The Evolution of Buzz Days – Buzz Boards

The Evolution of Buzz Days™

Enter Buzz Boards

“We need to run call-out days to drive pipeline but how can we when all the sales team are working from home due to lockdown?!”

When I first heard these words uttered with a bit of panic on a Zoom call with a client, I knew there had to be a solution. Sales call-out days used to be high-energy, fun, and competitive. Salespeople were rewarded for generating opportunities and closing deals and there was a real buzz about a call-out day. My mind started ticking…. How could we recreate that experience virtually?

I put the coffee machine on. Caffeine usually helps spark creativity. Grind, trickle, drip, glug. No flash of a brainwave or even the tiniest spark. Nothing.

Now I know how the client was feeling.

Drip, drip, drip

Fast forward to the morning. I turned on the shower, stepped in and let the hot water run over my head. My legs started to turn red. The mirror steamed up. I was thinking I should probably turn the temperature down. As I turned around to lower the temperature it happened. Just like that. Boom! The Buzz Day™ idea popped into my head!

I turned off the shower, grabbed a towel and frantically dried myself. Tripping over my slippers, which I’d only half put on, I rushed down the stairs, pressed the button on the coffee machine and grabbed my laptop. I started typing like a woman possessed capturing the idea that had popped into my mind mid-shower before it vanished like the bubbles down the plughole. Archimedes may have had his eureka moment in a bath but for me, it was a shower.

The birth of the Buzz Day™

If you’re new to Buzz Days™ you can read all about them in our What is a Buzz Day blog.  Buzz Days™ became a hugely successful evolution of the traditional sales call-out day, helping tech companies drive much-needed pipeline with their channel during lockdown. The focal point of the day was a branded Social Wall that was used to capture all the great results created on the Buzz Day™ by the sales team. It acted like a virtual sales floor. People posted selfies to the wall. Dogs and cats made an appearance. Funny GIFs were used. We even saw the return of office banter, albeit virtual! Buzz Days™ boosted locked-down spirits and brought remote teams together again while also helping create opportunities for vendors and their partners. In just 12 months Buzz Days™ created over $ 2 million in pipeline for tech companies. By anyone’s standards, that’s a success!

The arrival of the new normal

As business began to return to normal, people also started returning to their offices. The ‘new normal’ was here. Some people came back to the office full-time. Others took a hybrid approach. Some refused point blank to return having bought a lockdown puppy. With this new normal came the return of the traditional sales call-out day.

But what we’d learnt from Buzz Days™ is that sales call-out days are flawed.

Call-out days are flawed

Yes. You read that correctly. Call-Out Days Are Flawed.

Yes, they create pipeline. They are competitive. Salespeople win prizes.

But call-out days only capture a fraction of the results from the day, meaning the true return on investment never gets captured or tracked.

And call-out days don’t fuel competition in the same way that Buzz Days™ do. And let’s face it, who has ever met a salesperson that isn’t competitive?

Knowing these flaws I felt there had to be a way to evolve our Buzz Day™ solution to bring all of its benefits to the traditional in-person sales call-out day on the sales floor.

So, it was back to the shower for me. Another brainwave was required. 

The birth of Buzz Boards

Let’s fast forward the shower and the strong coffee and let’s go straight to the brainwave.

To recap, here’s the issue:

• Sales call-out days need to track ALL activity so the longtail pipeline can be measured.
• Sales call-out days need to fuel competition to get the best out of highly competitive salespeople.

And here is the solution …

introducing Buzz Boards™

1. Run a sales call-out day using our Buzz Day™ framework, which will ensure proper planning and preparation to maximise results.
2. Set up a leaderboard portal, AKA the Buzz Board, as the focal point for the day. This will be used by the sales team to log ALL activity and display their results in a series of leaderboards. They can book deal regs, calls made, emails sent, quotes sent, appointments booked etc. (whatever KPIs you wish to achieve).
3. Ensure a value is assigned by the salespeople to all logged DRs and closed deals if these are what you’re looking to achieve. Display these values in REAL TIME, so everyone (salespeople, vendors, distributors) can see the immediate results of the day.
4. Enable the salespeople and the key stakeholders to see the cumulative deal value achieved grow via a real-time deal value chart (great if you want to set a target for the day).
5. Enable the salespeople to see how they are doing against their peers through leaderboards for each KPI you have set.
6. Export ALL of the activity at the end of the day and upload it into your CRM tagged to the Buzz Boards day, including the emails sent and calls made – and track the TRUE ROI of the day as future deals result from the day in the months ahead.

Don’t miss the true value of your next call-out day – book a Buzz Boards Day!

Want to see how a Buzz Boards Day could boost your next call-out day? Get in touch!