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Every now and then I like to go check my own view of the world by talking to smart people who are out there actually selling. This week is one of those weeks. I interviewed sales manager, sales person, sales trainer and all around smart guy Jorge Soto. I asked Jorge about how he uses Sales 2.0 and how it is impacting Silicon Valley startups (an environment where he’s spent a lot of his career). 1.
“When I attend a trade show, I only stop at booths that have candy dishes. Because, if you have candy, you must be a terrific company. And the greater the variety of candy you have, the more likely I am to buy your product or service.” This sentiment has never been expressed by anyone, ever. [.].
In 2012 our consultants attended 438 live sales calls. Two weeks ago, we participated in the worst sales call of the year. I thought I would share this story with you. I hope to help you avoid some mistakes. The story begins with the EVP of Sales of a large technology company. He hired our firm. The purpose of the engagement was to understand why The Challenger Sale was not working.
I have spoken many times on this blog about how the sales process has changed, and that the modern day buyer now makes their purchasing decisions in a completely different way to their predecessors. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
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.
Monday Nov. 19th, 2012. As part of a special one day promotion I am offering my new eBook 52 Sales Management Tips – The Sales Manager’s Success Guide FREE. Click here to get your FREE copy. Visit my website and go to the FREE BONUS GIFT section to sign up for hundreds of dollars in FREE resources. Whether you are a sales executive, senior sales leader or a new, experienced or aspiring sales manager I’m confident you will find this book to be a valuable guide to consult whenever you are experie
What’s the old saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? Well there should be a variation of that for sales people and how their road to failure is paved with plans not captured. Every day sales people set out “to do things” that have to be done to succeed, some they like, others (like cold calling) they don’t. Some they see as important, these get scheduled, and get done; ones they don’t see as important, or do not like to do, do not get scheduled, and guess what.
What’s the old saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? Well there should be a variation of that for sales people and how their road to failure is paved with plans not captured. Every day sales people set out “to do things” that have to be done to succeed, some they like, others (like cold calling) they don’t. Some they see as important, these get scheduled, and get done; ones they don’t see as important, or do not like to do, do not get scheduled, and guess what.
Issue Date: 2012-11-12. Author: By Herb Greenberg and Patrick Sweeney. Teaser: The future belongs to salespeople who can thoroughly understand, embrace and take advantage of new technology to enhance their relationships with their customers. Selling, as always, is about understanding the way your customers want to buy. What is most important now is that those ways are changing.
'Do You Fit The Mold? As the author of the recently published book ‘The First Sale Is ALWAYS To Yourself’, I firmly believe that success for business people who sell, comes down to two factors: Conviction in your purpose and therefore your intention. Conviction in yourself and therefore your execution of that intention. As someone who has been in B2B selling for three decades, I have personally witnessed the staged transitions from product based sales, relationship sales, solution sa
The biggest impact to acquiring new customers in 2013 will be Direct Content Marketing. This is the adoption of Content Marketing principles into outbound direct marketing. Direct Content Marketing is born. Content Marketing works. B2B Marketing teams are seeing fruit from their investment in content marketing to fuel Lead Generation efforts; 2-3x increase in the quantity of inbound leads.
Prospecting mistakes are the most deadly errors you can make in professional selling, in large part because they are so difficult to quantify. Sales mistakes and blunders in the sales process or in. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
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.
New book helps sales managers unlock hidden sales potential (available in paperback). Now available in paperback. The sales manager is the pivotal person in the sales-driven organization, and Steven’s book shows you how to excel!” said Brian Tracey , author, Getting Rich Your Own Way. When a company hits a sales slump, most look at the sales staff — but that’s a mistake, says Steven Rosen, author of the new book 52 Sales Management Tips: The Sales Manager’s Success Guide ( Amazon ; $10.9
As we head into the home stretch of the year, we are faced with the usual rituals and customs of the season. Closing business, failing to prospect, and ensuring the traditional lull in the pipeline and related activity at the start of the year. In this headlong rush to the end of the year, you need to carve out a bit of time to plan for next year.
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Zig died today at the age of 86. Seth Godin memorialized him here. I wrote about our chance meeting here 6 years ago. I want to talk about Zig's life and his sales and selling impact. He paved the way for people like me by almost single-handedly creating the motivational speaking industry. Today, motivational speaking has evolved to include sales and sales management training and coaching, sales consulting, sales force development, sales enablement, s
You don’t meet too many people who make an impact on your career and your life. It was sad to hear that sales legend and motivator to millions, Zig Ziglar, has passed on. At the same time, thinking of Mr. Ziglar evokes all sorts of memories and lessons early in my sales career. When I started out as a technology sales professional, I had little idea what I was doing – just the words of my grandmother, who was my mentor in business.
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.
In the Future of Content Marketing survey, 39% of nearly 60 respondents indicated they did not have a defined content marketing strategy. If you have read my past three articles on content marketing ( article 1 , article 2 , and article 3 ), then this percentage number is strikingly similar. This percentage further validates the findings of a recent survey by eConsultancy , which found 38% of 1,300 businesses, did not have a defined content marketing strategy.
You did everything right. You maintained an excellent prospecting track and qualified the decision maker. You got through a tough gatekeeper screen, set a good appointment and sealed it with cement. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
No matter what our technical communication capability and comfort, we must be confident in the original medium—in person. Susan RoAne is The Mingling Maven®, and my go-to person for tips on networking and building strong connections. Susan understands that when we network effectively (as she teaches in her seven books), we build strong connections, increase sales, and easily identify referral opportunities.
It has always been a challenge to get sales people to call high, not high as in stoned, but high in the hierarchy of their target companies; in fact I sometimes think the former happens more often. One reason is that they are not comfortable engaging with senior executives, I hear things like “ho, you can’t call them”. To which I say I have checked in Ottawa, DC, all the provincial and state legislations and there is currently no law on any books preventing a sales person from calling senior
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.
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan We've all been on planes when they tell us to put our electronic devices into airplane mode so that the devices - your laptops, ipads, ipods, kindles and phones - do not send a radio signal looking for a connection. They tell us that these signals can interfere with the plane's instrumentation. Scary stuff!
It’s time for me to rant about salespeople and discounts. When a salesperson offers a customer a discount, what they’re saying is they have not been able to do a good enough of a job demonstrating value to the customer. To offset their inability to do what they’re supposed to be able to do, they feel the way to close the sale is by offering a discount.
This post is written for CEOs who want to teach the board how to properly evaluate sales performance. According to Spencer Stuart , the average age of a board member in corporate America is 62.4. Many of these individuals made their fortunes in their 40s. When they were running businesses, life was vastly different. They used the information available to them to make decisions about the future of the business.
Sales people can find dozens of reasons for failure, as can many sales managers and supervisors. However, there really aren’t a whole lot of reasons for failing in professional selling. The reasons. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
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.
We all know self-doubters in our personal and professional lives. Despite they’re lack of apparent confidence, many of them are highly successful. From a cognitive perspective the self-doubter can only see what they don’t do well. They are their own worst critics. Given a lack of self-awareness they are extremely difficult to coach. Can you think of anyone on your team who fits this tag?
Success is not a straight line, there is give and take, the tried and true, and the ability to improvise and deal with the unexpected, good or bad. This is why process is vital to sales success regardless of natural born talent a sales professional may have. It serves as a road map that allows you to better navigate the routine aspects of a sale, and it also allows you to better improvise when faced with the unexpected.
Working hard in sales but not accomplishing enough? Last week I was interviewed on the OpenView Lab blog about ways to keep focus through the end of the year. If you’re bogged down by lack of closed business, upcoming holidays, relatives, and distractions like Cyber Monday, you might want to listen to the interview since it is audio and easy to listen to.
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Perhaps you watched the Thursday night Thanksgiving Day football masacre between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots. The Patriots scored 35 unaswered points in the second period and in one 52 second timeframe, scored 3 touchdowns. Unbelievable! Incredible! Unheard of! The more common reaction though is, "How quickly it all unraveled for the Jets".
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.
Marketing leaders can gain a competitive advantage by executing a high value exercise Develop a Persona Ecosystem. For marketing leaders tasked with acquiring new customers this is the most valuable exercise you will perform all year. This exercise is a standard component of the SBI Lead Generation playbook for our clients and I want to share it with you.
You are all ready to go. You have all of your leads for the day prepared and lined up in front of you. You have all of your rebuttals ready, and you have rehearsed your main talking points. You are. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
Issue Date: 2012-11-01. Author: SMM. Teaser: Sales managers, read this list by sales trainer Mark Hunter and ask yourself if any apply to you. If you’re a salesperson, you can agree with any or all, but in the end, don’t use any of them as an excuse as to why you can’t accomplish something. Great salespeople are able to find success no matter what is going on around them.
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