What to Do After SKO to Turn Early Wins Into Real Sales Momentum

If your SKO sparked early traction, don’t mistake it for lasting sales momentum.

Without a system to reinforce and scale what worked, that initial energy fades fast. Most teams don’t lose momentum because the message didn’t land; they lose it because there’s not enough place to help them carry that message forward.

Here’s how to change that.

Why Early Wins Aren’t Always a Reliable Indicator of Sales Momentum

Early wins after your SKO feel good, but they’re not the same as sustained momentum. In many cases, they’re a spike, not a signal.

When the first deals close or meetings get booked, it’s easy to assume your reps are running with the message. But unless those results are tied to specific, repeatable behaviors and reinforced consistently, they won’t scale. And they won’t last.

Momentum in sales doesn’t come from outcomes. It comes from consistent execution: of the right behaviors, in the right direction, with the right support.

That’s where most teams lose traction. The energy fades, coaching slips, and reps revert to old habits. 

So if you’re seeing signs of progress, now’s the moment to act, not celebrate. Before momentum can build, ask yourself:

• Do we know which behaviors led to those early wins?
• Are our managers equipped to coach those behaviors consistently?
• Do we have a way to track adoption, not just results?

If the answer to any of those is no, momentum is still at risk. But that’s also an opportunity, because what you do next helps to determine whether your sales kickoff creates real traction, or just a temporary lift.

Phase 1: Prepare to Scale the Right Behaviors

To build real sales momentum after SKO, your team needs clarity about which behaviors matter most, why they matter, and how to reinforce them consistently across the team.

That’s what the Prepare phase is about. Not capturing every early win, but using this window to establish a focused plan for execution. 

Here’s how to put that into action in the first few weeks post-SKO.

1. Identify Which Behaviors Should Take Priority

Start by looking for patterns, not just results. If reps are gaining early traction, dig into what they’re doing differently and whether those actions align with your SKO focus or Q1 strategy.

Ask:

• What’s actually driving the early wins: more activity, sharper messaging, better qualification?
• Are these behaviors consistent with what we taught at SKO?
  Is adoption limited to a few high performers, or starting to take hold across the team?

The goal here is to decide what’s worth doubling down on. If you don’t define the behaviors you want to scale, your managers and reps will each make their own assumptions, and you’ll lose the chance to create consistent momentum across the team.

2. Codify What “Good” Looks Like

Once you’ve identified which behaviors to scale, the next step is making them visible, clear, and easy to coach. This is where many organizations fall short: they rely on informal knowledge or assume managers can translate vague SKO themes into consistent action.

To codify the right behaviors:

• Capture concrete examples from the field (Think successful calls, talk tracks, and email threads.)
• Distill the behavior behind the win (e.g., “led with a customer problem” vs. “gave a better demo”)
  Create a simple reference managers can use in their coaching:
  • Behavior focus: What we’re reinforcing this week
    Why it matters: Tie it to SKO strategy or current sales challenge
  • What to listen for: Prompts, phrases, and signs of success

This gives managers and reps a shared language, and lowers the barrier to reinforcement.

Phase 2: Ignite Behavior Change Through Daily Execution

Once you’ve aligned your team around the right behaviors, the next step is execution: daily, visible, and consistent. The Ignite phase is where coaching moves out of the kickoff deck and into the field.

This is about creating a short, focused rhythm that helps managers reinforce what matters and reps apply it in real time.

1. Establish a Focused, Weekly Coaching Rhythm

Once you’ve defined the behaviors that matter most, the next challenge is consistency. Your managers need a simple rhythm to reinforce those behaviors in the field, not just once, but week after week.

Here’s how to support them:

• Select one focus behavior each week, based on what you identified in the Prepare phase.
• Provide coaching prompts and talk tracks managers can use in huddles and 1:1s.
• Ask managers to track coaching activity, such as who they coached and what they covered, to keep the focus visible.

This kind of structure helps managers stay aligned, and gives reps repeated chances to apply what they learned at SKO so it sticks.

2. Tie Coaching to Real Opportunities

Coaching is most effective when it’s grounded in real conversations and real pipeline rather than abstract exercises. When managers connect behavior feedback to active deals, reps pay attention.

Here’s how to encourage that:

• Ask managers to review recent calls or meetings through the lens of the weekly behavior.
• Use pipeline and forecast reviews to surface coaching moments, not just updates.
• Give managers simple cues or questions to spot and respond to in live selling situations.

The more relevant the coaching feels to reps, the faster adoption happens, and the easier it is to maintain momentum.

3. Make Behavior Visible Across the Team

Behavior change scales when it becomes part of the team’s shared language. If it only happens in 1:1s, it stays siloed. Look for ways to surface examples and celebrate progress in front of the group.

Ways to do this:

• Highlight real examples of the weekly behavior in action during team meetings.
• Share short clips, quotes, or talk tracks that illustrate the behavior done well.
• Invite reps to reflect on how they applied the focus, what worked, and what changed.

This kind of visibility turns behavior change from an individual effort into a team standard, and gives everyone a chance to learn from each other.

Phase 3: Transform Short-Term Wins into Long-Term Change

By this point, you’ve identified the right behaviors and equipped managers to reinforce them in the field. But momentum doesn’t become transformation on its own. The final step is making sure those behaviors stick, and deciding what comes next.

That’s what the Transformation phase is for: validating what took hold, operationalizing the change, and using those insights to guide future focus.

1. Look for Signs Your Focus Behaviors Are Sticking

After weeks of coaching and reinforcement, you should start to see where the change is taking hold. Has the behavior you prioritized become part of the team’s rhythm? Are reps applying it in real conversations without needing a nudge?

You’re looking for signs of natural adoption: consistent patterns, shared language, and moments where the behavior shows up unprompted in the field.

How to gather insight:

• Ask managers for examples of reps consistently demonstrating the behavior.
• Review calls or CRM notes to see where it’s showing up in real deals.
• Survey reps and managers to learn what feels second nature, and what still needs support.

This gives you a clear view of where momentum is building, and where to reinforce before progress stalls.

2. Operationalize Your Team’s New Behaviors

Once your priority behavior starts to show up consistently, the next move is to build it into the way your team operates, so it doesn't rely on reminders to stick.

Look for opportunities to hardwire it into your systems:

• Refresh sales plays, talk tracks, or templates that shape rep behavior.
• Update onboarding to teach the behavior from day one.
• Equip managers to reinforce it through their existing coaching rhythm, not extra meetings.

This is how you move from short-term reinforcement to long-term consistency: by making the behavior the default, not the initiative.

3. Decide What Comes After the SKO Push

Once the behavior introduced at SKO is embedded, your job shifts from reinforcement to evolution. What do your reps need next to keep building on that foundation?

Start by looking at what’s happening in the field:

• Meet with managers to identify which teams still need support and which are ready to move forward.
• Capture and share field wins to reinforce belief, and show SKO wasn’t a one-time event.
• Choose the next behavior or priority based on real readiness, not a preset training schedule.

This is how you prevent SKO from becoming a box you checked in January, and instead turn it into the start of a larger shift.

Equip Your Managers to Sustain SKO Momentum

A great SKO can spark change. But without the right leadership, it won’t last.

That’s why the teams who keep momentum going invest in their managers, giving them the skills and systems to drive behavior change, coach consistently, and lead with clarity.

Because when managers lead well, the message sticks. And the team moves.

Want to equip your leaders to carry the message forward? Learn more about Catalyst.