Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 15, 2025

As I’ve written before, MOST attempts to qualify an opportunity, prior to uncovering a compelling reason to buy from you, will result in disqualification. Until there is an agreed upon compelling to buy, the prospect has no incentive to enter into any qualification conversation.

Sales Process 173

Sales Process Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead 173

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 2, 2019

Author: Brad Wilsted Note: This is part 2 in a 3-part series on the powerful role sales management plays in driving sustained revenue growth – and how companies can better leverage this critical position for improved top-line performance. What does great front-line sales management actually look like? Which accounts (e.g.,

Hiring 224

Hiring Sales Management Territories Outsourcing Services 224

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. Call that… “Just add AI.”

Sales Management 195

Sales Management Top of Funnel Data Intent Signal 195

Steven Rosen

JANUARY 10, 2021

Invest in your sales managers to unlock the potential in your sales organization and turn that performance into sustainable performance As the leader of your organization, the next 6 months will prove to be more pressure-filled than you may have experienced in years. Invest in your sales managers.

Sales Management 194

Sales Management Hiring ROI Maximizer 194

No More Cold Calling

JULY 29, 2021

But not closing sales is never the real problem. The problem is that sales reps neglect important activities during earlier stages of the sales process. Unless you address the broken links in your prospecting system, your sales reps will continue to struggle with closing the deal. It’s just a symptom.

Closing 409

Closing Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring 409

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Was just reading yet another post with “market data” declaring prospecting the most difficult aspect of sales. Thousands of blog posts about both the difficulty and importance of prospecting have been published in the past 5-7 years. We know prospecting is important, but we don’t do it on a regular basis.

Ideal Customer Profile 166

Ideal Customer Profile Prospecting Sales Qualified Lead Face-to-face 166

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

These famous words from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice equally apply to our sales pipeline. As sales managers, we know from experience that when we review the opportunities our sales reps have promised to close this month, next month and the next 90 day, that they won’t all close. But which ones will close?

Lead Rank 49

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Face-to-face 49

Vengreso

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Today more than ever sales managers encounter both unique challenges and remarkable opportunities. As technology continues to reshape the sales landscape, to learn how to be a good sales manager, one must adapt to new demands and expectations.

Sales Management 58

Sales Management Forecasting Face-to-face How To 58

The Pipeline

OCTOBER 5, 2017

Lately I have had a chance to sit in on a number of “opportunity reviews”, and it is interesting how the format and tools have changed, the plot and the theme have not changed much beyond the costumes, props, and players. First, when it comes to opportunities, it should be less about reviewing, and more about moving them forward to a win.

Pipeline 281

Pipeline Lead Rank Groups Opportunity 281

Cincom Smart Selling

APRIL 10, 2025

Sales teams today need relevant data and insights to meet the buyer expectations precisely. That is where sales intelligence software comes into play. It provides the required data that sales teams need to find and target relevant customers, identify ideal prospects, personalize outreach, and close deals faster.

Lead Generation 48

Lead Generation Lead Rank Lead Scoring Software 48

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 10, 2024

As a sales manager, I’m sure you have pipeline meetings often. But, do you ever ask yourself, “How can pipeline meetings be a coaching opportunity?” Similarly, if a sales manager is only spending 30 minutes a month coaching each of their reps, it’s unreasonable to think that manager is going to improve rep performance.

Pipeline 116

Pipeline Opportunity Coaching Meeting 116

Sales 2.0

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

Startups are super exciting but they can turn a “rockstar sales person” into a “loser”. So if one of these “golden opportunities” comes your way, try to look carefully before you jump in. The step that was missed was testing and refining the company’s message, target market and conversion of interested prospects into customers.

Scale 373

Scale Hiring Collateral Social Selling 373

Anthony Cole Training

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

In this blog, we discuss why prospects object when it comes down to buying time, and why we can't always blame the prospects in these situations. Overall, salespeople must ask better questions to help increase sales, build better relationships, and help uncover their prospect's compelling reasons to buy.

Prospecting 167

Prospecting Hiring Objections Sales 167

Steven Rosen

MAY 1, 2024

He looks for candidates with a proven track record of success in B2B sales, particularly those with experience in cold calling and prospecting. He understands that prospecting takes confidence, persistence, and the ability to handle rejection, making it a key indicator of a candidate’s potential success.

Lead Rank 228

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Hiring Leads 228

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

By centralizing call data, sales teams gain insights into call effectiveness, prospect engagement, and overall campaign success. Why Outbound Call Tracking Matters for Sales Teams Outbound call tracking software provides several key benefits, making it essential for modern sales teams. Learn More about Close 3.

Outbound 130

Outbound Software Software Buyer Intent 130

SalesFuel

MAY 9, 2024

They can leverage the valuable knowledge gained from these questions to develop relationships, show value and close sales. Powerful Sales Questions Build the Bigger Picture Questions play a big role throughout the entire sales process. And each question presents an opportunity to learn and engage with a prospect.

Prospecting 116

Prospecting Hiring Remedy Face-to-face 116

Hubspot Sales

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

A solid social selling strategy falls somewhere between “nice-to-have” and “need-to-have” in the modern sales landscape. Activities like prospect outreach, cultivating brand awareness, and online relationship building are all enhanced by social media — so having a solid presence on these platforms can really help your case.

Social Selling 108

Social Selling Social Media Media Networking 108

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 1, 2019

So, as a sales manager, you need to guide your top salespeople in choosing new skills to learn and next-step goals to accomplish. Examples of skills and attitudes in your success profile could include: Prospects consistently, strong work ethic. Excellent at coordinating sales activities of each member of the account team.

Motivation 314

Motivation Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Guidelines 314

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 8, 2025

Somehow, the deal slips through your fingers, and so does the prospect. In this blog post, Ill break down what gap selling is, why its the secret sauce for successful sales, and how you can use it to connect with prospects on a deeper level. Know your prospects intrinsic motivation. Lets get into it.

Examples 113

Examples Strategy Hubspot How To 113

Sales and Marketing Management

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Author: Matthew Sunshine If you’re a sales manager, you know this to be true: Having that tough conversation with a salesperson who isn’t meeting goals is never fun. As a sales manager, see whether this sounds familiar: You sit down with an underperforming salesperson and open with a statement like, “You’re not hitting your numbers.”

Coaching 257

Coaching Construction Pivotal Positioning 257

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 28, 2018

Despite the urgency to find strong candidates to fill open positions, women are underrepresented in all levels of sales, with women holding just one in four mid-level sales manager roles, and only one in five sales leadership positions. percent of what their male counterparts earn. Strategies for Gender Diversity.

Face-to-face 250

Face-to-face How To Salary Quota 250

Sales 2.0

OCTOBER 11, 2019

A real sales job. Several years later I got my first “official” sales job. It was an “exciting entrepreneurial opportunity” as I had a completely “green field”. I was set to make big money in sales! I left great messages and waited for the phone to wring so I could fill up my calendar with meetings with ideal prospects.

Engineering 262

Engineering Small Business Small Business Banking 262

Janek Performance Group

JANUARY 22, 2025

In many ways, by streamlining sales processes and workflows, the CRM was the Industrial Revolution of sales. Not only that, but you can instantly access sales history and marketing campaigns and gain useful insights into clients and contacts with the ease of a customizable dashboard. Also, try to make your CRM simple.

CRM 118

CRM Lead Qualification Social Media Data 118

Zoominfo

JULY 13, 2021

Nearly every business function can benefit from the insights surfaced during front line conversations with prospects and customers. So much of what a seller does happens digitally now, but getting visibility into that activity has been incredibly cumbersome for sales managers. Coaching and Training Superpowers.

Conversion 70

Conversion Top of Funnel Marketing Lead Rank 70

DiscoverOrg Sales

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Will I flush enough opportunities out of these accounts I was given? Note: Account Executives at some organizations also perform sales development; however, for our purposes here, we’re defining the role of AE as client service and acquisition, and the role of SDR as outbound prospecting. Ingredients: Fresh prospect list.

Account Based Marketing 237

Account Based Marketing Demand Generation Targets Ideal Customer Profile Account 237

SalesFuel

MAY 6, 2024

Not all prospects will be easy to deal with, and you’ll encounter many types of difficult prospects. As HubSpot’s Jay Fuchs notes, “difficult prospects are a fact of sales life.” But even the most difficult prospects can be worked with to reach a deal. Efforts to work with these prospects require patience.

Prospecting 115

Prospecting How To Hiring Cancellation 115

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Even when he was talking to a prospect, he would hang up at 5 minutes, then call the person back. He’d broken the code to exceeding his call goal, and all his manager was focusing on was the number of calls. Why weren’t they creating opportunities early in the engagement process? Why were they entering them so late?

Outbound 120

Outbound Call-back Sales Qualified Lead Pipeline 120

Zoominfo

MAY 17, 2018

In fact, less than half of all forecasted sales opportunities actually result in a sales win. Just under a third result in a competitive loss, and nearly a quarter result in the prospect deciding to do “nothing” ( source ). Needless to say, this paints a less-than-promising picture of sales forecast accuracy.

Sales Forecasts 232

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Pipeline Scale 232

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 10, 2020

To me, the most important role of management is to motivate and remove obstacles for their sales teams. While our sales teams at WhiteHat Security have always been distributed, communicating with customers and prospects exclusively over the phone or video is a new challenge. Shifting Messaging .

Face-to-face 302

Face-to-face Hiring Lead Rank Lead Scoring 302

Vengreso

MARCH 26, 2025

Integrate it with: Gmail Facebook LinkedIn Drift Twitter Slack Teamwork HubSpot Outlook Web SalesForce Sales Navigator and Google Docs …to give your team the tools they need to build a loyal community and command prospects’ attention. They impart information on: The best sales strategies for each platform and audience.

Training 68

Training Strategy Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank 68

DiscoverOrg Sales

MARCH 5, 2019

And this is exactly what the new Salesforce sales rep did. Management changes are one the most obvious but least utilized inflection points in your sales strategy arsenal. Read it: How to Time Your Sales Outreach with Opportunity Data. More downstream opportunities thanks to executive moves.

Hiring 218

Hiring Decision Maker How To SalesForce 218

Hubspot Sales

JULY 22, 2024

Your sales manager has given your team a big pep talk encouraging you to dial, dial, dial. I’ve found that cold calling is an excellent way to engage prospects one-on-one and move them to the next step in the buying process. Cold calling is most effective when paired with strategies such as prospecting and sales qualification.

Cold Calling 111

Cold Calling Top of Funnel Inbound Call-back 111

Zoominfo

AUGUST 11, 2021

No business can survive for long without a healthy sales pipeline. It’s what keeps your sales team organized and focused on managing opportunities to close deals. Unfortunately, many B2B organizations suffer from ineffective sales pipeline management. No one follows up with promising opportunities.

Pipeline 217

Pipeline Closing Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel 217

Sales and Marketing Management

DECEMBER 14, 2020

In fact, Kavadellas, CEO of Georgia-based Orasi, a software developer, reseller and consulting firm, was scheduled to play a round with a client and a prospect the day after we spoke with him in November for this story. But Kavadellas recognizes the golf course doesn’t suit everyone as an effective setting for a sales meeting.

Outsourcing Services 279

Outsourcing Services Face-to-face Travel Lead Rank 279

Zoominfo

JULY 12, 2021

Business leaders depend on the conversations that sales reps are having with prospects to grow their pipeline and stoke their go-to-market engine. Revenue teams will get the insights they need for strategic onboarding and coaching opportunities. Fast-Track Sales Enablement.

Face-to-face 264

Face-to-face Intent Data GoldMine Lead Rank 264

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Over the past nearly forty years at the helm of Kurlan & Associates, I’ve struck out on some opportunities too but never gave those losses any further attention, energy or life. I looked at the data going back to when we began using Membrain nearly ten years ago, to see that my running win rate is 86% of the closable opportunities.

Pipeline 173

Pipeline Coaching Opportunity Comparison 173

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 7, 2019

Author: Rory Christian According to IDC , despite a "typical" $1 billion company spending a large amount of resources devoted to training for customer-facing people, poor sales enablement results in around $14 million of wasted sales and marketing expenses, and $100 million in lost sales opportunities. Forrester research.

Hiring 233

Hiring Decision Maker Energy Face-to-face 233