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Sales days, Buzz Days™ overview
Do you know the difference between traditional sales call-out days and Buzz Days™?
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?
OUr opinion
If we are being honest with ourselves, sales call-out days are flawed.
Capture and track only a fraction of the activity that occurs during the day. Neglect to track many valuable conversations that should be part of the longtail pipeline. What a waste!
One could argue that sales call-out days proved to be a useful tool when selling products with shorter sales cycles. However, solution sales are more complex, demanding increased engagement with the prospect. As a result, it is necessary to track each step in the buyer’s journey.
The Buzz Day™
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 activities.
But with one significant difference, we tracked ALL activity that took place during the Buzz Day™. We logged all deal registrations, demos booked, calls made, emails sent, quotes sent, and appointments booked. At the end of the day, we logged all activity and made it available for uploading into CRM and tracking. Finally, companies had a genuine ROI for the day and could monitor deals derived from that activity.
What it has achieved
Since its inception, each one of our clients that tried Buzz Days™ has not looked back. Buzz Days™ are now a permanent tool in their sales activities with channel partners because they work. They have demonstrated the ability to deliver a 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 | Preparation |
| 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., – Number deal registrations – Most meetings booked – The most demos booked – How many emails / Inmails sent – Number of 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, Pipleline, 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 before 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, except deal registrations. | EXCELLENT We’ve had great feedback from all participants. Senior stakeholders like the visibility that Buzz Day™ reporting delivers and the ability to forecast trackable activity. Each client that has tried 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™ continues for weeks after the event, registering further deals, generating new leads, and booking meetings.
If you want to see how it could boost your pipeline, then get in touch!
More on Buzz Days and how to book >