Sales Days, Buzz Days™ overview
The Traditional Sales Call-Out Day
Sales call-out days have always been a tool to drive much-needed pipeline, particularly with channel partners. It’s very much an ‘in-person’ event and there’s no doubt that bringing the sales team together is useful for team bonding. But, and this might be a controversial question, do sales call-out days really deliver the value promised?
Too often sales call-out days are a knee-jerk reaction to dwindling sales forecasts. Or driven by a need to generate mindshare with channel partners and drum up some sales. There is a lot of focus, and cost, on the day itself, with friendly competition, some pipeline created, and a few salespeople winning prizes. But where’s the follow-up and ROI?
If we are being honest with ourselves, sales call-out days are flawed. Just a fraction of the activity that happens on the day is captured and tracked. Many valuable conversations, that should be part of the longtail pipeline, are not tracked. What a waste!
It could be argued that sales call-out days were a useful tool when selling products that have a shorter sales cycle. However, solution sales are more complex, require more engagement with the prospect, and therefore each step on the buyer’s journey needs to be tracked.
The Buzz DayTM
The Buzz Day™ was born during lockdown as a solution enabling teams to run virtual sales call-out days. It recreated the same level of engagement with the sales team, incorporating a mixture of video conferencing, social channels, a virtual leader board and a social wall to share activity. But with one big difference, ALL activity that occurred during the Buzz Day™ was tracked. All deal registrations, demos booked, calls made, emails sent, quotes sent, appointments booked – everything was logged. At the end of the Buzz Day™, all activity was logged and available to be uploaded into CRM and tracked. Finally, companies had a true ROI of the day and could monitor deals that were derived from that activity.
Since its inception, each one of our clients that tried a Buzz Day™ has not looked back. Buzz Days™ are now a permanent tool in their sales activities with channel partners because they work. They have been proven to deliver higher pipeline and ROI.
Since launching the Buzz Day™ solution in June 2020, we have generated over $2 million+ in pipeline, $1 million+ in closed business and generated over 140 leads for our clients.
Buzz Days™ not only create engagement but also healthy competition amongst the sales team, and great feedback from participants. See more on the benefits of Buzz Day™.
How do Buzz Day™ and Sales Call-Out Days compare?
| What? |
Sales Call-Out Day |
Buzz Day™ |
| Preparation |
2 weeks
Includes: booking dates, travel and accommodation, sales teams will identify target data for the day.
|
6 weeks
Includes: booking the date, identifying the target audience, data mapping and a campaign to warm up the audience.
|
| Time (on the day) |
5 hours (average) + travel time
For channel salespeople and the vendor sales team
|
6 hours (average)
Remote teams join online, senior stakeholders can dial in for the team check-in sessions and look at the online leaderboard at any time.
|
| Cost |
HIGH
Includes travel and accommodation costs, food, and prizes.
|
MEDIUM
Includes: tools: social wall, leaderboard, warmup assets and prizes.
|
| Engagement |
MEDIUM
Good for the sales team to meet up in person. However, without data mapping and planning, outbound calls and emails receive a mixed response from the target audience.
|
HIGH
Regular Zoom check-ins, activity posted to the social wall and leader board, posts to social channels, plus email activity means the team is generating awareness and are highly engaged in the objectives of the day. Plus, all activity is logged so nothing is missed.
|
| Awards / Prizes |
Varied
Often food/drink based, bottles of wine, champagne, spirits and crates of beer. Prizes are awarded for sales contributions on the day.
|
Pre-determined
Variety of vouchers for different outlets including experience days, Amazon, fine wines etc. Prizes awarded for the KPIs you wish to drive e.g.:
- Most deal registrations
- Most meetings booked
- Most demos booked
- Most emails / Inmails sent
- Most webinar sign ups
|
| Fun |
The experience of meeting up in person and banter with others in the team. |
The moderated social wall allows the posting of gifs, videos and other fun messages in addition to the sales activity. It becomes the centre of engagement for the day along with the regular Zoom check-ins where team members can share a laugh too. |
Results
(Awareness, Pipeline, Sales) |
MIXED
The day is mostly focused on, cold-calling and cold-emailing. The number of calls can deliver some success in point-to-point sales however, it’s hard to measure and forecast sales output resulting from the day.
|
GOOD
The data mapping activity combined with the email/social warm-up campaign helps to generate awareness prior to the day and promotes focus on intel-driven targets. The volume of calls/emails is targeted towards a warmed-up audience leading to better results. All activity during the day is tracked which provides clarity into follow-up action post-event.
|
| Feedback |
MIXED
Feedback from vendors with long sales cycles is that the results are difficult to track, with the exception of deal registrations.
|
EXCELLENT
We’ve had great feedback from all participants. Senior stakeholders like the visibility that the Buzz Day™ reporting delivers and the ability to forecast trackable activity. Each client that has tried a Buzz Day™ has implemented them as part of their sales strategy.
|
| Return on Investment |
LIMITED
The amount invested in a sales call-out day is not often recorded or compared against the results achieved. As few results are captured only a limited ROI is ever established.
|
GOOD
The results speak for themselves. Since launching the Buzz Day™ solution in June 2020, we have generated over $2 million+ in pipeline, $1 million+ in closed business and generated over 140 leads for our clients.
|
The 'buzz' generated from the Buzz Day™ extends for weeks after the event with further deals getting registered, new leads generated and meetings booked.
If you want to see how a Buzz Day™ could boost your pipeline, then get in touch!
More on Buzz Days and how to book >
