Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

Are the opportunities made of gold bullions or lumps of coal? Some observations: The data represents the forecast and funnel for 7 sales teams. The current closable opportunities (B) are at 23% of the forecast (C) and at less than 10% of the quarterly target (D). Early stage opportunities should not have an assigned value.

Pipeline 173

Pipeline Opportunity Decision Maker Top of Funnel 173

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Let’s look at some “opportunity” math. 60% of the opportunities we compete for end in no decision made! What if we set a goal of reducing the number of opportunities that customers abandon late in their buying process? We never even get exposure to those opportunities! Yet they fail!

Opportunity 149

Opportunity Scale Revelation Quota 149

Steven Rosen

MAY 5, 2022

Sales Manager Coaching. Effective sales manager coaching is one of the key levers that leading sales organizations utilize to achieve their revenue targets. Sales manager coaching is the #1 sales management activity that impacts performance. You can train your sales managers in coaching.

Coaching 177

Coaching Sales Management Sales Coaching Account 177

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

Anthony Cole Training

OCTOBER 17, 2024

So why is it that many sales leaders default to coaching the deal at hand and do not consistently have sales pipeline management sessions with their people?

Pipeline 290

Pipeline Benefit Hubspot Coaching 290

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. If you’re among those who think that the existence of those four things qualifies an opportunity then your salespeople probably have win rates below 20%.

Sales Process 173

Sales Process Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead 173

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 19, 2024

Is it fair to believe that Sales Leaders want their salespeople to succeed with their big, important sales opportunities as much as I would want the Red Sox relief pitcher to succeed in a big, important game? ” But most Sales Leaders react more like I did when the non-Red Sox pitcher was brought into the game.

Epiphany 188

Epiphany Real Estate Face-to-face Coaching 188

Steven Rosen

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

5 Ways top sales managers become a sales coach! Sales coaching is the most important sales management activity for driving sales performance. Unfortunately, most managers haven’t been taught how to properly coach their staff. Ask Effective Questions. Of course, not.

Sales Coaching 433

Sales Coaching Coaching Hiring Face-to-face 433

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 13, 2024

For those who sell by phone, technology has made it possible for sales leaders to listen to any sales call at any time, and to identify the moments, messages, timing, and missed opportunities from sales conversations. To effectively coach field salespeople, it requires joint sales calls and post-call debriefs.

Coaching 188

Coaching Hiring Scale Sales Leadership 188

Highspot

APRIL 1, 2025

That’s what traditional sales role-playing feels like: forced, vague, and anxiety-inducing. Sales managers know role-play is essential to improve sales performance , yet the old methods make it difficult to coach effectively and drive improvement. Mistakes are actual learning opportunities, not career setbacks.

Training 52

Training Sales Management Hiring Lead Rank 52

Janek Performance Group

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

For sales managers, look for qualities that build strong teams and motivate others to perform their best. Whether you seek a new hire or promotion, here are several essential qualities of sales managers. Someone in line for this position already possesses effective sales strategies. Asks questions.

Sales Management 139

Sales Management Hiring Promotion Motivation 139

SBI Growth

MARCH 18, 2024

2023 presented a unique set of challenges for sales managers. Economic uncertainty, cautious buyers, and reliance on existing customers contributed to longer sales cycles and pipeline woes. However, 2024 brings new opportunities, and with these five lessons, sales organizations can get on track for a fast start in 2024.

Sales Management 156

Sales Management Sales Cycle Pipeline Buyer 156

Steven Rosen

AUGUST 26, 2021

Sales Manager’s Success Checklist. It is far too early to look at sales early. Here are the top 10 questions you should ask yourself and your sales managers to gauge if you/they have set the foundation for success. Do All Your Sales Reps Have Strong Business Plans? Is Your Sales Team Engaged?

Compensation 386

Compensation Quota Lead Rank Lead Scoring 386

Steven Rosen

APRIL 15, 2021

Business acumen and business planning are becoming a much more necessary skill for sales reps and sales managers. The company’s business planning processes require sales reps to build annual business plans. It starts with the front-line sales manager reviewing each member of their sales team.

Territories 336

Territories Quota Coaching Sales 336

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

Steven Rosen

MAY 1, 2024

He shares insights on managing high-performing sales reps, emphasizing the need to understand their drivers and view their challenges as positive. Managing high-performing sales reps requires understanding and appreciating their drivers and demands rather than being threatened by their assertiveness.

Video 296

Video Face-to-face Coaching Sales Management 296

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

Steven Rosen

JULY 12, 2022

What Great Sales Managers Do? Many sales managers will be sitting down with their sales people over the next month or so to do mid-year reviews to gauge progress on objectives, business plans, and development plans. Sales managers spend a considerable amount of time preparing for a mid-year performance review.

Objections 276

Objections Coaching Sales Management Course 276

Steven Rosen

JANUARY 31, 2023

If you take the traditional approach of spending 80% of your time reviewing the past year and 20% on goals for the new year, you will have missed one of the biggest opportunities to supercharge your team. Focus 80% of your time on identifying opportunities for growth and development and 20% on reviewing last year’s performance.

Sales Leadership 293

Sales Leadership Policies Coaching Consumer 293

Steven Rosen

JUNE 3, 2020

When I say “you,” I am referring to frontline sales managers and sales executives. Sales managers are the key to driving sales performance. They are the 10X factor as highly effective sales managers will impact 8-12 sales reps. Coaching (Remotely). Success begets success.

Sales Leadership 394

Sales Leadership Closing Face-to-face Call-back 394

Steven Rosen

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

Like many companies, you bring the sales management team in for a meeting and present the marketing plans. You probably plan a kick-off meeting for the sales force early in the year to do the same. If you have one sales manager, there is no need for alignment. Step 2: Alignment. Step 4: Track. Step 5: Review.

Strategy 408

Strategy Scale Objections Maximizer 408

SBI Growth

JANUARY 28, 2024

If you have ever run a sales meeting, you know that most salespeople aren’t thrilled to attend and prefer to spend time selling. However, with the right approach, sales meetings are an excellent opportunity to transform your team into high-performers fueled by a shared vision of success.

Sales Meeting 287

Sales Meeting Meeting Motivation How To 287

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

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 3, 2019

I coach a lot of sales managers and sales leaders and when I ask them what they want help with today, it's rarely a big opportunity, it's seldom coaching best practices, it's hardly ever targeted metrics for their team, and it's almost unheard of for them to request that I help them improve as sales managers, Oh no.

Coaching 312

Coaching Objections Follow-up Motivation 312

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. Sales Managers don’t want to coach because it takes away from personal sales.

Coaching 341

Coaching Guidelines Margin Incentive 341

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 9, 2024

Step 1 – Have the Sales Team Evaluated We leverage the gold standard of sales team evaluation tools to determine what the team’s full sales capabilities are today, and where the biggest gaps are in all 21 Sales Core Competencies. They needed to add salespeople and replace their D-Players.

Hiring 352

Hiring Lead Rank Lead Scoring Compensation 352

Steven Rosen

MAY 1, 2024

Managing High-Performing Reps Managing high-performing reps can be challenging, as they often have strong personalities and high expectations. Brandon advises sales managers to embrace the challenges of managing these individuals and not to be emotionally triggered by their challenging behavior.

Lead Rank 228

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Hiring Leads 228

Pipeliner

MARCH 12, 2025

In a recent expert interview, John Golden talked with Chris Jennings , a sales leadership expert with more than 25 years of sales and leadership experience. They discussed new sales training methods, the importance of authenticity in sales, and the changing role of sales managers.

Video 105

Video Training Lead Rank Lead Scoring 105

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

I’m only focused on sales cycles for qualified deals. The sales cycle is most meaningful when we focus on customer committed opportunities. Above the pipeline, there may be huge variation in the time an opportunity may need to be nurtured. It had been in process for 7 years, 14 times the average sales cycle!

Sales Cycle 133

Sales Cycle Buying Cycle Pipeline Closing 133

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. Excellent at coordinating sales activities of each member of the account team. Consistently develops new sales opportunities within existing accounts. the list goes on.

Motivation 314

Motivation Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Guidelines 314

Steven Rosen

FEBRUARY 2, 2017

On the bright side, knowing what the obstacles are will give you an opportunity to review what you are doing and allow you to make course corrections. You also need to be sure that your sales management team are aligned with the critical success factors. I then ask their sales managers what the critical success factors are.

Face-to-face 326

Face-to-face Survey Sports Follow-up 326

The Pipeline

AUGUST 24, 2021

Discovery is an opportunity for prospects to discover things about them, not you discovering what pain you can solve. Then extend that into your conversations with colleagues, Including your sales manager. Be Curious About Things You Don’t Know. Start being curious about everyday things you encounter daily.

SME 391

SME Margin Video Quota 391

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. Improve Employee Retention.

Sales Coaching 317

Sales Coaching Coaching Top of Funnel Hiring 317

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Hiring the right salespeople has always been problematic for most companies but with the shortage of quality sales candidates, it's more difficult than ever. The pressure to fill a role often causes sales management to hire the best of the pool of candidates instead of the right candidate. What's the difference you ask?

Hiring 263

Hiring Territories Sales Cycle Competition 263

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

As I dove in, I discovered the sellers were not entering opportunities into the pipeline until they were actually in the contract negotiation stage. Why weren’t they creating opportunities early in the engagement process? Why weren’t they showing those opportunities much earlier in the qualified pipeline?

Outbound 121

Outbound Call-back Sales Qualified Lead Pipeline 121