development
When we set new plans and goals, everyone, including our non-human team members, requires training and development.
It’s important to recognize its need for training in areas that were not part of its past learning and data experiences.
Practically, this means allocating time and resources for introduction of new data and allowing for its learning curve. This investment is necessary for it to achieve its new goals and contribute to the team’s success. It’s crucial to acknowledge that it will be dealing with new data and objectives that were not part of its past experiences.
Motivation
Indeed, motivation is key, especially when we include our non-human employee as an integral part of the inspiration. Highlighting it as an exciting collaboration over the next year can generate enthusiasm.
Just as working with cutting-edge technologies is inherently thrilling for developers. Collaborating with our non-human employees in innovative ways, as suggested, not only benefits your sales team’s growth and development but also enhances their capabilities, directly impacting their CVs. This exciting partnership promises a unique and valuable experience for all involved.
Product Knowledge
Allocating time to enhance the team’s understanding of the new features and capabilities of their counterpart, which the company strategically plans to embrace next year, is essential.
This effort will foster improved collaboration and achievement within the team, encompassing both human and non-human members.
Communication
Establishing a vision for our new communication approach next year, including effectively integrating our non-human employees.
We aim to convey its wins, progress, and team achievements collaboratively between humans and non-humans.
To kick start this initiative, consider a celebration to assign a human name to our AI employees through a voting process. This chosen name will be used in our communication plan for the upcoming year.
To provide a more detailed breakdown, I’ve included a basic example demonstrating how we can effectively set goals—the most crucial topic from the list. This illustration incorporates the integration of our non-human employee to showcase a comprehensive approach.
Illustrating Next Year’s Goals with Our AI Team Member Integration
Slide Title: Team Goals – Team Human (David) and Non-Human (Kevin)
| Team Member | Target 2022 | Target Attainment | Target Attachment (Tasks) |
| Human | $X Million | $Y Million | Task A, Task B, Task C |
| Non-Human (AI Employee) | $X Million | $Y Million | Task D, Task E, Task F |
| Total (Team Effort) | $X Million | $Y Million | All Tasks Combined |
Performance Improvement for 2023:
- Human Team: Increase target by Z% with improved efficiency in Task A, Task B, Task C.
- Non-Human Team (AI employee): Enhance capabilities for improved performance in Task D, Task E, Task F.
- Total Team Effort: Collaborative enhancement for a Z% overall increase in target attainment.
Comparison to 2022:
- Human Team: Achieved $Y Million in 2022, a Z% improvement from the initial target.
- Non-Human Team (AI): Achieved $Y Million in 2022, showcasing successful integration and contribution.
- Total Team Effort: Combined achievement of $Y Million, proving the synergy of human and non-human collaboration.
Note: if you have a point of reference to the performance before the integration of the non-human employee use it for transparency.
From me:
I’m standing up for our silent worker—the non-human one. Whether it’s giving them the stage, representing, or integrating them, I’m choosing words that feel just right.
My way of doing things involves bringing in fresh ideas for the new-age CROs and reimagining how we work together. As AI gets smarter, we should all get on board with this thinking. If not, we risk holding back our human teammates and missing the real essence of why we do SKO. It’s not just about hitting goals; it’s about guiding, growing, challenging, and motivating our human team. Without this, we might end up handing over all the decision-making to our non-human pals.
Let’s kickstart the year with a ‘better together’ vibe, blending our strengths with our non-human teammates.
