Sales 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

In general, I think “proposals suck!” I was reminded of my (bad) attitude to proposals again a few weeks ago when I was co-opted into developing one. Eliminate The most effective solution to avoid spending days on proposals is not to do them ! Send this bulleted list to your prospect and ask them if this is what you discussed.

Proposal 195

Proposal Up-Sell B2B Meeting 195

Sales Gravy

APRIL 23, 2025

Kyle, a field sales rep from British Columbia is struggling with a common prospecting challenge: how to consistently prospect when you're constantly on the move. Kyle's situation likely resonates with many of you in outside sales. These micro-prospecting sessions add up throughout your day. You can make 10 dials.

Prospecting 75

Prospecting Outside Sales Outbound Territories 75

Sales 2.0

OCTOBER 25, 2021

If you know someone that runs a business with a sales team, or they lead the charge themselves, have them take a look at the areas below for ways they can increase their sales. Improving even one of these areas could take their sales to the next level. Sales process efficiency. Sales time sucks.

Territories 396

Territories Compensation Scale Decision Maker 396

Sales and Marketing Management

OCTOBER 23, 2020

Author: Jennifer Tomlinson and Olivia Hardy Proposals have always played a pivotal role in the sales process, but today they are more important than ever. With in-person meetings on the decline because of the coronavirus pandemic, your sales proposal now serves as a frontline sales rep. Include the essentials.

Proposal 177

Proposal How To ROI Case Study 177

No More Cold Calling

JULY 29, 2021

This broken link is to blame for sales teams’ biggest closing mistakes. “My This is the frustrated lament I hear regularly from sales leaders. 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. It’s just a symptom.

Closing 409

Closing Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring 409

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

Because I wanted to focus on a specific question, I glossed over the question I am sure many had as I set out a scenario, specifically when we ask sellers: “Who is your best prospect?”. What’s scary right off the top, is that there are multiple definitions of what is a “best” or a good prospect.

Prospecting 274

Prospecting Forecasting Call-back Pipeline 274

Cincom Smart Selling

APRIL 16, 2025

Now, theyre ready to take the deal to the next level and ask for a proposal. You open up your laptop and start drafting the proposal. After three hours of back and forth with the legal and finance team, your proposal looks like a Frankenstein monster-mismatched fonts and conflicting figures. Lets find out!

Proposal 48

Proposal Maximizer Scale Hiring 48

Hubspot Sales

JULY 22, 2024

I'm always saying, “Sound, well-structured business email templates are central to effective sales communication, initiating productive sales conversations, and sustaining relationships with prospects and customers.” They're typically sent following initial conversations, meetings, or proposals (shocking, I know.)

Ideal Customer Profile 111

Ideal Customer Profile Proposal Lead Rank Referrals 111

Sales and Marketing Management

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Automating sales and marketing activities lets you focus your human resources elsewhere. When your sales agents don’t have to spend hours creating proposals or prospecting, they can do more in less time.

Sales Automation 347

Sales Automation B2B Company Proposal 347

Sales 2.0

MARCH 12, 2020

In the sales realm I believe we may be about to see a big shift. This includes your prospects. It’s time for business owners and sales leaders to take action to make sure you can sell effectively if we enter a downtown. Don’t be surprised if more of your proposals go to “Neverland”. Your prospecting numbers may drop too.

Top of Funnel 378

Top of Funnel Pipeline Follow-up Proposal 378

MTD Sales Training

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

You had a great sales interaction: Both you and the prospect were calm and comfortable. You developed some rapport and the prospect showed some positive buying signals during the meeting. This question is simple and helps the prospect understand that what you have just proposed is, at worst, reasonable.

Closing 300

Closing Proposal Negotiation Benefit 300

Hubspot Sales

JULY 15, 2024

But even though having a productive LinkedIn presence is one of the bigger “no-brainers” in sales, a lot of reps struggle to leverage the platform to its full potential. Here's a look at the “clear strategy” I use to ensure I get the most out of my LinkedIn prospecting efforts. Engage your prospects by leaving active comments.

Ideal Customer Profile 111

Ideal Customer Profile LinkedIn Prospecting Face-to-face 111

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

While the single most important thing for salespeople to achieve in a discovery call is urgency, you can’t tell a prospect that they have urgency, you can’t manufacture urgency, and you can’t fake urgency. I would be devastated) When these four factors are in place you have a scenario where your prospect must buy. .:

Kana 188

Kana Benefit Margin Sales Qualified Lead 188

Hubspot Sales

JULY 30, 2024

As a B2B salesperson for companies like IBM and Open Text, scheduling in-person meetings or phone calls was often challenging, regardless of my prospect or client’s industry or business size. Read on to hear my tactics for ending a sales email.e Read on to hear my tactics for ending a sales email.e

Closing 122

Closing Quota How To Webinar Metrics 122

Cincom Smart Selling

MARCH 9, 2025

Introduction Selling products and delivering sales proposals that create customer value requires buyer and seller understanding of pain points, product and price. That process is quoting and proposing, and sales pros will tell you that knowing when and how to do this effectively is important. What is a Sales Proposal?

Proposal 48

Proposal Lead Rank Lead Scoring Customer 48

Sales Gravy

JANUARY 14, 2025

Eric in Lewiston, Maine, asks how to use last years data to create and accurate sales plans and evaluate software tools (like CRMs and ZoomInfo) to make those goals happen. Sales planning is vitalwithout a roadmap, youre just hoping your revenue targets magically come to life. Success in sales is about balance across the entire funnel.

Data 98

Data Tools Intent Data Top of Funnel 98

Sales 2.0

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

In my last post I was ranting about how I hate proposals. My preferred solution to this is not developing proposals at all. I highly recommend not spending your time generating beautiful documents for every person that says, “send me a proposal”. It’s a surefire way to eliminate your prospecting time and have a sick pipeline.

Proposal 150

Proposal Hiring Decision Maker Case Study 150

Sales 2.0

DECEMBER 3, 2024

I’ve started a new sales project, and I need some quick wins to show my clients that they made the right decision. If you’ve ever started a new sales job, or been given a new territory, you will recognize this scenario. A common sales scenario The setup for this project is a classic. Any proposals sent?

Scale 195

Scale Territories Face-to-face Construction 195

Sales 2.0

OCTOBER 9, 2020

OK, maybe keep it a secret between us for now, but when you kill your sales quota and everyone starts calling you a Rockstar, you may want to let on (in the right circumstances). I can’t go spending money like this.”. But you have my blessing to become a small business owner. You don’t have to be just an employee. Build Your team.

Account 385

Account Social Media Scale Small Business 385

Sales Gravy

OCTOBER 15, 2024

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. and special guest Victor Antonio, renowned sales expert and author, dive deep into the world of sales, AI, and mindset. This shift makes human skills even more essential in later stages of the sales process.

Outbound 98

Outbound Lead Rank Lead Scoring Conference 98

Hubspot Sales

AUGUST 26, 2024

I remember it like it was yesterday — I was just starting out in SaaS sales, and I had identified a promising account I wanted to target. Sales requires a lot of skills you can only acquire from experience, but there’s one critical attribute you should start to hone on day one: persistence.

Follow-up 122

Follow-up Lead Rank Lead Scoring Marketing Qualified Lead 122

Cincom Smart Selling

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Quote and proposal software has generated a lot of buzz. Postings on social media, commentary from industry analysts, as well as user and vendor blog posts and white papers, all offer advice and information about automating the quote and proposal functions within the enterprise. Price, sophistication, and performance widely vary.

Proposal 48

Proposal Software Software Scale 48

The Pipeline

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Salespeople are preoccupied with closing; makes sense, that seems to be where the pay-off is for everyone, at times even the prospect. However, the biggest challenge most sales organizations have is not closing but opening. The average conversion rate of Proposals to Close. Number of prospects in Discovery that move to Proposal.

Closing 292

Closing Quota Proposal Face-to-face 292

Pipeliner

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Hearing a ‘ no ‘ for those unfamiliar with sales strategy typically defeats an effort. Many people stress toward year-end, knowing that most prospects said ‘no,’ and fear losing their jobs by year-end. They are so surprised by the good nature of the call that they, too, pick up the conversation and often invite a proposal.

Hiring 126

Hiring Follow-up Proposal Motivation 126

Jeffrey Gitomer

MARCH 19, 2019

If you knew you could win 75% of the prospects you pitched, you'd do it, wouldn't you? Sales games are no different than sports games. You win more sales when you sell them at home. How many of your prospects, who you want to become customers, get an invitation to play the championship game (the sale) at your ball park?

Sports 250

Sports Scale Proposal Call-back 250

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2024

That exact same thing happens to salespeople on their sales calls. They’re having a great conversation, the prospect needs what you have, there is money available, you’re with the decision maker, and you start making some assumptions about how good this opportunity looks. What did you miss?

Closing 220

Closing Proposal Discount Decision Maker 220

Bernadette McClelland

MAY 22, 2022

When I was a sales rep in Corporate Australia, it was quite common to receive multi 5-figure commissions for selling certain solutions – and most often selling those deals involved a series of detailed stages: Your normal sales discovery calls. Proposal iterations and. Demonstrations. Workflow blue-printing. RE-IMAGINED.

Energy 448

Energy Commission Up-Sell Conference 448

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 16, 2023

If they were anything like the bottom 56% of all salespeople, who don’t effectively follow a sales process, they would begin with step 4 so that they could quickly get to steps 7-9. Worse, the thing that occurs post presentation is almost always a proposal. But what will you propose?

Sales Process 227

Sales Process Decision Maker Proposal Follow-up 227

Sales and Marketing Management

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

But compliance isn’t just the domain of IT: marketing and sales teams now need to rethink their strategies when leveraging data from third-party vendors and customers. The Risks Posed by the Proposal Process. The Burden of Security Questionnaires.

Proposal 251

Proposal Ideal Customer Profile Vendor Face-to-face 251

The Pipeline

OCTOBER 23, 2017

But many sales people cherry pick time, and use it to avoid things that have to be done, like prospecting for example. Regularly when I ask buyers why they didn’t prospect, or when they plan to prospect, I hear “I’ll get around to it when I have time”. Which may lead one to conclude that they do not want to prospect.

Banking 268

Banking Sales Qualified Lead Quota Proposal 268

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 31, 2024

In sales, it’s even easier to upgrade from the old technology of wasting time. I set it up on my phone in around the same amount of time it takes to splice a broken cable and I love the app. Dinger still gets appropriate feedback if he approaches a boundary but Halo sends it to me too and I can see where he is anytime I want.

Cold Calling 313

Cold Calling Call-back Follow-up Proposal 313

Sales Gravy

DECEMBER 29, 2024

As you'll learn in this Monday Money podcast episode and article, these goals are essential to helping you maintain sales discipline throughout your sales year. Maybe you want to be a sales manager, or if youre a manager, you want to be a director or VP of sales. You might want to go back to school for a degree or an MBA.

Face-to-face 98

Face-to-face Decision Maker Call-back Commission 98

The Pipeline

JANUARY 26, 2021

The familiar expression “measure twice, cut once”, has validity in B2B sales as well. Not just know, but plan for and manage like any other element of sales success. As we have explored in a different context, the answer is not always more prospects. You can focus on improving other variables of the sale.

Churn 310

Churn Quota Margin Exercises 310

Hubspot Sales

AUGUST 21, 2023

There's a whole world of untapped potential around you — prospects you know would benefit from your product or service. That's where business proposals come in. A solid proposal can outline your value proposition and persuade a company or organization to do business with you. Know exactly what you need?

Proposal 98

Proposal Examples How To Social Media 98

Sales Gravy

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Ask Jeb: How to Sell When Your Customer Has to Sell First Welcome to another Ask Jeb segment on the Sales Gravy Podcast! Im Jeb Blountbestselling author of Fanatical Prospecting, Objections, Sales EQ, and INKED. By helping them present stronger bids or more compelling proposals, you become integral to their success.

Customer 81

Customer Licensing Proposal Government 81

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 17, 2019

The first contractor got a proposal to us within a few days, the second contractor got a proposal to us later the same day and the third contractor gave us a price on the spot. Certainly, responsiveness is not the only criteria that prospects weigh as part of their decision-making process.

Scale 239

Scale Proposal Referrals Objections 239

The Pipeline

JULY 7, 2021

Want to split a room of salespeople, just ask if “sales is a numbers game or not?” Full disclosure, I came from the sales is a numbers game camp. While it is safe to say I have evolved, I have not abandoned my “sales is a numbers game” friends. But as is the case when we evolve, one can emerge with a third, better alternative.

Discount 361

Discount Quota Sports Objections 361