3 Quick Ideas for Adding Humor to your Sales Kickoff Speech
Sales Kickoff Events are held to pump people up! So don’t kickoff the conference with a downer speech . . . like a long winded wrap up about the company profits, or, worse, a list of housekeeping details like the bathroom locations!
As a Keynote speaker and comedian who has performed as the Master of Ceremonies for many sales kickoff events, I know that the message and event HAS to be fun! You want to reward the sales people AND get them to work even harder for next year. So add a little fun by including some well-placed humor in your sales kickoff presentation. Here are three quick ideas to add humor to your sales kickoff speech and get ’em laughing.
Joke around about the competition. I once did a show for John Deere, the tractor company. That gave me a great line “John Deere is a great name for a company – deer is sleek, fast, runs like a deer. You gotta wonder what the guys over at Caterpillar were thinking!” It got a HUGE laugh. So without being mean, what can you have fun with about the competition.
Have fun with the sales kickoff giveaways. There’s a lot of swag and gift giving at these events, and sometimes the gifts are awesome AND funny. On the third day of an event in Cabo, Mexico, that I was keynoting, everyone got sunglasses. All I had to do was point out that these would have been nice to get on the FIRST day. The place went nuts. So have fun with gifts ad prizes, and you’ll reward people with some laughs as well.
Sales Kickoff Speakers are always a blast to joke with. I worked with Aaron Ralston, the guy from the movie 127 hours that chronicled the time he spent laying under a rock in Canyonlands National Park. In order to free himself, he finally cut off his arm with a dull swiss army knife! There’s nothing funny about that, BUT, after his keynote, I commented that “I felt sorry for Aaron . . . until he told us that while laying under the rock, he lost 5 pounds a day!” It got a great laugh and it was tasteful humor. Look at the SKO agenda, a think about what the keynotes are about. Listen to them, and pick up some nuggets of comedy gold to adapt their message into your message with some humor.
These ideas will get you started but I have a ton more so that you can make sure the party keeps rolling along while the attendees are also getting valuable information. Feel free to contact me for more tips.
Here’s to making your next Sales Kickoff Event a real celebration!
BIO: Jan is a Keynote Speaker, Comedian, Comedy Writer, and Master of Ceremonies. She’s shared her clean humor with thousands of organizations. Check out all of her offerings on her website.
