SBI Growth

JANUARY 18, 2013

Talent management is a top priority for HR leaders who support sales organizations. But a recent interview with a HR leader revealed another level of sales leader support. At first, it may not seem like an HR leader would be involved in shaping sales force structure. The sales organization must continually adapt.

Compensation 292

Compensation Retention Ideal Customer Profile Territories 292

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 1, 2012

Hey, Sales Operations leaders. Do you want to increase sales and meet your 2013 goals? Encourage sales and marketing to build personas and build a plan to operationalize them immediately. Sales is frustrated because of a lack of proficiency in using the persona. Integrate the Persona into the Sales Process.

Meeting 288

Meeting Ideal Customer Profile Buyer Persona Forecasting 288

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

This post is about how CEOs should invest in sales managers to improve revenue growth in 2013. As part of our annual Q3 Research Tour, SBI surveyed over 10,000 sales reps. If you are considering sending your sales managers to training seminars in 2013, keep your money. Develop a custom sales management program.

Sales Management 267

Sales Management Hiring Comparison Quota 267

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

This year is no different than years prior in that every VP of Sales is getting ready for the annual 2013 sales planning season. Every VP of Sales heads into this annual meeting with his CEO/CFO full of anticipation. Learn how to allocate your budget properly and use it to launch you to a successful 2013.

Top of Funnel 267

Top of Funnel Funnel Demand Generation Targets Demand Generation 267

SBI Growth

AUGUST 10, 2012

Trained the sales force and channel partners on the new product. Did you forget about enabling the sales force ? Where in your plan is getting your sales force ready to sell your new product? Who is responsible for Sales Enablement ? If you leave it to the sales force, it won’t get done. They’ve never had to.

Sales Enablement 267

Sales Enablement Tools Territories Campaigns 267

SBI Growth

AUGUST 1, 2013

This time of year, Sales Ops leaders are often faced with a pressing question. We’re nearly 60% through 2013. Today’s post is about a simple approach to improve efficiency with current sales resources. Sign up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: " How to Make Your Number in 2014 : A Sales Strategy You Can Execute."

Ideal Customer Profile 317

Ideal Customer Profile Tools Scale Hiring 317

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Sales teams are getting their 2013 numbers. For the Sales Leaders who learned how to set quotas at the SBI Make the Number tour ( register now! ), the results will be quite different. 2013 results will uncover some long-hidden flaws in the sales force. This blog is NOT about how to correctly set your sales quotas.

Quota 257

Quota Compensation Commission Margin 257

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 29, 2012

This post will help you test a redesigned sales compensation plan to ensure cultural fit. Plus, you’ll find advice on compatibility with other sales effectiveness drivers. Let’s suppose HR is fully engaged for redesign of a 2013 Sales Compensation plan. That would make 2013 worse than this year! What can be done?

Compensation 253

Compensation Hiring Incentives Incentive 253

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 15, 2012

At this point in the year, you are prepping for SKO 2013. The New 2013 sales strategies are presented. Sales Quota and Sales Compensation Plans are passed out. Because they know they won’t have time for your “new” sales strategies. How do you Get your AEs to Stop Grumbling about 2013?

Compensation 244

Compensation Follow-up Up-Sell Maximizer 244

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

As a Sales Operations leader, you have 3 major challenges heading into 2014. Understanding how your customers are evolving and determining whether your sales team is keeping pace. This tool has been around for a few years now. To assist you further, sign-up for SBI’s Sales & Marketing Research Review here.

Tools 300

Tools Sales Tools Collateral Vendor 300

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 9, 2013

There is one factor that is extremely limiting to sales processes worldwide. A customized sales process is an excellent tool. These tools help to anticipate buyer trends and keep pace with the buyer. You can access the guide when you sign-up for SBI’s Sales & Marketing Research Review. This isn’t a lot.

Buyer Persona 307

Buyer Persona Buyer Tools Trends 307

SBI Growth

JANUARY 25, 2013

5 Traits You Need to Be an ‘A’ Player in 2013. As a sales rep, every so often you must ask yourself the question: Are you aiming for the bull’s-eye…or wearing it? Life as a sales rep is no exception. Improve your ‘A’ Player characteristics to: Increase sales. Reduce sales effort. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate.

Outside Sales 319

Outside Sales Inside Sales Compensation Follow-up 319

SBI Growth

JANUARY 21, 2013

Here are the biggest threats to the CSO in 2013. 5 years ago, the two black boxes of reliable data were Sales and Marketing. However, it leaves sales as the sole department with spotty metrics. These are "inward out" metrics that only Sales leaders care about. The consensus on Wall Street is a strong 2013.

Face-to-face 244

Face-to-face Vendor Decision Maker Inside Sales 244

SBI Growth

AUGUST 15, 2012

“Freedom lies in being Bold” – Robert Frost Are you consistently bringing bold sales strategy ideas to the VP of Sales? To be a world class Sales Operations leader, pick up the pace. Quantifying the potential impact for their sales leader. Sales Operations Success = Insight + Execution.

Infusion 244

Infusion Data Ideal Customer Profile Strategy 244

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Teams of Lead Development Reps (LDRs) are being built in Marketing to help fill the Sales pipeline with qualified leads. Best-in-class Lead Management programs provide sales with more than 50% of all leads. And how can HR keep the peace when LDR pay threatens Sales compensation? Sales Reps pay for the leads.

Compensation 267

Compensation Hiring Marketing Trade Show 267

Score More Sales

MAY 30, 2013

IBM again went to 500 marketing professionals in 15 industries to ask critical questions and uncover from a marketing standpoint to help us all improve marketing and sales results. You can download the complete results from the IBM State of Marketing 2013 Global Survey. Creating a consistent customer experience. Increase Opportunities.

Marketing 241

Marketing Lead Rank Lead Scoring Survey 241

Score More Sales

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Be sure to listen to the great “10 Ways to Utilize Social Selling in 2013″ webinar that Linkedin and DocuSign hosted today if you missed it. (if The Postwire page (one of my favorite tools for curation) has all ten of the tools mentioned, plus links to the presenters, moderator, and sponsor pages.

Social Selling 239

Social Selling Tools Webinar Metrics Outbound 239

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 25, 2012

42% is the average amount of time a sales person spends engaging with a customer. We all know improving selling time should increase sales. And what is the value I should receive by actually improving a sales person’s selling time in front of a customer? As a Sales VP, you need to understand how to get back more time.

Hiring 310

Hiring Travel Territories Face-to-face 310

SBI Growth

AUGUST 23, 2012

Here it comes, the 2013 budgeting process. On top of finishing out 2012, you need to determine which Sales Strategy initiatives to prioritize in order to make the 2013 number. Compare this with world class performance of exceeding your Sales Strategy goals. 2013 Potential analysis for each initiative.

Strategy 293

Strategy Analysis Quota Resources 293

Score More Sales

MARCH 26, 2013

Mid-sized companies need better tools to help understand what customers need and want. Mid-sized companies also need better ways to help the sales team capitalize on potential and actual sales opportunities. How could you not lose extremely valuable information about potential sales opportunities this way? Get buy-in.

CRM 235

CRM Guidelines Compensation Outbound 235

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

For HR leaders, a recent Harvard Business Review blog post provides a stark reminder of the difficult challenge of supporting Sales leaders in recruiting top talent. HR can help the Sales leader to improve recruiting results and play a vital role in making the sales number in 2013. Avoid a Myopic Focus. Call to Action.

Sales Talent 312

Sales Talent Territories Compensation Quota 312

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan There are more sales experts, self-professed and otherwise, than ever before. There is more free content on sales and selling than anyone could have imagined. There are categories of sales tools and CRM applications where none existed a few years ago.

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

66% of Sales Reps believe that increasing the time invested by sales managers would help to increase their sales. You’re at a point in the year where you are discussing 2013. Now is the perfect time to approach the subject when you’re in discussions regarding quota, compensation and 2013 goals.

Ideal Customer Profile 300

Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank Lead Scoring Analysis 300

SBI Growth

JANUARY 2, 2013

Another year has gone by, and you fell short on your sales number. But you can excel in 2013 because of your shortcomings in 2012. And with these answers come chances for improvement in 2013. Talent Assessment of Sales Leadership and Sales Reps. Talent Assessment of Sales Leadership and Sales Reps.

Sales Qualified Lead 267

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring Lead Gen 267

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 13, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan It’s an interesting question and one that has more than one answer. I wrote an article back in September of 2013 that asked the question, Are Sales and Sales Management Candidates Getting Worse? Consider the way that most companies hire people for sales roles.

Hiring 273

Hiring Face-to-face Groups Webinar Metrics 273

SBI Growth

AUGUST 8, 2012

Marketing, do you have a sales quota tied to Lead Generation ? Sign up for our Make the Number Tour if you would like to see how your peers are allocating people, money and time in 2013. Over the last 12 months we: Surveyed over 10,000 sales representatives. Surveyed over 4,500 sales managers. If not, you will soon.

Quota 276

Quota Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Demand Generation Targets 276

The Pipeline

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

It took some effort and focus to get sales people to adopt this style of interaction, especially after years of pitching and doing things the traditional (old) way. Many sales people had difficulty being comfortable and effective in the vast openness provided by this style of questions. There are very few if any absolutes in sales.

Call-back 313

Call-back Face-to-face Cold Calling Consultative Selling 313

Score More Sales

JULY 11, 2013

He was my sales colleague. It can take weeks or months for some in sales to truly qualify a sales opportunity. This exercise will help you determine if a sales opportunity is probable or not – it can save you hours or months of effort, and it can help you close business sooner. Get More Answers. Get those answers.

Sales Qualified Lead 309

Sales Qualified Lead Opportunity Lead Rank Lead Scoring 309

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 5, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan During the past 9 years I have written the occasional Top 5, Top 10 and Top 20 Articles and we have now put them into a series of their own. In no particular order they are: Top 10 Sales Competencies. Top 10 Sales Management Functions. 10 Sales Coaching Examples.

Hiring 252

Hiring Sales Management Decision Maker Cold Calling 252

Steven Rosen

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

New book helps sales managers unlock hidden sales potential (available in paperback). The sales manager is the pivotal person in the sales-driven organization, and Steven’s book shows you how to excel!” Get you copy now and be ready to take sales to a new level in 2013. Now available in paperback.

Hiring 296

Hiring Pivotal Sales Talent Small Business 296

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 4, 2012

A post for Sales and HR leaders to ensure success of 2013’s Sales compensation plan. As well, a tool is included – a sample rollout communication plan. Fast forward to April of 2013. A Chief Sales Officer is meeting with Sales VPs and the VP of Sales Operations. Sales roles that are new.

Compensation 292

Compensation Channels Fashion Construction 292

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Your efforts this month and next will help to solidify your sales success. Recently we trained a team of 50+ sales reps from a B2B enterprise company. Picture this: we opened the presentation with this question: “Are you going to make your 2013 revenue number?” 5 Keys to Closing Strong in 2013.

Pipeline 306

Pipeline ACT Competition Top of Funnel 306

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

2013 is the year Social Selling became Mission Critical. Social Selling training budgets increased 48% in 2013. The best sales & marketing leaders are leveraging social selling to make the number. LinkedIn is by far the #1 tool for social selling. Do the sales reps’ individual profiles reflect the company’s brand?

Social Selling 321

Social Selling Top of Funnel Ideal Customer Profile Marketing 321

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Has 2013 planning kept you from selling? Are Sales Support experts unavailable now when you need them most? These are common, end-of-year problems for top Sales performers. A Sales Rep friend of mine, Kevin, described it best. Every Sales Engineer is stretched thin and unavailable. I lose a week to the holidays.

Maximizer 306

Maximizer Lead Rank Forecasting Sales Operations 306

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

One of the biggest problems a VP of Sales faces is prioritization. Prioritization through 3 lenses: What sales productivity problems should you fix in 2013? This post is written for the VP of Sales trying to determine which sales productivity problem to prioritize and which ones to ignore. H ow to Sequence.

Scale 282

Scale Face-to-face Promotion Lead Rank 282

SBI Growth

MARCH 22, 2013

This post is about developing Sales Leadership. In particular, the front-line Sales Manager - a critical role responsible for marshaling a team of revenue makers. This post includes a downloadable Sales Leader Curriculum. This tool is perfect for HR Business Partners who serve the Sales function. Sales Leadership.

How To 312

How To Sales Leadership Exercises Proposal 312

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 13, 2012

B2B Sales organizations are rapidly transforming to compete in the world of Sales 2.0. But will the sales talent keep pace? HR leaders will play a major role in success of the Sales 2.0 But what about new HR metrics for sales organizations? Contrast "revenue performance" with " sales pipeline."

Hiring 282

Hiring Sales Talent Ideal Customer Profile Analytics 282