Is it potential to duplicate the infectious vitality of the gross sales flooring on the finish of 1 / 4 in a digital world?
That was the problem ZoomInfo confronted as 2020 drew to a detailed in December, which is often a fantastic month for B2B gross sales groups. The final day of the 12 months is very thrilling as gross sales leaders race to the end line to blow by means of their annual quotas.
However in a 12 months disrupted by the pandemic, we discovered ourselves nonetheless caught at dwelling after months spent bodily aside.
We had been decided to breed that buzz throughout our first-ever digital company-wide dwell New 12 months’s Eve celebration — dubbed Henry Schuck’s New 12 months’s Closin’ Eve — which finally lasted ten productive and entertaining hours (think about the content material creation!). Right here’s how we pulled it off — and the way you are able to do it, too.
1. Breaking Information: Broadcast Sports activities Gross sales Updates Reside.
Sporting bow ties and fancy formalwear, with digital fireworks lighting up their Zoom backgrounds, our gross sales enablement crew emceed the marathon occasion. The hours handed shortly because of the seamless mix of each critical gross sales discuss and playful segments that stored the temper upbeat.
It was important to maintain all people motivated to hit their quantity, simply as if we had been working alongside one another again within the workplace. The dwell portion of the occasion was comprised of some key parts that gave it the texture of a sporting occasion.
We employed a manufacturing firm, DCE Productions, to assist us govt produce it. Behind the scenes, our CEO’s Chief of Workers, Jennifer Creticos, was on a walkie-talkie app serving to to navigate from one section to a different. We additionally created a “run of present” sheet that mapped out the programming right down to the minute.
We needed to supply an expertise just like cable information, the place you possibly can tune in and shortly take in the newest information — or depart it on within the background and revel in all kinds of content material.
Reside Wins Ticker And “Sideline” Interviews
All through the day, a scrolling ticker of dwell deal updates ran throughout on the backside of the display, celebrating wins as they rolled in from particular person staff. To create the ticker, incoming DocuSign knowledge was formatted and fed right into a Google Sheet each half hour.
We additionally broadcast dwell “sideline” interviews with a few of these staff, throughout which they defined how they pushed every deal over the objective line — and mentioned classes realized that they deliberate to implement in 2021.
Information-Pushed Scoreboards
On the prime of each hour, the emcees rang a (literal) bell and checked in on a company-wide scoreboard that includes numbers that steadily elevated because the evening wore on. Powered by Salesforce reviews, the board displayed metrics together with annual recurring income, DocuSigns signed by new shoppers, and new enterprise alternatives.
Our gross sales operations crew created the dashboard utilizing the info visualization instrument Geckoboard. We additionally checked in on scoreboards for particular person gross sales groups as folks labored in actual time to fulfill their objectives. These visuals helped drive dwelling the message that we win as a crew. There isn’t a tomorrow — get it accomplished as we speak.
Inside Appears to be like at Gross sales Crew Conferences
We tuned into stand-up conferences taking place all over the world on particular person gross sales groups as they went over their playbooks for the day. Gross sales leaders supplied real-time encouragement to ship that further e-mail and make that further name. They exhorted staff to ship this message to shoppers:
Let’s make a deal so your group can kick off the brand new 12 months on the proper foot.
“Use your complete crew — your complete firm is right here that will help you,” Lou Wolf, Vice President of New Enterprise Gross sales, advised his staff. “We’ll discover offers at 10 p.m. tonight. I do know we’ll.”
Actual-Time Conversations with the Board of Administrators
ZoomInfo CEO Henry Schuck and Chief Income Officer Chris Hays sat down with a number of board members for casual interviews, giving staff a front-row seat to Insightful conversations about big-picture firm priorities.
2. Rejoice Final 12 months’s Wins & Leverage Previous Content material
We waded by means of our in-house video footage to create pre-recorded programming that supplied a sweeping view of every part our firm achieved in 2020. That included a glance again on the magic surrounding our profitable IPO in June, together with different highlights from a difficult 12 months.
You don’t need to create 10 hours’ price of content material to drag this off. Make the most of your spotlight reel and freshen it up with new knowledge.
Sharing Motivating Recommendation from Our Leaders
We highlighted some compelling moments from all-hands conferences, together with this knowledge delivered by our CEO Henry Schuck in April, a month into the pandemic, when your complete nation was gripped with concern and uncertainty:
There’s a lot that’s out of our management. Schedules, youngsters at dwelling, earn a living from home, not having the ability to see our buddies and our household. We’ve got no management over any of these issues. However what I’d problem all of you to do as we speak is to stipulate what you can management. I can management how I present up daily.
– Henry Schuck, ZoomInfo CEO
Showcasing Buyer Testimonials
We assembled a mash-up that includes testimonials from actual shoppers raving about our product, which was dominated by sure turns of phrase, together with “freakin’ superior!” and “that is magical” repeated advert nauseum.
Partaking with Insightful Gross sales Chief Roundtables
Pre-recorded interviews and roundtables showcased our enterprise improvement achievements from 2020, that includes interviews with new enterprise, account administration, gross sales enablement, and C-suite executives.
3. Don’t Neglect to Get Artistic & Have Enjoyable
It was New 12 months’s Eve, in spite of everything, so we clearly needed to have somewhat enjoyable, too. This portion of the night turned the occasion into a real celebration and helped all of us really feel nearer to one another despite the bodily miles between us.
Our Worker Showcase: Raps, Rhymes & Ridiculous Strikes
The ZoomInfo household took to the digital stage to indicate off our creativity, starting from heartfelt renditions of Beatles’ songs to a downright ridiculous efficiency of “Advertising Supervisor,” an unique track written by an worker that features these iconic lyrics: “A 30-minute demo was all it took / A fast look and the CMO was shook.”
Different highlights:
- An infomercial about what occurs when pets determine to hitch a gross sales name when working from dwelling.
- An unique rap track about ZoomInfo that rivaled Michael Scott’s notorious “Straight Outta Scranton” from The Workplace.
- A number of JibJab movies that superimposed the heads of firm leaders onto numerous 90s music movies (no clarification required).
Eyes on The Prize: Contests & Video games
A sequence of video games helped lighten the temper all through the night: bingo boards, soccer squares, swag giveaways. Lauren Penney, a gross sales enablement supervisor who helped host the occasion, challenged staff to guess the precise time of day once we would hit sure targets, with the winner receiving a prize.
Crew Milestones: From Weddings to Donation Drives
Staff shared footage of huge moments in their very own lives, from weddings and visas to new infants and pets. We additionally spotlighted our company-wide charitable efforts, which netted $650,000 for native nonprofits in 2020.
Submit-Occasion Evaluation: What Did We Study?
When it was throughout, we had efficiently hosted a digital celebration for almost 2,000 folks that featured greater than 20 audio system, 50 movies, and (most likely too many) JibJab parodies.
Extra importantly, we introduced the crew along with enjoyable, instructional content material, bringing the gross sales circulation to your complete firm.. When 2021 attracts to a detailed, the pandemic will hopefully be a factor of the previous.
However our digital New 12 months’s Eve isn’t going wherever. We’ll be logging on once more subsequent 12 months — possibly with some actual confetti this time.
