Sales and Marketing Management

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Author: Tim Houlihan Sales leaders are always trying to figure out how to get the most out of their reps at the lowest cost, and incentives are excellent at revealing that sweet spot. Finding the sweet spot for an incentive is like how Mama Bear’s porridge was juuust right. The more difficult the task, the greater the incentive.

Incentives 166

Incentives Incentive Salary Pharmaceuticals 166

No More Cold Calling

JULY 25, 2024

Rusty sales skills won’t win the gold. It’s the same for your sales team. If you want this to be a game-changing year, it’s up to the CRO to make skills-building and practice a requirement, an integral part of your culture, and a major component of your sales strategy. They train with unparalleled rigor.

Referrals 334

Referrals Cold Calling Coaching Incentives 334

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 14, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan First the links. The Huffington Post and the Hubspot Blog both published an article, by Dan Lyons about OMG and Kurlan and what it takes to succeed in sales. We recently evaluated a sales force where the salespeople had, on average, only 18% of the attributes of a consultative seller.

Consultative Selling 257

Consultative Selling Training Conference Coaching 257

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

Because sales managers are not coaching – still – at least not consistently or effectively. It’s simply incomprehensible that sales managers aren’t picking up the clue phone. It’s simply incomprehensible that sales managers aren’t picking up the clue phone. It’s low hanging fruit.

Coaching 347

Coaching Guidelines Margin Incentives 347

Steven Rosen

MAY 28, 2014

Last week I was speaking with a VP of Sales of a well-known software company. George was not pleased with the performance of his sales team and was under intense pressure from the senior team to turn things around. Sales were off in 4 out of 5 regions and he felt that the sales team was just not motivated. By Steven A.

Motivation 319

Motivation Incentives Incentive Coaching 319

SBI Growth

JUNE 8, 2013

I bet that two vital pieces are missing from your sales strategy. If you formalize them into your sales process, training and measurement, revenue will grow. Otherwise, your sales team will be eaten up. As the sales operations leader, you develop the sales strategy and support team performance.

Strategy 310

Strategy Referrals Cost per Lead Social Selling 310

SBI Growth

AUGUST 13, 2013

Remaining effective as a sales force means continuous improvement. This might be a new buyer-aligned sales process. Or training to add emerging practices to your sellers’ skill sets. Or sales recruiting to staff a new go-to-market channel. Through an informal or formal assessment, you’ve found sales improvement needs.

Hiring 288

Hiring Incentives Incentive Benefit 288

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan There are more sales experts, self-professed and otherwise, than ever before. There is more free content on sales and selling than anyone could have imagined. There are categories of sales tools and CRM applications where none existed a few years ago. It seems to have worsened!

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Your Sales Strategy. It is one thing to have a sales strategy. VPs of Sales are asking the question “What have I done before?”. VPs of Sales are asking questions like: Is our Sales Process good enough? Are my Sales Managers good enough? Do This— Start with a Sales Strategy Blueprint. This is flawed.

Compensation 325

Compensation Social Media Incentives Incentive 325

The Pipeline

OCTOBER 9, 2014

I, like many in my profession have a unique perch when it comes to looking at sales. How organizations deal with this is often the difference between great sales companies, and a bunch of also-rans. You know what they said, lack of sales, “and the pipeline is weak going into Q4.” But we have two added bonuses that many don’t.

Government 296

Government Face-to-face Incentives Incentive 296

Salesmate

JUNE 4, 2021

Sales isn’t the same as it used to be. And with this change in technology, advancements in sales methodologies have also taken place. Similarly, many other practices in sales have changed with the changing world around. One such practice is that of providing sales incentives to the salespeople.

Incentives 105

Incentives Incentive Compensation Motivation 105

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 24, 2013

A post for Sales and HR Leaders to find root causes of Sales Manager (SM) vacancies. The Sales Manager position is the fulcrum between sales leadership strategy and sales force execution. Teams without effective sales managers lack morale and discipline. Weak sales strategy. Poor territory.

Hiring 292

Hiring Positioning Sales Management Compensation 292

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 16, 2020

Here are five important steps to make your team referral sales experts. If salespeople were self-motivated, they wouldn’t need sales managers or metrics. That’s why we need sales managers. Actually, what we need is strong sales leadership. Sales managers do what they ask others to do. I’m including myself here.

Referrals 328

Referrals Sales Management Hiring Scale 328

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 20, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan One of the most frequent questions we get from clients has to do with the second most important finding on Objective Management Group''s (OMG) sales and sales management evaluations. This is one of my top salespeople - how can she possibly lack Desire for sales success?".

Hiring 252

Hiring Groups Incentives Incentive 252

Steven Rosen

MARCH 23, 2020

Have you: Successfully transitioned your sales team to WFH status? Done any training for your sales team? Like most sales leaders, you are trying to adjust to the immediate and basic needs of your business. In discussion with sales leaders, there is no one size fits all recommendations. What’s Next?

Incentives 279

Incentives Incentive Up-Sell System 279

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 5, 2012

Effective growth CEOs can balance working on short-term sales tactics and long-term business strategies. A theme emerged around how much time to spend “in” sales tactics. If you act as the de-facto VP of sales, you’re working in the business. Maybe the current sales leader isn’t your long-term player. Taking Action.

Hiring 303

Hiring Sales Talent Tools Exercises 303

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Sales Operations is responsible for creating that winning environment. 80% of its sales team was outside sales reps. The Sales Operations team moved to reorganize the group. Incentive Programs. Does your comp plan incent behaviors that will get you to your number? Resource Allocation. Talent Management.

Hiring 293

Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Margin Face-to-face 293

The Pipeline

AUGUST 14, 2014

Nice and practical concept, good resume fodder, often misused or abused by many, especially from a sales point of view. As a concept, KPI’s are great, helping sales organizations in defining and measuring progress against stated objectives or goals. Examples in sales may be lead to opportunity conversions, or proposals to close.

Workbooks 288

Workbooks Distribution Incentives Incentive 288

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 17, 2020

Organizations are doing their best to navigate this new landscape of layoffs, remote working, canceled events, slowing sales and demand slumps. Being well-prepared and truly understanding how to get your people, your operations and your sales back and running at full bore will be essential for survival. That’s the bad news.

Engineering 207

Engineering Revenue Incentives Incentive 207

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 1, 2019

It’s also the ultimate sales advantage. Sales has always gotten a bad rap, but it’s gotten much worse as sales channels have evolved. The problem is with typical sales metrics. Put a referral system in place, with training, metrics, and accountability for results. Forget about incentives. We all know why.

Referrals 289

Referrals System Cold Calling Social Media 289

Zoominfo

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Provide ongoing customer education and training. Their sales reps get super hands-on with prospects during the buying journey — they provide demos, answer questions, ask for feedback, etc. On the other hand, when you offer ongoing assistance and training, you show customers that your business genuinely cares about their experience.

Loyalty 206

Loyalty Customer Incentives Incentive 206

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Steve describes the situation when he arrived: “The state of business was flat with same store sales declining and acquisitions keeping the operating line flat. Our margin increases were coming from cost cuts and vendor renegotiations rather than increased sales.”. We hired sales resources with the right skills and experience.

Hiring 297

Hiring Penetration Demand Generation Targets Incentives 297

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 14, 2020

Author: Liz Pulice In recent years, many companies have implemented remote work arrangements, driven by financial incentives, recruitment/retention initiatives and other factors. These conditions can present challenges for sales organizations, where in-person meetings and events are typically part of “business as usual.”

Sales Enablement 227

Sales Enablement Scale Policies Distribution 227

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

When setting sales goals for your retail employees — or for any employee, really — there are usually two things to keep in mind: Those goals need to be realistic and clearly defined. I’ve been leading sales teams since 2014, and believe me when I say I’ve seen a few things. Improve sales numbers” is not specific.

Retail 118

Retail Motivation Training Incentives 118

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 9, 2020

Author: Tim Houlihan How important are end-of-month/quarter/year dates for sales revenues? Sales managers rely on these made-up deadlines to generate urgency and motivation. Incentive designers have come to know this from years of their own experiences and observations. On one level, they’re everything. Deadlines drive activity.

Incentives 177

Incentives Incentive Motivation Research 177

No More Cold Calling

MARCH 13, 2014

The best way to motivate your sales reps is to believe in them. Sales managers can wreck a sales career or launch it. They can motivate reps who seem hopeless or derail the efforts of rising sales stars. Rene Zamora, a sales management thought leader and this month’s guest blogger, has a unique perspective.

Small Business 240

Small Business Small Business Sales Outsourcing Face-to-face 240

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

And “We don’t know what we don’t know about sales” is a true statement in most companies. As a result, they can’t anticipate when in a sales cycle or sales process they will be impacted, and don’t have the awareness to take steps to work around it and improve.

Company 227

Company Hiring Scale Forecasting 227

Sales and Marketing Management

JULY 21, 2019

Author: Lauren Boutwell As the field of sales enablement has evolved and matured, so, too, have its supporting technologies. Accordingly, video coaching has become a popular tool for driving readiness in sales organizations of all sizes and across industries. Validate training and certify reps. million words.

Coaching 241

Coaching Video Hiring Trade Show 241

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 15, 2024

I devised an incentive. Incentives work. When there aren’t many new opportunities in the pipeline, very little new business will get closed n months from now where n is the length of the sales cycle. The answer depends on a salesperson’s Sales DNA. That was a pretty optimistic thought for a realist like me!

Prospecting 177

Prospecting Incentives Incentive Cold Calling 177

Sales and Marketing Management

JULY 20, 2020

Author: Kris Belau Is there anything more quaint in sales and marketing than the door-to-door salesperson? As was common at the time, the main sales channel was an on-the-ground sales force. So what now for companies, perhaps yours, that rely even in some part on offline sales? Train them.

Face-to-face 194

Face-to-face Channels Social Media Lead Rank 194

Sales and Marketing Management

JUNE 26, 2018

Author: Mike Donnelly You have sales goals to reach. But if you’re like most sales leaders, 40 to 70 percent of your people will fall short of their quota. You have to get the sales reps to change their behaviors. Make sure to provide the training they need to achieve your goals. What is it you want me to do?

Incentives 174

Incentives Incentive Compensation Lead Rank 174

Sales and Marketing Management

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

Sales manager: I’d like to know what rewards the reps would like for our next incentive. Sales rep: Cash! Sales manager: Sounds good. You may be a seasoned sales manager, fatigued by trying to come up with innovative ways to motivate your reps. Are incentives obsolete? I’ve got bills to pay! Don’t do it.

Motivation 191

Motivation Incentives Incentive Lead Rank 191

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 7, 2018

Author: Bob Junke Recently, I had the honor of being asked by the Sales Enablement Society (SES) to offer my definition of sales enablement as an alternative to the one the SES Definition Working Group came up with. Defining sales enablement is important. Google “sales enablement definition” and you will get plenty of results.

Sales Enablement 192

Sales Enablement Hiring Compensation Buyer 192

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 9, 2024

Pivot to sales. If the most committed baseball players always want to practice, and the same would be true for all athletes including soccer (I put it first instead of not including it), football, hockey, golf, track, and basketball, why isn’t it true for sales? Are they as committed to sales as the data suggests?

Commission 194

Commission Hotels Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank 194

No More Cold Calling

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Women in sales have everything they need to succeed. It’s sneakier than gender discrimination or racial prejudice of old, but just as damaging for careers, relationship-building opportunities, and account based sales teams. The first is Sue, a successful field sales manager in a tech company. Comments were prolific.

Cold Calling 266

Cold Calling Loyalty Account Intent 266

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. . . But here’s the rub: sales organizations are not all the same.

Hiring 218

Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Scale Compensation 218

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

One of the biggest purchases a Sales Department makes is the CRM system. More aligned sales reps and materials. And the sales team ultimately reverts to old habits. Get your copy by signing up for SBI’s 7th annual research tour: " How to Make Your Number in 2014: A Sales Strategy You Can Execute ". The result?

System 303

System CRM Compensation Pipeline 303