3 “A” Players Who Aren’t Really “A” Players
SBI Growth
APRIL 3, 2017
April, 2017
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How Your Salespeople Measure Up in the 21 Most Crucial Sales Competencies for Modern Selling
Understanding the Sales Force
APRIL 4, 2017
Image Copyright BrianAJackson. Over the years I've debunked a number of articles that cited nothing but junk science. The authors often relied on observation, anecdotal evidence and personal opinion while proclaiming traits, competencies, skills and differentiators between top salespeople and everyone else. Today those articles would qualify as fake news.
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What Millennials Can Teach Us About Lead Generation
No More Cold Calling
APRIL 13, 2017
Is it time to change the way you’re prospecting? I’m not a millennial—not even close—but I love the way they think, act, and react … mostly. I don’t love seeing a table of millennials glued to their phones. Gathering for meals used to mean we talked to each other. How are they ever going to build a referral network or connect with clients if they’d rather type than talk?
Answers Are Only As Good As The Question
The Pipeline
APRIL 17, 2017
By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . Communication, which at the core selling/buying is, will always be a mutual exercise, which why monologues work well in theater, but not in delivering revenue or quota. As such, a bit of forethought and focusing on how you’ll choreograph the sales are important. Which is why it is that much more noticeable to all, including buyers, when the effort is just not there in how sellers choose to engage and carry on a sales interview or conversation.
The Intersection of AI and Sales: Personalization Without Compromise
Speaker: Jesse Hunter and Brynn Chadwick
Today’s buyers expect more than generic outreach–they want relevant, personalized interactions that address their specific needs. For sales teams managing hundreds or thousands of prospects, however, delivering this level of personalization without automation is nearly impossible. The key is integrating AI in a way that enhances customer engagement rather than making it feel robotic.
Myth Busters: 3 Sales Intelligence Assumptions Dispelled
DiscoverOrg Sales
APRIL 25, 2017
Some information is so sensational that it gets passed around regardless of the truth: The amount of tryptophan in a Thanksgiving turkey is enough to make people sleepy. Humans only use 10% of their brains. Jimmy Hoffa is buried under Giants Stadium. Sadly, all of these dramatic statements are false, but people love to repeat them anyway. When false assumptions are the basis for business decisions, the fallout can be sudden and steep.
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The B2B Marketer’s Holy Grail for Customer Marketing
SBI Growth
APRIL 25, 2017
Joining us for today’s show is Jennifer Arnold, a marketing executive who knows a thing or two about generating revenue. Today’s topic is customer marketing and how to grow revenues from existing customers. We leveraged the SBI annual workbook to guide our conversation.
What Makes a Sales Manager Awesome or Awful?
Score More Sales
APRIL 14, 2017
Al Martin was the best sales manager I ever had. He led by example and you could often see a split second of decision making before Al would give you an answer based on his very clear sense of right and wrong. Once Al and I went in person to a sales call. The executive we were to meet with was running late. Rather than sit and wait, Al (who was about 6’5”) stood up in the waiting area and slowly paced – occasionally checking his watch.
Why Reps Hate Asking for Referrals Just as Much as Cold Calling
No More Cold Calling
APRIL 20, 2017
Here’s how to cure your prospecting problem. Let’s set the record straight: Most everyone on your sales team has call reluctance—whether they’re cold calling or asking for referrals. Surprised? I was. What’s to fear about prospecting? After all, I only talk to people who want to talk to me. I use the referral system I developed 20 years ago. It works.
3 Reason to Establish and Mine The Gap – Part II
The Pipeline
APRIL 27, 2017
By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . Monday, we looked and the need to establish a “Gap” , and gave an example that you can use to start the process with in your sales. Clearly you will need to build on that, and in today’s post we will offer specific steps you can take to surface and leverage Gaps in the process of helping buyers and winning deals.
Streamlining Complex Sales Processes: The Ultimate Guide for Industrial Companies
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Are you struggling with slow quoting cycles, complex product configurations, and disconnected data in your manufacturing/distribution business? This article will help. Learn how industrial companies are revolutionizing sales processes with an integrated platform that includes quoting, inventory, and service, providing real-time data and offline access for field teams.
An Independent Review of DiscoverOrg’s Data Accuracy Claims
DiscoverOrg Sales
APRIL 7, 2017
When sales intelligence data is inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated, the rabbit hole for a sales person can be very deep —and no one knows better than Steve W. Martin. A lifelong sales trainer, Steve has consulted for and trained sales teams for hundreds technology companies. “Contact data is a very important priority to my clients,” he says. Combing through social media for clues to contact information and calling wrong numbers consumes hours, and returns scant benefits: Burnout and high turnov
To Fuel Your Marketing Engine, Fill Up on Creative
Sales and Marketing Management
APRIL 16, 2017
Author: Alex Withers, Chief Marketing Officer, inMotionNow To keep up with the pace of buyer expectations, sales and marketing have accelerated the go-to-market machine with automation. However, while automation is delivering ROI for most teams – 86 percent report its been somewhat or very effective – the best marketing engine in the world won’t function without creative fuel.
3 Ways to Immediately Increase The Right Sales Activity
Score More Sales
APRIL 7, 2017
Sometimes you, or your sales team members, get in a slump. Monotony. The same old, same old each day. It is easy to get stuck in a rut.
How to Create Sales Email Sequences That Convert
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Modern go-to-market teams know it takes more than one email to break through the noise. Multiple touchpoints means more ways to get your pitch right — and, potentially, more ways to be wrong. The good news? Once you know how to write compelling, one-off emails to entice prospective customers, you can easily do the same across a short sequence of emails.
3 Ways to Guarantee Referral Prospecting Success
No More Cold Calling
APRIL 6, 2017
Think a referral system is easy? Think again! All things being equal, we work with friends. All things not being equal, we work with friends. And when we need a specialist, we ask a friend. That’s why referral selling is the only prospecting strategy that ensures qualified lead generation. And it only works if you have a referral system in place to ensure sales reps ask for referrals every day.
Perception Is All That Matters for Your Sales
The Sales Heretic
APRIL 11, 2017
Every business speaker, blogger, podcaster, columnist, and comedian owes a huge debt of gratitude to United Airlines. In forcibly dragging a paying customer off an overbooked plane at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, United has given us all great content to use on stage, in print, and online. And they’ve given us an incredible amount of content [.].
Data-Agnostic? See How Data Quality Affects ROI in This A/B Test
DiscoverOrg Sales
APRIL 12, 2017
If you consider various levels of quality—cars with lots of speed and no torque, or kitchen appliances with cheap motors—it’s easy to agree that quality affects user experience, good or bad, in a big way. Fast, friendly service at a restaurant can improve your dinner experience as much as a perfectly cooked steak. Data is no different. Quality is a factor, and accuracy matters a lot.
Best Way To Motivate Your Reps: Take Away EXcuses
The Pipeline
APRIL 10, 2017
By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . Managers always ask, “How can I motivate my reps?” Of course, what they are asking is “How can I get them to do their jobs?” And who can blame them, there is some much out there about how to motivate people, and specifically sales people, it seems easy to believe that there a single simple formula that fits all.
The Trends You Need to Succeed This Holiday Season
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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.
Closing and Negotiating Challenges - Symptoms of Another Selling Problem
Understanding the Sales Force
APRIL 25, 2017
Image Copyright Shironosov. I recently learned that one of OMG's clients in Europe purchased two goldfish. In keeping with their tradition, the client named the two fish, Recommended and Not Recommended. Surprisingly, recruiting salespeople was not one of the topics addressed in this year's 2017 Selling Challenges Study. Steven Sparber, from Richardson , was nice enough to send me an advanced copy of the results.
10 Reasons Why I’m Proud to be Prospecting
The Sales Hunter
APRIL 12, 2017
Without a doubt, the number one reason people don’t want to get into sales is because they don’t like rejection, and the thought of having to prospect makes their stomach curdle. Call me weird or call me an outlier, but here are my 10 reasons why I’m proud to have the privilege to prospect. (I’m […].
Secret Sauce of Sales: Content + AI
Sales and Marketing Management
APRIL 2, 2017
Issue Date: 2017-04-03. Author: David Keane, co-founder and CEO, Bigtincan. Teaser: The combination of content with AI can help organizations overcome some of the most common mistakes salespeople make – like showing up unprepared – and improve the entire sales team’s results. The combination of content with AI can help organizations overcome some of the most common mistakes salespeople make – like showing up unprepared – and improve the entire sales team’s res
AI Strategies for Sales Managers: How to Cut Down on Tedious Admin Work
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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.
26 Ways to Boost Your Customer Loyalty
The Sales Heretic
APRIL 4, 2017
Every business wants more customer loyalty. Loyal customers are the easiest and fastest to sell to. They buy more often. They don’t beat you up on price. They forgive you when you make a mistake or encounter a problem. They tell other people about you. Loyal customers are pure sales gold. But loyalty is a [.].
3 Reason to Establish and Mine The Gap – Part I
The Pipeline
APRIL 24, 2017
By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . Sales people are always trying to create urgency, or figure out how they can accelerate a decision. The conventional approach has been to either focus on a “pain point” the buyer may want to solve with haste. The other conventional strategy is to have the client agree to a needs analysis, and leverage the outcome based on that analysis.
Track the Right Metric to Increase Enterprise Value
SBI Growth
APRIL 21, 2017
CEOs can guide the decision-making required to increase enterprise value by comparing customer acquisition cost (CAC) to customer lifetime value (CLTV). Focusing on the CAC:CLTV ratio enables you to reduce churn, boosting customer satisfaction and share of wallet.
Which Salespeople are Easier to Train - Millennials or Veteran Salespeople?
Understanding the Sales Force
APRIL 19, 2017
We brought home a puppy and we had him completely housebroken in 4 days. He's really smart and we've done this before, a combination that makes it nearly impossible to screw up. To see him go to the door and touch it with his little paw, whimper when he is in his crate, go outside and do his business, and run back to the door is great. But it got me wondering, why is training a puppy relatively fast and easy while it is so much harder and takes so much longer to train salespeople?
Buyer’s Guide: 5 Tough Questions To Ask a Salesforce Managed Services Provider
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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.
How to Identify Strategic Accounts for Your Account-Based Sellers
No More Cold Calling
APRIL 27, 2017
What’s the best approach to account segmentation? How should sales leaders segment accounts for their account-based sellers? The solution seems simple: Decide which companies to target based on predictive analytics and client history with your company. In other words, which companies bring in the most revenue? But the answer isn’t always that simple.
4 Powerful Forces That Drive B2B Purchasing Behavior
Sales and Marketing Management
APRIL 24, 2017
Author: Andrea Hill, manager of innovation strategy, ReadyTalk It’s happened to all of us in sales and marketing. You’re working through the sales process with a prospect, and all of a sudden a competitor you’ve never heard of surfaces and you’ve lost the deal. Confused, you check out their site. It’s a niche product, not nearly as full-featured as your product.
13 Characteristics of Top Salespeople
The Sales Heretic
APRIL 18, 2017
There are average salespeople, and then there are extraordinary salespeople. What’s the difference between the two? I’ve had the privilege of speaking to, coaching, and training tens of thousands of salespeople over the years. Here are the characteristics that I’ve learned distinguish the exceptional salespeople from everyone else. 1. Proactive Great salespeople don’t wait for [.].
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