Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 21, 2020

On a frigid New England morning, I pulled into a Dunkin' drive thru and noticed that there were only ten cars ahead of me and that meant that it shouldn't take more than five minutes to get through the fast-moving line. Contrast that to the Starbucks drive thru. There were five cars ahead of me and that could take from ten to fifteen minutes because of how long it takes to prepare beverages at Starbucks.

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Customer Service Sales Company Customer 204

Membrain

JANUARY 19, 2020

A buying decision is a change management problem well before it is a solution choice issue. People don't want to buy anything; they want to resolve a problem in the least disruptive way.

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Influencer How To Sales Methodology Sales Enablement 135

Sales 2.0

JANUARY 24, 2020

Don’t sell to anybody. OK, I mean don’t sell to just anybody. You really should be careful who you invite to give you their money. The problem is every deal seems great until you actually “get married” to your prospect and they become your client. As you know many such “marriages” end up in unhappy breakups. When you have a book of business and take a look at your customers, you will inevitably see segmentation.

Prospecting 195

Prospecting Demographics Travel Segment 195

Close.io

JANUARY 23, 2020

The short answer is it depends on you, your business, and your goals. There is no magic formula for commission planning. And while that might sound like a cop-out, I’ve been through it several times in previous companies and it’s invariably a test-driven process. However, I can point you to a structure that best fits the type of business you run. I won’t cover them all, but I’ll outline five of the most common and how each might benefit you.

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Commission Hiring Margin Scale 94

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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.

Trends

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 20, 2020

Author: Jeff Kalter Are you at risk of becoming obsolete? Or worse, could you lose your sales job altogether? You could be vulnerable if you’re not sharpening your sales skills and honing the tactics that will help you succeed in 2020. Forrester analyst Andy Hoar didn’t mince words when he spoke at the 2015 Forrester Sales Enablement Forum. He told the audience about his research and his expectation that out of the then 4.5 million B2B reps currently selling, as many as 1 million could be gone b

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Sales Goal Meeting Trade Show Ideal Customer Profile 312

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 23, 2020

Successful sales execution requires more than sales technology. “Joanne, the challenge is always in the execution.” That’s what a client told me more than 20 years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. Companies today purchase the latest and greatest sales technology, provide minimal training, and then wonder why it’s not adopted across the board. Because it doesn’t actually help with sales execution.

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Guarantee Referrals Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 329

The Pipeline

JANUARY 21, 2020

By Tibor Shanto. Everyone knows it takes 21 days to form new habits. Probably more accurate to develop good habits, as most people can take up bad habits in a heartbeat. In the end, it turns out to more a myth than reality making it perfect for a sales discussion, as there so many bad habits formed pundit propagated myths. Remember how dead the phone was before it came back?

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Meeting Proposal Positioning Pipeline 317

MTD Sales Training

JANUARY 21, 2020

Do you often hear people say ‘Oh, I’m not in sales…I can’t sell anything!’. If you do, and they work in your company, you’re letting go of many opportunities for successfully creating a great image for your brand. I say this because everyone, from the CEO to the janitor , creates an image for what you do. Imagine one of your receptionists answers the phone in a gruff manner because they have just had a bad meeting with their manager.

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Face-to-face How To ACT Opportunity 280

SBI Growth

JANUARY 22, 2020

Recessions are an economic reality. They are also difficult to predict. The question isn’t whether there will be another recession, it’s when the recession will hit. The truth is, nobody knows when the next recession will occur. You can listen.

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Analysis Research Revenue B2B 262

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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.

Sales Management

The Sales Heretic

JANUARY 21, 2020

It had been a rough night. It was supposed to have been a great night. It was the first class of a three-day aikido seminar featuring one of my favorite instructors. Unfortunately, his flight was severely delayed, which resulted in that evening’s class starting and finishing late. Which meant that we went to dinner late, [.].

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Customer Training Sales 253

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 23, 2020

Author: Dave Gerry Building a winning sales organization is no small task. Finding and hiring the right kind of people with the right mix of skills, developing a compensation plan, identifying training needs and aligning everyone with business goals can all be daunting. . . And that’s in normal conditions. What about after a merger or acquisition? More than ever, that scenario calls for strong leadership and effective communication.

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Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Scale Compensation 284

Anthony Cole Training

JANUARY 21, 2020

In the 2nd post in our "2020: The Year for Sales Growth" blog series, our Founder and CLO Tony Cole, discusses the importance of maintaining core sales values within an organization, how these values relate to organized sports, the erosion of these said core values, and the impact they have (or can have) on your attempt to grow your sales organization and sales numbers in 2020.

Sports 184

Sports Hiring Sales Relationals 184

Mr. Inside Sales

JANUARY 23, 2020

I received an email last week from a real estate rep asking me if cold calling was dead. If you’re wondering the same thing, ask yourself this question: Think about all the times you pick up your phone to reach out to new buyers: those people you see on social media who you think would be a good fit, all the leads that your company generates that request more information, all your clients whom you call to upsell, the “qualified” leads you or your company pay for that you call, etc.

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Cold Calling Real Estate Sales Qualified Lead Face-to-face 180

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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.

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SBI Growth

JANUARY 24, 2020

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” In a survey of 226 economists published by the National Association for Business Economics in August 2019, 72% of the respondents said they believe the U.S. will.

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Account Survey Oracle Research 227

Zoominfo

JANUARY 22, 2020

It is an indisputable fact that people love personalization. We like just about everything to be personalized: napkins, silverware, sweaters, bags, license plates. So, it’s no surprise that modern customers also expect personalization from the companies who sell to them. In fact, 54% of B2B buyers say they want vendors to offer personalized recommendations across […].

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Licensing Marketing Vendor B2B 150

Connect2Sell

JANUARY 22, 2020

Sellers are pulled in multiple directions every minute of their workday.

Selling Skills 199

Selling Skills Sales 199

John Barrows

JANUARY 21, 2020

This week we’re pleased to have an award winning sales rep on the podcast. You may remember back at Dreamforce, Chili Piper threw a competition judged by John Barrows and other sales leaders. The criteria to win was to tell the panel about a deal you closed against the odds, using teamwork and generating a great solution for the buyer a the same time.

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Closing Decision Maker Call-back Ideal Customer Profile 141

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.

Hiring

Grant Cardone

JANUARY 24, 2020

Ballplayers looking for real investments to take care of themselves after retirement… Recently Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch did an interview that went viral, sharing with ballplayer peers to get their money right because “ your career won’t last forever.”. If you didn’t see the interview, and you’re a rapper, ballplayer, athlete, artist, actor, producer, writer, comedian… or anything that requires a special talent —watch it right now: If you have trouble hearing it, this i

Real Estate 154

Real Estate Insurance Insurance Face-to-face 154

Zoominfo

JANUARY 19, 2020

Let’s face it, no modern business is immune to negative feedback. Social media and review sites give customers free rein to voice their opinion about a business or product. And, unfortunately, it’s often the most disgruntled customers who are the most vocal. While bad online business reviews are inevitable, they can still incite panic within your organization—and it’s easy to understand why.

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Social Media Google Scale B2B 130

Women Sales Pros

JANUARY 24, 2020

Guest post by Maria Tribble, VP, Enterprise Sales, PathFactory [Note from Lori Richardson: This is an important post and I’m so thrilled Maria wrote it to share originally on Linkedin and gave us permission to post and share through Women Sales Pros. If it resonates with you, please share it as well. ] Maria says: This has been my part of my internal narrative and experience as a woman, a mother, and a technology sales professional.

Territories 147

Territories Telecommunications Lead Rank Lead Scoring 147

SalesProInsider

JANUARY 22, 2020

Have you ever heard the saying, “ Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?”. It’s the same with value in the eye of the buyer. Buyers pay attention to the “beauty” or value that is most important to them; and can get confused, sidetracked, or start to debate the cost for items they don’t see of value. More Isn’t Always Better . That’s why, when I heard a speaker at a conference tell the audience they should have a long list of specific components and features for ALL the potential services they off

Buyer 139

Buyer Conference Motivation Objections 139

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!

Call Monitoring

Alice Heiman

JANUARY 22, 2020

Is it true that most sales reps don’t hit their goals? My friend Tiffani Bova shared 26 Sales Statistics that Prove Sales is Changing and one of them is that sales professionals spend just 34% of their time selling so it is no wonder that 57% expect to miss their quotas. Are you worried? I am. Whether you’re setting your sales goals or in the thick of delivering on them, here are three steps you can take to ensure sales success this year.

Sales Qualified Lead 138

Sales Qualified Lead Sales Goal Margin Resources 138

Bernadette McClelland

JANUARY 23, 2020

What does this rock formation have in common with what’s going on inside your head? * Sometimes we interpret things and we are wrong – it could be a frown we see as disapproval when we’re not, in fact, privvy to the thinking going on behind the scenes. * Sometimes we may hear a sound we think is gunfire and for that terrifying split second feel afraid, yet it is only a car backfiring. * Sometimes we may see a stick, swear a bit and jump for our lives because it looks so much li

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Conference Lead Generation Coaching Sales Enablement 169

Shari Levitin

JANUARY 23, 2020

Years ago, my millennial colleague razzed me about creating customer-facing videos that were too polished, and as he said, “inauthentic.” “People don’t want that studio type, perfect hair stuff,’” he chided. “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “No, really,” he demanded, “I dare you to make a video right now and send it to your email list.”. “Now? I look terrible.

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Sales Process Video B2C Face-to-face 134

Anthony Iannarino

JANUARY 23, 2020

Dear Salespeople That Straight Pitch Me, While I consider you my sisters and brothers, we need to talk. Every day, you fill my inbox and my LinkedIn inbox with notes straight pitching me what you sell. No one wants you to succeed in sales as much as I do, including you, and whomever it was that taught you that pitching over email is your best choice for acquiring new clients or customers.

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LinkedIn Lead Rank Lead Scoring Social Selling 134

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Every marketer knows how important it is to prove their efforts drive sales opportunities, but that’s easier said than done. When problems like sales and marketing misalignment, lack of data, and wasted efforts persist, marketers can’t measure, prove, or increase their impact on revenue at a time when demonstrating marketing value is critical. Using analyst and expert data, this guide to marketing impact and content attribution explains: How B2B buyers use content The most common types of conten

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Salesmate

JANUARY 23, 2020

Conceptual Selling® methodology is used for planning and executing customer interactions. This methodology ensures that businesses follow a customer-centric behavior and align sales activities with customers’ decision-making process. Conceptual Selling® was founded on one basic fact. Customers don’t buy a product or a service – they buy the concept that the solution is based on.

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Top of Funnel Face-to-face Funnel Sales Cycle 132

Membrain

JANUARY 22, 2020

Smart Selling Tools (SST) released its 2019 sales technology benchmark survey recently*, with data comparisons against 2017. Much of the report validates what we already know about sales tech: That it continues to grow at a breath-taking rate. But the details of the report should give us all pause as we reflect on the future of the sales industry.

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Report Comparison Survey Sales Technology 124

Shari Levitin

JANUARY 21, 2020

I rarely take three weeks off, but for the opportunity to visit our seventh continent on a National Geographic expedition, I made an exception. Antarctica isn’t owned by anyone and answers to an international treaty. No residents live on this ice-covered landmass, paving the way for the most abundant wildlife I’ve ever seen. We can learn a lot from nature: the way animals adapt to their surroundings and the characteristics they need to survive and thrive in the harshest environment on earth.

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Ideal Customer Profile Scale B2C Intent 126