The Center for Sales Strategy

MAY 4, 2021

When it comes to the sales pipeline, a good rule of thumb is — having nothing in the top of your sales funnel today, means nothing to close in the future. This means it is important to add prospects to a sales funnel, as well as ongoing engagement to move them through the funnel.

Top of Funnel 115

Top of Funnel Funnel Prospecting Sales Management 115

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 31, 2021

Hiring and onboarding are an expensive undertaking, so companies are incentivized to train new sales reps quickly and ramp faster. But, many organizations tend to rely on these programs and miss the golden opportunity to continue upskilling sales reps throughout their time at the company. That’s where sales coaching comes in.

Sales Coaching 317

Sales Coaching Top of Funnel Coaching Hiring 317

Sales 2.0

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

This is the first in a series of interviews with sales management subject matter experts, examining the current and future states of AI in sales. This first interview is with Oliver Churchill , the founder and CEO of Acuity Sales Decision Science. I was curious to hear what he thinks.

Sales Management 195

Sales Management Top of Funnel Data Intent Signal 195

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 31, 2019

Author: Matthew Sunshine As a sales manager, you spend serious time and care setting clear expectations; this is how you help your salespeople approach their work with purpose. A sales manager I once knew was in love with a particular metric: the number of calls each seller made in a day. You’ve got so much on your plate?

Sales Management 184

Sales Management Proposal Top of Funnel Banking 184

The Sales Hunter

MARCH 7, 2017

What does your sales funnel look like? What is the % of leads at the top of your funnel that actually become customers? I see way too much time being spent on keeping names in a sales funnel just for the sake of keeping a sales manager happy. Is it full of junk? It’s time […].

Top of Funnel 266

Top of Funnel Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Funnel 266

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 10, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Can you name 10 Core Competencies of a great salesperson? For the past 20 years, every Objective Management Group (OMG) sales force evaluation and sales candidate assessment has been tied to 21 Sales Core Competencies. Shut up Dave and just show us the list already!

Top of Funnel 309

Top of Funnel Social Selling Funnel Sales Cycle 309

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 25, 2024

Focus on the top of the funnel and everything else will work out. We seem to overlook the questions, “How do we know what ‘Top of Funnel’ we need? ” We cannot focus exclusively on Top of Funnel. What drives our Top of Funnel requirements is what happens in the funnel itself.

Top of Funnel 145

Top of Funnel Funnel Sales Qualified Lead Leads 145

SBI Growth

JANUARY 10, 2014

Top sales leaders know how to communicate and roll out a sales plan. Get your sales managers involved early in the process. The sales management team needs to have a clear understanding of the new quota. Sales can’t rely on marketing alone. Ensure your sales managers take this seriously.

Quota 316

Quota Top of Funnel Territories Marketing Qualified Lead 316

The Center for Sales Strategy

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Sales managers, lets talk about the lifeblood of your teams success your sales funnel. If its weak, your sales will be inconsistent. Heres how you can strengthen your teams funnel and keep revenue flowing. If its strong, your team will have a steady stream of deals to close. Make sure its built for success.

Top of Funnel 83

Top of Funnel Funnel Sales Management How To 83

Cincom Smart Selling

APRIL 21, 2025

Sales leaders today are not just managing peopletheyre managing complexity. This shift has redefined the role of sales leadership. However, many companies still treat sales as an isolated function, optimizing it for immediate wins while ignoring the structural changes required for sustainable success.

Sales Management 48

Sales Management Top of Funnel Strategy Scale 48

SBI Growth

JUNE 16, 2013

Our ‘ Flip the Funnel ’ Guide will help you. The harsh reality of being a VP of Sales is getting a quota increase mid- year. Shorten the sales cycle by reducing the price). There are 3 proven ways to really ensure you make the new number: Flip the Funnel : Crunch time leads to turning things upside. It will happen again.

Top of Funnel 282

Top of Funnel Quota Funnel How To 282

SBI Growth

JANUARY 23, 2014

Marketing is not driving the quality sales leads the field needs. You’re hearing it from your Sales Managers and reps. Your VP of Sales is sick of the excuses. Sales Operations should implement this strategy to help manage the funnel. It will ensure a quality list of leads entering the funnel.

Forecasting 303

Forecasting Prospecting Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Lead 303

Gong.io

JULY 25, 2022

One answer to this question is the Sandler pain funnel, a method of establishing need and urgency with prospects that feels more like a consultative interview than it does a sales pitch. In this guide, we’ll explain how the Sandler pain funnel works and illustrate the sales methodology in practice with an in-depth example.

Top of Funnel 117

Top of Funnel Funnel Scale Sales Methodology 117

Funnel Clarity

JUNE 8, 2022

Far too often, companies invest in the sales process and skills for their reps but ignore the sales management process. There needs to be an equal amount of focus on both the sales process and the sales management process.

Top of Funnel 98

Top of Funnel Sales Management Funnel How To 98

Funnel Clarity

OCTOBER 14, 2022

Effective sales coaching is one of the most important parts of the sales management process. It has a direct impact on a sales rep’s performance. Sales teams prioritize training for individual reps but tend to forget that sales coaching for managers is also a skill that needs to be trained and honed.

Top of Funnel 94

Top of Funnel Coaching Funnel Sales Management 94

SBI Growth

MAY 27, 2013

These companies are harvesting vast amounts of internet activity and point of sale data. Many of the B2B sales leaders simply dismiss the Big Data revolution. Within the next three years, the best B2B sales organizations will use “Big Data”. Too often we see CRM systems completely misused by Sales Organizations.

Data 323

Data Top of Funnel Hiring Harvest 323

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Regular readers know I''m a baseball guy, but that doesn''t mean I ignore football. When you look ahead to 2014 sales, are you using the same assumptions as always? What if your average sale or account drops? What if your sales cycle extends by 2 months? But that''s nothing.

Top of Funnel 272

Top of Funnel Margin Sales Cycle Retention 272

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 8, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan I''ve seen this happen in youth baseball so many times. Are there sales versions of this? An example of a successful, but not necessarily busy salesperson, would be the one whose two whale-sized deals generated three times more business than the rest of the sales force combined.

Top of Funnel 252

Top of Funnel Proposal Coaching Networking 252

Zoominfo

MAY 17, 2018

Are your sales forecasts tied to reality? Is sales forecast accuracy more of a pipedream within your sales organization? Does the speed of your sales pipeline resemble molasses? In fact, less than half of all forecasted sales opportunities actually result in a sales win. Ditch the weighted sales pipeline.

Sales Forecasts 232

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Pipeline Scale 232

SBI

FEBRUARY 10, 2020

The Scalable Sales Manager: The Key to Unlocking Your Sales Teams’ True Potential. The role of Sales Manager has always been one of the hardest jobs in sales. To say that sales managers have their work cut out for them would be a massive understatement. by Howard Brown, CEO of ringDNA.

Sales Management 136

Sales Management Scale Top of Funnel Hiring 136

Apptivo

OCTOBER 8, 2021

Companies across the world, irrespective of their industry type, often have a defined sales process. The concept of sales process came into existence after considering the redundancies faced by sales teams due to unstructured sales management. This applies to sales concepts and definitions as well.

Top of Funnel 98

Top of Funnel Funnel Pipeline Decision Maker 98

Miller Heiman Group

AUGUST 13, 2020

Sales managers are being tested in ways they’ve never seen before, and new managers have even more challenges as they assume their roles in the midst of sweeping change. Here are five ways that sales leaders can help newly minted sales managers accelerate through the turn and spearhead recovery.

Sales Management 107

Sales Management Top of Funnel Funnel Coaching 107

Miller Heiman Group

APRIL 13, 2020

Sales managers normally face a trifecta of shifting demands from buyers, their direct reports and their organization. The COVID-19 pandemic gives sales managers the perfect opportunity to work toward transforming into more capable leaders. Shift From a Sales Manager’s Mindset to Sales Leader’s Mindset.

Top of Funnel 110

Top of Funnel Sales Management Strategy Funnel 110

The Center for Sales Strategy

APRIL 17, 2023

If you're like most sales managers, driving revenue consistently and efficiently can be a daunting task. But there are ways to maximize the success of your sales efforts through managing each stage of the funnel properly - from top to bottom.

Top of Funnel 98

Top of Funnel Funnel Revenue Maximizer 98

SBI Growth

JULY 22, 2013

You have to make the rest of 2013 with the sales heads you have.” Sign up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: " How to Make Your Number in 2014: A Sales Strategy You Can Execute." In the guide you will learn: Make the number with the remaining sales people you have. Sales VPs consistently have hiring freezes placed on them.

Hiring 325

Hiring Top of Funnel How To Social Selling 325

Connect2Sell

JULY 4, 2018

I wanted to give you this formula for pipeline sales management because I get a lot of questions from sellers about: time management, about how to keep the funnel filled, and about when (and if) you should take people out of your funnel.

Pipeline 163

Pipeline Top of Funnel Funnel Sales 163

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Rotting and lower yields can be used to describe the strange pool of sales candidates from which you are trying to recruit as well. There’s no time like the present to hire salespeople as long your sales recruiting strategy includes considerations for the ever changing ebb and flow of the candidate pool.

Hiring 211

Hiring Top of Funnel Company Funnel 211

Pointclear

APRIL 17, 2014

In January I wrote the blog: How to Diagnose if Inbounditis is Killing Your Sales Pipeline , which was published by DemandGen Report. In fact, it makes the whole sales pipeline sick. The percent of sales accepted leads decreasing while lead quotas increase.”. It''s time to change how we talk about sales leads.

Inbound 257

Inbound Marketing Sales Qualified Lead Outbound 257

Gong.io

JANUARY 31, 2022

While the exact list depends on who you ask, the following (alphabetized) traits are all critical for a sales manager: Able to coach, analytical, available, confident, empathetic, good listener, innovative, leads by example, loyal, motivating, passionate, positive attitude, serves vs. dictates, strategic vision, strong communicator, and thoughtful.

Software 118

Software Software Sales Management Sales Forecasts 118

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 9, 2024

Sales and marketing are not the same. Has sales changed? Has it changed to the degree that selling is no longer part of sales Not a chance. Has it changed to the degree that selling is no longer part of sales Not a chance. Somebody or a whole bunch of somebodies have lost their way.

Top of Funnel 201

Top of Funnel Forecasting Decision Maker Call Monitoring 201

SBI Growth

AUGUST 10, 2013

I was lucky enough to be introduced to a sales team’s top performer for 2013. Julie’s Sales Operations leader thought I could learn a lot from her. The Dasboard will allow you to: Improve your sales team''s talent level. Generate more leads at the top of the funnel. Your CRM supports the sales process.

Training 293

Training Top of Funnel Hiring Hotels 293

Zoominfo

JANUARY 15, 2021

If you’re a sales manager, you’ve maybe been in the sales forecasting hot seat — of presenting numbers that look different from your prediction. What Is Sales Forecasting? Sales forecasting is how sales managers, directors, and VPs estimate upcoming revenue. Why Your Sales Forecasting Matters.

Sales Forecasts 207

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Hiring Pivotal 207

Sales and Marketing Management

MARCH 8, 2020

There’s no reason it can’t have equally powerful impacts on B2B sales and marketing, but it’s in its infancy, experts say. “AI AI is the future of all sales, but it hasn’t gone from 0-1 yet in the B2B space,” says George Kocher, CEO of Brand North, a digital marketing and growth consultant. CRM will become more predictive.?AI

Top of Funnel 218

Top of Funnel Marketing Scale Forecasting 218

Sales and Marketing Management

MARCH 27, 2019

Author: Mike DeLeonardis, President, North America at beqom Seventy-nine percent of companies say that increasing sales productivity is a strategy they’re using to reach growth targets in 2019, but actually meeting this goal may be a challenge as only 35 percent of average-performing sales reps’ time actually goes to selling.

Strategy 223

Strategy Compensation Commission Incentives 223

SBI Growth

AUGUST 23, 2013

Competition got more aggressive; funnels are filled with more “no decisions” than ever before. There is a better way to differentiate your sales force from the competition. Sign up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: " How to Make Your Number in 2014: A Sales Strategy You Can Execute." Not Just a Regular Sales Process.

Top of Funnel 276

Top of Funnel Competition Buyer Sales Methodology 276

Zoominfo

AUGUST 12, 2020

On building a sales organization as sophisticated as contemporary B2B buyers …. Here’s a secret: Contemporary sales leaders are just as well equipped as their counterparts in procurement. Here’s a secret: Contemporary sales leaders are just as well equipped as their counterparts in procurement. Today, we review.

B2B 200

B2B Lead Rank Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel 200