No More Cold Calling

APRIL 6, 2025

Without a referral-first mindset, pipeline uncertainty loomsleading to missed targets, longer sales cycles, missed quotas, and end-of-year panic. Yet, too many sales teams treat referrals as an afterthought rather than an intentional, repeatable system. Referral selling isnt just a nice-to-have sales strategy.

Referrals 156

Referrals Pipeline Face-to-face GoldMine 156

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 31, 2025

Yet, most sales teams fail to tap into this goldmine because they dont have a measurable, predictable referral system to ensure they know how to ask for referrals and are asking every single client for referral introductions. Without referral performance metrics, you dont have a predictable referral system.

Referrals 156

Referrals Scale GoldMine Pipeline 156

Zoominfo

JANUARY 21, 2025

Unlike prior shifts like CRM adoption or marketing automation, GPT-based systems dont just centralize data or automate tasks they actively analyze, predict, and collaborate in ways that are completely reshaping roles and workflows. GPT-native teams unify tools, data, and workflows into a seamless system, eliminating silos and inefficiencies.

Hiring 130

Hiring Lead Rank Intent Data Territories 130

Hubspot Sales

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

I'll preface these tips by mentioning that many sales teams struggle to hit quota during the holiday season — and those issues come from a lot of different angles, including: It's a shorter quarter with weeks-long holidays for prospects. The last thing a company wants to do is break their systems during the biggest sale of the year.

Quota 142

Quota How To Lead Scoring Lead Rank 142

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 18, 2018

Message to sales leaders: Your job is to get the rocks off the road so your team can close deals, exceed quota, and blow past revenue goals. Oh, and they’re not making quota—not even close. You know who doesn’t have to worry about reps making quota? That’s not happening with cold calling. Why Aren’t Referrals on the Radar?

Referrals 325

Referrals Cold Calling Quota Sales Qualified Lead 325

Sales Hacker

MARCH 10, 2021

However, if 100% of your sales reps are hitting their quota every single quarter, it may not be cause for celebration. You don’t want reps to hit 100% – aim for 60% of reps hitting quota. A healthy sales organization should aim for about 60% of reps hitting their quota. If it shoots up to 80–85%, it’s time to re-evaluate quotas.

Quota 126

Quota Territories Churn Compensation 126

SBI Growth

JANUARY 2, 2014

By the end of the year 40% of your reps hadn’t made quota. Have a pipeline with 5X your quota. How can you create a system that your team will actually follow? What’s not clear is why. At the end of Q2 your pipeline was healthy. You were on pace to hit your goals. Somehow the pipeline collapsed. Close 30% of your opportunities.

Sales Process 308

Sales Process Hiring Forecasting Quota 308

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

And even with an irrigation system, by the middle of the summer, areas of our lawn begin to look like crap. It looks its worst just a week earlier, when on December 23, sales leaders defend the team's sub-par performance to the CEO and explain why 57% of their salespeople failed to hit quota - again! Not to worry though.

Data 267

Data Quota Forecasting Pipeline 267

Zoominfo

MARCH 21, 2025

At its core, Chorus accelerates onboarding and ramp time by giving new reps access to real call recordings and self-coaching tools, helping them learn faster and hit quota sooner. It is designed to support sales onboarding, ongoing training, and performance tracking within a single system.

Sales Coaching 130

Sales Coaching Software Software Coaching 130

Allego

MARCH 21, 2023

Your quota depends on it. The problem in many cases is the content management system you’re using. Legacy systems simply aren’t flexible or powerful enough to meet the needs of sellers today. Modern sales content management platforms surpass the capabilities of traditional content management systems. There’s a better way.

System 118

System Tools Collateral Video 118

Sales and Marketing Management

MARCH 27, 2019

There’s a simple solution that will help streamline this issue and create more time for sales reps to spend actually selling the product or service: implement a sales and compensation system that’s transparent and easier to understand. This is where technology comes in. Uncovering Data Insights. Integrating Transparency.

Strategy 223

Strategy Compensation Commission Incentives 223

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 6, 2017

Think a referral system is easy? And it only works if you have a referral system in place to ensure sales reps ask for referrals every day. If it were, every sales organization would have a system in place to guarantee these results. Create a referral system. Think again! All things being equal, we work with friends.

Guarantee 233

Guarantee Referrals Prospecting Lead Generation 233

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 20, 2025

“They are meeting their quotas and our growth goals,” came the response. Does it support your systems, processes, tools, and will these support and reinforce your training? . “Sales training, our people aren’t performing the way we expect,” came the response. “Where are they struggling?

Training 121

Training Real Estate Insurance Insurance 121

Sales Gravy

MARCH 18, 2025

But heres the catch: If new hires only focus on product and system knowledge for months, their pipeline remains empty. Improved Onboarding Speed Companies that mix early pipeline-building with supported team selling often see new hires reach quota faster sometimes shaving weeks or months off the usual ramp-up.

Cold Calling 84

Cold Calling Hiring Guidelines GoldMine 84

The Pipeline

OCTOBER 3, 2016

And while I would not argue the positive impact of technology on many elements of selling, more is not always better, and in fact without an overarching strategy to execution and development path for your human assets, it is more likely holding you back, just review the many studies around quota attainment. Short term pain for long term gain.

Quota 303

Quota Resources Call-back Sales 303

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 28, 2018

There’s a lot that’s scary about sales, for all of us—making quota, navigating shifting buyer expectations, keeping a full pipeline, and getting meetings with decision makers. Message to sales leaders: Your job is to get the rocks off the road so your team can close deals, exceed quota, and blow past revenue goals.

Cold Calling 240

Cold Calling Referrals Social Media Sales Qualified Lead 240

Hubspot Sales

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Don't waste time and energy evaluating CRM systems and features you don't need. A CRM system is software that stores information on client and prospect interactions with employees. The benefit of having a CRM system is having a central database for all customer information. CRM systems are designed to solve these problems.

CRM 111

CRM System Lead Rank Lead Scoring 111

The Pipeline

OCTOBER 28, 2020

Sure, that is why almost 50% of B2B sellers fail to make quota. Join Bob Howard of Contact Science , and me, for this interactive discussion about pivotal elements of prospecting, both skills, and systems. A proven system for consistent prospecting. Help For Those Who Want It.

ACT 235

ACT Face-to-face Pivotal Pipeline 235

Sales and Marketing Management

JANUARY 21, 2019

For example, notes about sales calls that field reps currently might keep in a variety of mobile apps should be integrated into CRM systems. According to Forrester , “B2B companies that embrace social selling are 72% more likely to exceed quotas than their peers who don’t.” Automated sales prospecting.

Trends 297

Trends B2B Social Media Telemarketing 297

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 2, 2021

A sales environment is heavily focused on the achievement of goals, quotas and targets. Without a rigorous monitoring, motivation and recognition system, a sales team […]. Staff are motivated and ambitious, and competition between sales agents or teams is often encouraged.

Quota 202

Quota Motivation System Competition 202

Zoominfo

MARCH 4, 2021

what support systems are in place to retain those new employees? Not all quotas are bad, so long as they’re not attached to specific numbers. In the same way that Debbie suggests that quotas?—?as How to Show Long-Term Commitment to Diversity: More than Just the Numbers. It’s embedded in the culture. It’s all about the numbers.

Company 245

Company Quota How To Demographics 245

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 24, 2017

But it’s their managers who are left holding the bag when reps don’t meet or exceed quota. percent of sales reps made quota in 2016. Belief Systems: You believe salespeople are born, not developed. You do have a system for hiring. You do have a system for hiring. According to CSO Insights, only 55.8 environments.

Hiring 214

Hiring Account SalesForce Quota 214

No More Cold Calling

AUGUST 14, 2019

Then I asked the pivotal question: Do you have a referral system, a methodology, a programmatic, written strategy, with metrics, KPIs, skills, and accountability for results? I had to figure out why everyone said referral business was the best business, but no one had a referral system in place. The Answer: No. I’m a logical person.

Referrals 291

Referrals Cold Calling Survey Scale 291

No More Cold Calling

JANUARY 16, 2020

I’ve been there—given a quota (usually without my input) and a list of client companies, and then told to “go at it” and do whatever it takes to get meetings. And you will align all systems in your organization—recruiting, training, and compensation—to support the referral selling process. Align reinforcement systems.

Referrals 328

Referrals Sales Management Hiring Scale 328

SBI Growth

JUNE 5, 2013

They look at each rep’s performance to quota. Call them out in your sales process and track in your CRM system. Sales Leaders miss or make the number one sales call at a time. Yet they typically don’t pay enough attention to each call. They review the pipeline. These are difficult to control. Inspect: CRM – is the deal progressing?

Objections 335

Objections Coaching Follow-up Lead Scoring 335

Zoominfo

MARCH 4, 2021

Having a scoring and qualification system in place will weed out unfit leads and save sales and marketing teams time. Integrate your CRM system with other lead management systems. Practice data hygiene in all data systems. Help build email sequences for lead nurturing — the ones that don’t respond to initial prospecting.

Sales Cycle 246

Sales Cycle Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank Lead Scoring 246

Sales Gravy

MARCH 13, 2025

P - Problem & Pain An eventual Yes stems from painpain from stalled business, lost revenue, or missed quotas. S - Story, Solution, System This is where you offer the solutionbut dont just drop a pitch. They couldnt make quota. S - Story, Solution, System This is where you offer the solutionbut dont just drop a pitch.

Hiring 61

Hiring Face-to-face Quota Lead Rank 61

No More Cold Calling

MAY 9, 2024

Test your integrity quotient to meet your quota…or not. It could help you meet your quota—or better yet, earn a nice bonus. They didn’t want to spend over $10,000—but they needed a system that cost twice as much. However, there are other reasons to walk away that I never considered. It was tough.

Opportunity 194

Opportunity Cold Calling Quota Lead Rank 194

Zoominfo

JUNE 24, 2019

Only a mere 13% of the modern sales force consists of ‘A Players’ – or reps who consistently exceed quota. In fact, for the last few decades, only about 50% of sales reps have achieved quota ( source ). Seller opinions were still the input to the system. That process took longer. The problem? Anyone see a problem here?

Forecasting 272

Forecasting B2B CRM Quota 272

Sales and Marketing Management

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

For example, what caused pain points at the end of the program: reps changing territories mid-program, sales that were booked but not invoiced, clients who made verbal commitments but didn’t sign contracts, field sales managers that vouched for sales that didn’t get logged into the system on time, etc.? Want to learn more? Confidence.

Incentives 201

Incentives Incentive Quota Territories 201

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 31, 2020

Do their existing quota allocations still make sense in this new world? Reevaluate Quotas to Fit the Changing Market . With an unexpected economic downfall due to the global pandemic, quotas set for sales staff at the beginning of the year, or even the end of last quarter, may no longer be possible to meet in the short term.

Motivation 194

Motivation Compensation Commission Incentives 194

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 24, 2025

You have to have a systems view to understand how different functions, activities interrelate and impact performance. It took him sometime to build this management system. Answering this gives you the “Aha” moment in this discussion. To develop these 5 KPIs, you have to have a deep understanding of the business.

Forecasting 111

Forecasting Fashion Conversion Call-back 111

Zoominfo

AUGUST 8, 2024

The Difference Between Sales Enablement and Sales Operations Sales operations as a department covers every component of driving sales, for example, setting quotas, defining territories, and determining compensation. Meanwhile, sales enablement focuses on the sales team that sales ops has helped build. How does seller behavior change happen?

Sales Enablement 130

Sales Enablement Strategy Scale Hiring 130

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

Manual sales prospecting and lead generation doesn’t get your sales and marketing teams where they need to be for their quotas — and it wastes time. The system analyzes various public-facing data points to identify triggers for sales reps to act on. Lead411 gets sales professionals to the right prospects using behavioral analytics.

Hoovers 264

Hoovers Campaigns InsideView Tools 264

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 24, 2020

In today’s crowded and highly competitive sales environment, your reps need all the insight they can get if they’re going to close sales, meet quota and grow the business. In addition to systematic data management, make sure that your reps use your CRM system and keep their account data and contact information current and complete.

Data 240

Data B2B Ideal Customer Profile Strategy 240

Sales and Marketing Management

JULY 26, 2018

Bringing additional data sources to the system helps ensure that you do not simply make your existing “worst” practices more efficient. The first step toward sales AI success will be taken not by salespeople, but rather by sales ops and the IT pros determining the right data to train the system.

Training 206

Training Penetration Government CRM 206

Zoominfo

JANUARY 13, 2021

Let’s say your inbound sales team crushes their deal close quotas for the fifth quarter in a row. In contrast, your outbound sales team misses their quotas again, at a -10% from last quarter. And you’ll find that your inbound team operates with a more sophisticated touchpoint management system than your outbound team.

Report 162

Report Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel Lead Rank 162