Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2024

If you’ve been reading this Blog for more than a couple of years, or since 2006, then you know that every December I post the best articles of the past year. Not listed among the best articles of 2024 is the page that has the top 250 articles of all-time. Whipped Cream!

Sales Leadership 156

Sales Leadership Hiring Epiphany Video 156

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 15, 2025

This is a 2018 article about 24 and how you can double your revenue. Circling back again, another topic I tackled in the past was this 2018 article about BANT. The first page of this Google search reveals 10 articles written about BANT in 2024 alone. Some suggest that it’s a great qualifying process.

Sales Process 173

Sales Process Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead 173

Zoominfo

JANUARY 23, 2021

If your sales pipeline is colder than a Siberian spigot in January, it’s time to rethink your sales prospecting techniques. Here’s the thing though, reps need actionable techniques and tips to make their prospecting systematic, smooth, and, of course, profitable. What are Prospecting Techniques? How did you find those prospects?

Ideal Customer Profile 264

Ideal Customer Profile Prospecting Cold Calling Decision Maker 264

Hubspot Sales

JULY 15, 2024

Here's a look at the “clear strategy” I use to ensure I get the most out of my LinkedIn prospecting efforts. Ingram's Tested, 10-Step Process for Nailing Prospecting on LinkedIn Your LinkedIn profile is your first digital impression, and you don‘t want to waste your shot with a lackluster profile. Unpack your ICP's pain points.

Ideal Customer Profile 111

Ideal Customer Profile LinkedIn Prospecting Face-to-face 111

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Want prospects to respond with lightning speed? The triple touch is a tactic that salespeople use to engage prospects. The ‘touches’ include contacting the prospect three different ways, each time building trust, getting on their radar, and moving them further into the sales funnel. . What is the Triple Touch in Sales?

Prospecting 237

Prospecting Top of Funnel Decision Maker Sales Qualified Lead 237

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 13, 2024

I created an analogy for my first article when I wrote about scaling, hiring and firing salespeople , based on what I read in Genesis. Today’s article is about on boarding and coaching salespeople, an analogy I created from what I read so far in Exodus.

Coaching 188

Coaching Hiring Scale Sales Leadership 188

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

Sure, they understand value from an intellectual standpoint, but they are asking prospects to behave in a way that contradicts how they normally behave. But all of this talk about Buy Cycle is a conversation that we already had in another article. Back to the sales leaders.

Sales Leadership 286

Sales Leadership Buying Cycle Coaching Proposal 286

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 16, 2020

At least, that’s what many prospects have come to believe. How Your Prospects Choose Whom to Trust. How Your Prospects Choose Whom to Trust. Joe Galvin, chief research officer at Vistage, clarifies the meaning of trust in his article, “ Trust in the Time of COVID-19.” Top salespeople are different.

Face-to-face 434

Face-to-face Call-back Cold Calling Webinar Metrics 434

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

I began debunking sales articles when the first ones predicting the death of selling appeared circa 2008. Later, articles predicting the end of selling became both more prolific and more specific including the certain death of: Solution Selling Cold Calling Consultative Selling Sales Process SPIN Selling and more. They average only 1.5

Top of Funnel 408

Top of Funnel Positioning Scale Inbound 408

SBI Growth

APRIL 13, 2020

Waking up today, there is a lot of uncertainty in your world as sales leaders. The way you are interacting with customers and even your own sales team have changed overnight. As my colleague points out in his recent post,

Prospecting 397

Prospecting Sales Customer Strategy 397

Zoominfo

JANUARY 19, 2021

It serves as a validator for offering up contact information and a promotional space for other content, such as relevant articles, newsletters, and social media channels. Keep in mind that potential prospects may already be interested in your competitors — and your current customers could jump ship. An example of a landing page design.

Prospecting 246

Prospecting Marketing Top of Funnel Segment 246

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 4, 2024

Consultative Approach to Selling Call Reluctance is Just as Popular as Ever! Consultative Approach to Selling Call Reluctance is Just as Popular as Ever! Does Being a Strong Qualifier Correlate to Having a Strong Pipeline? 4 Reasons Why Salespeople Suck at Consultative Selling.

Hiring 154

Hiring Sales Leadership Sales Forecasts Forecasting 154

No More Cold Calling

MAY 28, 2020

That’s my favorite quote from David Meerman Scott’s insightful article, “ The 2020s: From the Lonely Chaos of Digital to an Era of Humanity.”. I wrote that book because I was horrified when reps started telling me they didn’t need to talk to prospects and clients anymore. Please take care of yourself. “

Referrals 391

Referrals Cold Calling Social Media Social Selling 391

Smooth Sale

MARCH 27, 2025

Photo by Geralt via Pixabay Attract the Right Job or Clientele: Prospects Can Direct Us to A Better Path for Sales Long ago, salespeople were advised to generate many cold calls daily to find one or two interested parties. Its critical to realize that we are each unique individuals, prospects included, with varying thinking and abilities.

Prospecting 78

Prospecting Hiring Lead Rank Lead Scoring 78

No More Cold Calling

JULY 29, 2021

Unless you address the broken links in your prospecting system, your sales reps will continue to struggle with closing the deal. Other reasons why salespeople fail to close sales include: The initial prospects were unqualified. This is not how you wow buyers, build relationships, and convert prospects into clients.

Closing 409

Closing Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring 409

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 9, 2025

In 2015, I wrote about my encounter with Chris Cagle, but that article was about how he was opening doors for the new business he had launched. Before we dive deeper into timing, please check out this article from four years ago about urgency alignment. Bugs in My Whiskey Thanks to Country Music Timing is everything!

Airlines 173

Airlines Decision Maker Call-back Vendor 173

Mr. Inside Sales

JULY 30, 2021

Note to my readers: Because of my heavy client load, I am reducing my blog articles to bi-weekly starting today. Wouldn’t it be convenient to have a list of 5 questions you could use to get your prospect talking, to get them to open up about how they’re feeling and what you might need to concentrate on? Get Access Today.

Closing 334

Closing Gatekeeper Face-to-face Decision Maker 334

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

I found it challenging to write this article. Imagine my surprise when the first video described hacking operations as businesses with outbound prospecting operations whose goal is to convert their emails, texts and calls into paying customers.

Insurance 327

Insurance Insurance Outbound Video 327

The Digital Sales Institute

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Outbound sales prospecting insights that will assist any salesperson to connect and engage with target prospects in their sales activity. Our outbound sales prospecting course isn’t a mere refresh of past strategies; it’s a modern take on what it takes to win new customers. What Is Outbound Sales Prospecting?

Outbound 52

Outbound Top of Funnel Prospecting Sales Qualified Lead 52

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Despite YoY plummeting win rates, based on my feeds, the biggest challenge facing sellers is not winning, but seems to be prospecting, engaging customers in conversations, hopefully finding and qualifying new opportunities. So what do win rates have to do with prospecting? It is completely independent of our prospecting!”

Prospecting 139

Prospecting Face-to-face Conversion Opportunity 139

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 23, 2020

Sales technology might help you identify prospects, but it won’t solve your sales execution challenges. In his article, “ How the Best CEOS Drive Their Strategy to the Salesforce ,” he shares startling data about ineffective sales execution and specific steps to ensure this doesn’t happen in your company. What’s going wrong?

Guarantee 329

Guarantee Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 329

No More Cold Calling

DECEMBER 6, 2019

Message to cold callers: Pestering strangers is NOT the way to prospect. You might think you’ve been able to avoid sounding like a telemarketer, but that is exactly what you’re doing, and your prospect knows it. To gain access, sales professionals must abide by the new rules of prospecting.”. STOP Cold Calling.

Cold Calling 365

Cold Calling Social Media Telemarketing Referrals 365

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 23, 2024

This is my third article using the Bible as an analogy to sales and I am currently reading Numbers. What is Numbers if not God’s mandate to Moses about, well, the required numbers for success?

Comparison 173

Comparison Exact Follow-up Call-back 173

Anthony Cole Training

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Typically, when a salesperson doesn't win an account it's due to a few different factors; the prospect didn't have a compelling reason to make a change, the salesperson didn't do enough to uncover their capacity to invest, or the incumbent wasn't properly eliminated from the running.

Objections 289

Objections Account Prospecting Sales Process 289

Hubspot Sales

AUGUST 26, 2024

For the other 98%, you’ll need to follow up again and again, communicating key selling points and differentiators, overcoming objections, and most critically, delivering as much value as possible to the prospect. It’s a time consuming but necessary process, which means mastering the AI sales follow-up can be a game-changer.

Follow-up 122

Follow-up Lead Rank Lead Scoring Marketing Qualified Lead 122

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 10, 2020

Short article today. Prospects don't pay a lot of attention so the less you say the better. But prospects aren't the only ones who don't listen. It helps them listen and comprehend more of what you share with them when you use fewer words. Salespeople don't listen very well either.

Video 292

Video Prospecting Consultative Selling 292

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 17, 2019

Your prospects will be confused about how your solution is different from the next guy’s. The key to differentiation is getting in early—ideally before your prospects even know they have a need. Bob Apollo shares his take on the 57 percent stat in his recent article, “ When your customers DO want to speak to a sales person.”

Competition 318

Competition Referrals Cold Calling Study 318

Sales 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

Research from XANT looked at the optimal “cadence” for prospecting based on the masses of data available to them through companies’ usage of their software. After 12 days XANT found that it is optimal to take a break for four to five days then start another sequence of eight attempts to reach your prospect.

Direct Mail 370

Direct Mail Outbound Referrals Social Selling 370

Mr. Inside Sales

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

Question for you: How often do you take notes while you’re on Mute and your prospect is revealing their buying motives? If not, start using it today: search my blog to read articles on how to do that.). Make a much better connection with your prospect or client because they will feel listened to and heard. You don’t take notes?

Motivation 332

Motivation Face-to-face Gatekeeper Decision Maker 332

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 30, 2023

Salespeople must differentiate between what is important to their prospects and customers, versus what is important only to them. I know that much of what salespeople share with their prospects falls into the category of, “boring” and “who cares?” If it is not important, than why did I bring it up?

Sales 352

Sales Follow-up Groups Prospecting 352

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

B2B social selling is the process where salespeople use social media to connect with prospects. You can use social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram to find your best prospects, form relationships with them, and build trust. Answer their questions and share their articles with your own networks.

Social Selling 263

Social Selling B2B Social Media Top of Funnel 263

Steven Rosen

MAY 24, 2024

He also explores the practical applications of AI in sales, including prospecting, customer retention, and pre-call planning. The interactive podbook below contains videos, audio, articles, summaries, transcripts, and YouTube shorts from this podcast episode. He also emphasized the time-saving aspect of AI in prospecting.

Company 296

Company Sales Leadership Retention Loyalty 296

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

New readers might want to catch up on the six prior articles about Bob. Regular readers are familiar with Bob, one of the worst salespeople on the planet. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6. So what did Bob get himself into this time?

Closing 294

Closing Influencer Opportunity Prospecting 294

SalesFuel

OCTOBER 28, 2024

agrees and shares his thoughts in a recent HubSpot article. And having a third party vouch that you have those qualities can really boost your credibility to prospects. And case studies can show you have the experience needed to help a prospect with specific issues. Nitin Khanna, president of N3 Business Advisors Inc.,

Prospecting 52

Prospecting Case Study Hiring Hubspot 52

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 9, 2020

That means enhancing and reinforcing their sales skills, budgeting for them to attend conferences and business events, brainstorming before prospect and client meetings, conducting joint calls, and ensuring clarity around accountability. The job of a sales manager is to provide reps with the tools to succeed. million per manager.

Sales Management 390

Sales Management Hiring Cold Calling Quota 390

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 14, 2025

In this article, Ill explain what a sales champion truly is, the importance of having one in your sales squad, and, most importantly, how to get one on your side. Theyre someone who takes initiative, inspires their fellow salespeople, and drives revenue growth through an innovative approach to prospecting and selling.

Data 111

Data Hubspot Negotiation B2B 111

Zoominfo

AUGUST 16, 2021

At least 25% of you are reading this article from your smartphone—on the go or from your home office. Now you can gather intel on a prospect or company of interest and grab direct-dial phone numbers and email addresses right from the palm of your hand. Check Key Tasks Off Your Prospecting List, On the Go. Why thank you—we agree.

Buyer Intent 49

Buyer Intent Call-back B2B SalesForce 49