In this episode:

• Using the SKO as a defensible, non-personal platform for how to lead
• Five Operating Principles training: one-on-ones & team meetings, self-gen pipeline programs, opportunity reviews, forecast calls, and QBRs, so the gap between the SKO and the next week is zero
• Asking your team for permission to learn together
• Learning together versus top-down instruction
• Closing the say-do gap
• The one thing to do this week: schedule the meetings and practice with your team

Featuring: Bart Fanelli, Co-Founder and CEO, Skillibrium — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartfanelli/

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to SKO Ready
1:59 Previously on SKO Ready
2:17 The Monday after
2:44 Bart Fanelli returns
3:35 The trip home
4:30 What leaders practiced at SKO
6:03 The first meeting back
7:47 Why ask permission
8:46 What makes a force multiplier
10:01 The one thing to do this week
11:06 Episode recap
11:30 Bart's final word
13:04 That's a wrap on SKO Ready
13:41 Skillibrium certifications
14:43 About JourneyCast 

Go deeper: the three Skillibrium certification paths — Selling Strategies, Revenue Operating Principles, and Skill Well Coaching — at skillibrium.com/certifications.

Further reading: The Success Cadence by David Mattson, Tom Schodorf, and Bart Fanelli — a plan for designing the daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence of a growing sales team.

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

In this episode:

• The BMC airport simulation, from chaos to controlled chaos to full competition
• Narrowing the event to three takeaways, and "policing" the agenda
• Edutainment: authentic leaders, a theme you embrace, and fun that builds relationships
• Before: the planning timeline, a solid communications plan, and pre-work
• During: producing the event like a stage production, built as a layer cake
• After: not letting the energy drop, with a steady enablement and leadership cadence
• The takeaway: keep motivation at the top, keep it fun and light, go a little bold, and make it about the attendees as humans

Featuring: Kerri Barton, Co-Founder, Skillibrium — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerribarton/

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to SKO Ready
0:29 Previously on SKO Ready
0:44 Before, during, and after
1:17 An airport simulation SKO
3:59 Start with three takeaways
4:57 Make it fun on purpose
6:20 The planning timeline
7:27 Comms and pre-work
11:30 Producing the event
16:07 After: the riskiest part
19:39 The one thing to remember
22:27 Episode recap
23:11 About JourneyCast
24:11 Coming up: the finale 

Mentioned in this episode: BMC Software; the ITIL framework; OutSystems.

Update after the final cut: this episode is likely to be trimmed, so adjust the bullets to match what stays.

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

In this episode:

• A Symantec technical kickoff that taught him a lot but left something missing: the sales team
• The "us versus them" gap between SE, PS, CS, and sales, and why the best reps leverage their extended team
• Practicing teamwork at SKO: joint account plans and cross-team role plays
• Why a blended event with breakouts beats a separate event
• Why companies split events (it isn't malice), and why SE, PS, and CS leaders have to speak up early in agenda planning
• What belongs in breakouts: practicing new demos, value realization, and things that are hard to do back home
• The Splunk model, and the one thing to do before the agenda locks

Featuring: Chris Olson, Head of Service Delivery, Skillibrium — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisolson62/

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to SKO Ready
1:59 Previously on SKO Ready
3:38 Who belongs in the room
4:27 Meet Chris Olson
4:53 A kickoff for technical teams
6:27 Us versus them
8:05 The blended event
8:46 Why companies split them up
9:52 What belongs in breakouts
11:10 Getting it right at Splunk
12:28 A GTM leadership call
13:43 Before you lock the agenda
14:18 Episode recap
15:24 About JourneyCast
16:28 Coming up in SKO Ready

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

In this episode:

• Why the best SKOs feel like doing the job, so there's little gap between the event and the Monday after
• Rehearsing on a real account: cross-functional teams researching it, mapping personas and next steps
• The whiteboard SKO: building an account plan and a message to deliver to the customer
• Why it stuck: the debate among the six to eight people who cover an account together
• The framework: follow the flow of a customer engagement, then reinforce it in the leader's operating cadence (team meetings, pipeline generation, opportunity reviews, forecast calls)
• Why to do it repeatedly: the purer the process, the better the customer experience

Featuring: Bart Fanelli, Co-Founder and CEO, Skillibrium — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartfanelli/

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to SKO Ready 
1:59 Previously on SKO Ready
2:19 Where selling execution belongs
3:01 Meet Bart Fanelli
4:13 The best SKO he's been part of
4:52 Rehearsing a real account
6:42 The whiteboard exercise
8:06 Why it stuck: the debate
9:09 Building it into your SKO
10:45 What it comes down to
12:06 Episode recap
13:00 Bart's final word
14:30 About JourneyCast
15:14 Coming up in SKO Ready 

Further reading: The Success Cadence by David Mattson, Tom Schodorf, and Bart Fanelli — a plan for designing the daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence of a growing sales team. Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/01ZdLdTs

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

In this episode:

• The COVID virtual SKO: what worked, and why she would have done less
• Why in-person events still pay off
• Why agendas get crowded ("spreading it out like peanut butter") and how three themes fix it
• Booth tours, breaks, and what to do with content that doesn't make the cut: pre-work, post-work, and happy hour
• How to build a defensible agenda, and push back on "death by PowerPoint"
• Who belongs on stage, and why to rehearse like a production
• Room setup (main stage, then round tables of eight) and a daily schedule built on a nine o'clock start and about six hours of content

Featuring: Kerri Barton, Co-Founder, Skillibrium — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerribarton/

Chapters:

0:00 Welcome to SKO Ready
0:31 What belongs on the agenda?
1:07 Kerri's all-virtual COVID SKO
3:36 What she wouldn't do again
5:44 The agenda as a performance
6:22 Why agendas get crowded
7:49 The rule of three
10:29 What to do with the rest
11:15 Advice for planners
13:59 Who belongs on stage
19:15 Setting up the room
21:29 Planning a realistic day
26:44 Episode recap
27:22 About JourneyCast
28:04 Coming up in SKO Ready

Mentioned in this episode: TED Talks, Carpool Karaoke

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

In this episode:

• The virtual SKO that earned near world-class NPS scores and still changed nothing
• Why one exposure isn't enough, and why even three to five aren't: it takes seven to nine, plus practice
• The sports analogy: the best teams practice six times for every game
• Why managers need their fingerprints on the training and keep coaching until it becomes standard behavior
• What he'd do differently: pre-SKO training, follow-up expectations with managers and RevOps, and optional team practice sessions

Featuring: Maverick Garner, Sales and Pre-Sales, Skillibrium - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maverickgarner/

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to SKO Read
2:04 The SKO that never stuck
2:56 Maverick's virtual SKO
5:12 Great scores, no change
7:26 Why one-time training fails
9:05 What makes training stick
10:28 What he'd do differently
11:44 Episode recap
13:03 About JourneyCast
13:46 Coming up in SKO Ready 

Mentioned in this episode: Net Promoter Score (NPS); parallel role-specific training tracks run over Zoom.

Music by:
original_soundtrack, Podcast Intro, Envato Elements
StockSounds, Podcast, Envato Elements
newsense, Lifestyle Background Music, Envato Elements

Six conversations. Four leaders: Maverick Garner, Kerri Barton, Bart Fanelli, and Chris Olson. A new episode every week. Want the whole series at once? Unlock all six episodes on the Community page of our website. And find the full JourneyCast library on the Skillibrium YouTube channel.

In six conversations, Skillibrium leaders Maverick Garner, Kerri Barton, Bart Fanelli, and Chris Olson share what they have learned about making a sales kickoff stick: why most SKOs don't, what belongs on the agenda, how to weave selling execution into the event, how to build role-based tracks, what to do before, during, and after, and how to coach leaders to carry it forward.

A new episode arrives every week. Want the whole series at once? Unlock all six episodes on the Community page of our website. For more conversations like this, find the full JourneyCast library and subscribe on the Skillibrium YouTube channel.