April, 2024

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Required for Sales Success Today – A Strong Sales Technology Competency

Anthony Cole Training

Technology is transforming businesses and disrupting entire industries, including the world of selling, which has traditionally been categorized as primarily a “people business”. From prospecting to closing, today’s mobile, social, big data, and cloud technologies are revamping the sales process in ways that would have been inconceivable a few decades ago.

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8 Ways to Improve Your Team’s Prospecting

SBI Growth

Prospecting is a numbers game with a high rejection rate, so it is easy for reps to get discouraged. Just asking your reps to make more calls can produce a vicious cycle of poor results, discouraging reps with less prospecting and obtaining even worse results. Compounding this problem is that sales reps are busy managing existing sales opportunities and customers.

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Exposing the DIY Sales Organization

Understanding the Sales Force

During most of April, I’ve been frequenting a Smoothie Bar near the place we are staying and when I take my first sip each day, one thought occurs to me each time. “Why don’t the smoothies I make at home taste this good and why doesn’t the texture of my made-at-home smoothie compare?” I asked the owner and he said, “I use the same ingredients!

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Baseball, The Toad and Coaching Unresponsive Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

I walked into the house with Dinger and a baby toad hopped in with us, snuck under the closet door and disappeared. When I first spotted the toad, I thought it was a tiny piece of mulch and didn’t give it a second thought. When it disappeared into the closet, I thought about it a lot! Eventually, I found it and reintroduced it to the great outdoors.

Coaching 218
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The Trends You Need to Succeed This Holiday Season

October Prime Day is usually an early sign of how consumer spending trends ahead of the holidays. This one was no exception. Our October Prime Day Report breaks down what’s working: the products flying off the shelves, the categories winning big, big brands, and the search terms defining demand. All brought to you via Similarweb’s Shopper Intelligence platform.

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5 Tips for Asking Your Prospect Better Questions

Anthony Cole Training

You don’t want to look, act, or sound like every other salesperson when asking your prospect questions. There is an art and a science to being masterful at asking your prospect better questions and building a strong, credible relationship with them. Read on to learn 5 tips for asking meaningful, exploratory, and courageous questions.

More Trending

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Power of a Salesperson’s Training, Knowledge, Spirit of Service

SMEI

In the world of sales, it’s a common misconception that a great product is enough to guarantee success. As the excerpt from “Open the Mind and Close the Sale: The secret to success in Selling!” reminds us, building a better mousetrap doesn’t necessarily mean the world will beat a path to your door. In reality, many potential customers may never even hear about your product, and others may find alternative solutions or get used to doing without.

Training 112
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How to Set Up New Managers for Success

Force Management

Top sales teams differentiate themselves with a proven system for finding and attracting elite talent. But landing strong candidates is only the first step in the journey. The best organizations know how to retain sellers with the most potential and ensure they’re positioned to perform and excel as they advance up the ranks. Making the move from sales rep to manager is a common career pathway.

How To 126
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Closing the Gap: Aligning Sales Expectations and Reality for Appointment Success

The Center for Sales Strategy

I think we can all agree that securing appointments is foundational to achieving sales goals. However, findings from the recent Media Sales Report found a persistent gap between the expectations and reality of salespeople and their managers when it comes to the actual number of scheduled appointments.

Closing 112
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7 Habits of Highly Successful Prospectors, According to Sales Leaders

Hubspot Sales

Thoughtfully calculated, well-executed prospecting is central to virtually every successful sales engagement. It sets a tone — giving you the momentum and perspective you need to lock in on viable sales opportunities and ensure the rest of your sales process goes as smoothly as possible. But as with any other skill, some salespeople have a better grip on prospecting than others — and we, here at the HubSpot Sales Blog, want to do our part to make sure you prospect as effectively as possible.

Hiring 116
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AI Strategies for Sales Managers: How to Cut Down on Tedious Admin Work

What if you could help your sellers stop wasting 72% of their day on non-selling activities and focus on bringing in revenue? Incorporating AI in your enablement workflows can help you cut down on busy work, get projects done faster, and let your team (and you!) focus on making a bigger impact. We put together this guide to show you how to use AI to cut time and costs for projects, including collateral creation, development of training videos, and automating tedious processes.

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Unlocking Success: Strategies to Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes

Steven Rosen

In this episode of the Sales Leadership Awakening podcast, Steven Rosen and Colleen Stanley discuss the high cost of making a bad hire in sales. They emphasize the importance of creating an ideal hiring profile with hard and soft skills and non-negotiables. They also stress the need for a systematic hiring process, including behavioral interviews and assessments.

Hiring 296
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How to Align with CFOs in a ‘Show Me’ Year for B2B Marketers

Sales and Marketing Management

Chief marketing officers are being asked to show measurable results of their budget. That's a positive thing. The post How to Align with CFOs in a ‘Show Me’ Year for B2B Marketers appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.

B2B 293
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The Death of Decision Making

Anthony Cole Training

There have always been two certainties in life – death and taxes. But I have now become convinced that there is a third certainty if you are a salesperson and that is the slow and painful death of decision making.

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How NOT to Follow Up on an Email

Mr. Inside Sales

I hope you’re not making this common mistake when following up on an email you sent: “I’m just calling to see if you got the email I sent you?” While this may sound like a reasonable way to follow up after sending an email, do you see how you’re providing your prospect with the perfect stall? How many times you hear: “Ah, when did you send it?” Or “I haven’t had time to look at it yet.

Follow-up 226
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Buyer’s Guide: 5 Tough Questions To Ask a Salesforce Managed Services Provider

This guide is for leaders who recognize the importance of Salesforce but would rather trust a team of external experts to do the heavy lifting. Choosing the right managed services provider is a significant decision that impacts your business's efficiency and success. In this 10-minute read, you'll find 5 essential questions to ask any potential provider.

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Spearfishing vs shotgun

Sales 2.0

I was asked a great question during a recent conversation with a founder: When should you take a spearfishing approach to finding new customers and when should you use a shotgun? It depends on what you’re hunting. Large vs small How important is a particular company to you? What is the payoff for landing this account? When thinking of this payoff I recommend thinking of lifetime value (in terms of profit ideally not just revenue.

Travel 195
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Ominous Signs for Sales Teams and Baseball Can Help

Understanding the Sales Force

The Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra is known for his many “ Yogisms.” The one we are most familiar with is, “It ain’t over til it’s over.” He is also known for saying, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Based on the conversations I have been having with sales experts, CEOs and CROs over the past two weeks, the common themes are: The first quarter sucked Way more delayed closings than we’ve ever seen Budgets being slashed It’s harder

Hiring 194
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You Have to Stop Avoiding Difficult Conversations

Steven Rosen

Difficult conversations are as inevitable as they are necessary. These discussions, whether addressing underperformance, behavioural issues, or compensation adjustments, are crucial for maintaining a healthy sales environment and driving performance. However, a surprising number of sales managers avoid these critical conversations, a trend that undermines team potential and poses a significant threat to organizational success.

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You're making it harder to buy. 3 ways sellers contribute to stalled deals.

SBI Growth

Many companies experienced an inconsistent and underwhelming year for business in 2023—and with promising forecasts for demand in 2024, many executive teams are eager to take their companies back on the path to rapid growth. However, the flat to declining commercial productivity among many sales teams today still poses an obstacle to that goal.

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Beyond the Basics: How to Develop and Retain a Top-Performing Sales Team

Speaker: Brendan Sweeney, VP of Sales at Allego

Maximizing sales rep performance is no easy task. 📈 Traditional sales training methods focus heavily on the first few weeks in the sales role. Companies dedicate time, resources, and budget to onboarding new hires, only for them to forget what was learned in those first few weeks, lose motivation, and struggle to come to grips with their role.

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Sales Coaching DNA: A Critical Component to Achieving Sales Team Excellence

Anthony Cole Training

DNA is a molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid, which contains the biological instructions that make each species unique. So, what makes up the very unique and coveted Sales DNA? Is there a genetic code for successful sales managers and if so, wouldn’t every company like to crack that code?

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One Key to Combatting Negativity

Mr. Inside Sales

Good morning everyone! I just returned from a “Day of Development” seminar in Charlotte with the Jon Gordon company. Several of his books include: “The Power of Positive Leadership,” “The Energy Bus,” etc. Check them out on Amazon if you’re interested in learning more. There was a lot of great stuff in the meeting, and one thing I wanted to share with you all is a way to combat the recurring negativity that silently creeps into our heads every so often.

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Business Began, But Now How Do I Scale??

Smooth Sale

Photo by Alexas Photos via Pixabay Attract the Right Job Or Clientele: Business Began, But Now How Do I Scale? ? The effort was highly challenging, but you did it—you started your own business. Clients love you, so they continue to send you referrals. You hoped you would have enough clients to stay afloat a while back, but now you are hoping for only a few more at a time.

Scale 162
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200 Best Articles on Sales and Sales Leadership by Category

Understanding the Sales Force

Assessments Compared Data on Sales Excellence Coaching Salespeople MUST READ: Are Assessments as Evil as the Persona Movie Suggests? Correlation: Salespeople Strong in This Competency are 2125% More Likely to be Performers The Data: What Percentage of Salespeople are Really Coachable? Found! The Caliper vs OMG Comparison: Which Sales Candidate Assessment is More Predictive?

Hiring 159
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How to Optimize Call Monitoring: Automate QA and Elevate Customer Experience

Speaker: Laura Noonan, Chief Revenue Officer at CallFinder + Angie Kronlage, Director of Program Success at Working Solutions + April Wiita, Vice President of Program Success at Working Solutions

Are you still manually reviewing calls? 🤔 It's time for a change! The traditional method of manual call monitoring is no longer cutting it in today's fast-paced call center environment. Industry experts Angie Kronlage and April Wiita from Working Solutions are here to explore the power of innovative automation to revolutionize outdated call review processes!

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How To Become The Best Place To Work In The World

Steven Rosen

In this Sales Leadership Awakening podcast, Gerilyn Horan , Hilton’s VP of Group Sales, shares strategies to become the best place to work In the world. She shares insights on creating a supportive environment and the importance of feedback, coaching, and company culture for employee engagement and retention. They also touch on Hilton’s top global workplace ranking and successful coaching programs for high employee retention and satisfaction.

Lead Rank 177
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The 3 Pillars of Effective Marketing Campaigns

SBI Growth

Marketing is a core part of an effective revenue engine, but for CMOs looking to amplify their impact on the bottom line, it can be difficult to get started. After all, marketing has so many moving parts, what should leaders focus on to ensure their campaigns have the reach and impact they seek? Understand your target and position, then use the right people and tools to execute your campaign effectively.

Campaigns 177
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Creative Problem-Solving Starts with Better Defining the Problem

Sales and Marketing Management

When it comes to finding innovative solutions to customers' problems, correctly defining the problem is the necessary first step. The post Creative Problem-Solving Starts with Better Defining the Problem appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.

Marketing 156
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Are You Willing to Walk Away?

No More Cold Calling

It’s OK to double your price for PITA clients Every buyer isn’t your client. If buyers continue to make unreasonable demands and keep changing requests and deadlines—even after you’ve given them exactly what they need—then you’re dealing with PITA clients. These PITA clients drain your energy, demotivate your team, waste your time, and expect you to do more at the same price.

Referrals 156
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Secrets of a Successful Sale: Optimizing Your Checkout Process

Speaker: David Nisbet, Everett Zufelt, and Michaela Weber

Once upon a time, in the vast realm of online commerce, there lived a humble checkout button overlooked by many. Yet, within its humble click lay the power to transform a mere visitor into a loyal customer. 🧐 💡 Getting checkout right can mark the difference between a successful sale and an abandoned cart, yet many businesses fail to make payments a part of their commerce strategy even when it has a direct impact on revenue.

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Leads, Top Of Funnel, Do We Really Understand?

Partners in Excellence

Focus on the top of the funnel and everything else will work out. This seems to dominate so much of the conversation I see. It’s not wrong, but it’s not completely right. But this thinking drives our focus on MQLs, SQLs and massive prospecting efforts. We seem to overlook the questions, “How do we know what ‘Top of Funnel’ we need?

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Was the Easter Sermon About Salespeople?

Understanding the Sales Force

Well was the sermon about salespeople? No, of course it wasn’t. But it sure as heck could have been. And although I’m beginning by referencing the sermon, this is not an article about Religion. The Priest was talking about Catholics who attend church only on Christmas and Easter. He was pleased to see a full house at all of the Easter masses and that those of us in attendance should urge our friends and family members to come to church.

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Unlock Peak Performance: 5 Dynamic Strategies to Supercharge Your Sales Team

Steven Rosen

For sales leaders, building a robust sales culture is the bridge between mediocrity and excellence. The journey to a winning sales culture is a nuanced strategy that unfolds over time and demands patience, careful planning, and decisive leadership. 5 Dynamic Strategies to Supercharge Your Sales Team Cultivate Inclusivity Inclusivity is the cornerstone of a thriving sales culture.

Strategy 156