The Center for Sales Strategy

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

B2B sales can sometimes feel like a never-ending marathon, especially when those sales cycles stretch on and on.

Sales Cycle 94

Sales Cycle Motivation How To B2B 94

SBI Growth

JUNE 23, 2013

In this post we will discuss how pipeline reviews can expose Sales Management. Here is an example pipeline review between a Private Equity firm and Sales Leader. This Sales Leader had aggressive goals. The conversation went like this: PE Firm: Your average sales cycle length is 150 days. Sales Leader: Ummm.

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Pipeline Quota Sales Cycle Proposal 321

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

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

That''s exactly how most salespeople go through each day, through each sales call and meeting, and through each sales cycle. It''s their sales managers, who are almost as much in the dark as their salespeople. Want an example of sales management being in the dark? They are in the dark.

Decision Maker 313

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Cycle Exact 313

Hubspot Sales

NOVEMBER 26, 2020

Every sales manager has some degree of legitimate dedication to both their company and professional development. That's a big part of how you get to be a manager in the first place. The best sales managers lead by example. That's why exemplary sales managers never stop trying to improve.

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Sales Management Hiring Construction Report 143

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

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

Stop kidding yourself when you say you involved the sales team. Asking a couple of sales reps does not constitute understanding the buyer. Having one sales manager on the implementation team is just checking the box. User buyer examples: Sales reps by vertical. Sales Managers (all levels).

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Eloqua Marketo Buyer Persona Collateral 316

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 10, 2014

I''m sure this will cause outrage and debate from those who so strongly promote social selling, but when you look at an entire sales cycle, social selling takes place PRIOR to a first call or meeting, before we can consider whether or not to enter an opportunity into the funnel or pipeline. They are marketing themselves.

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Top of Funnel Social Selling Funnel Sales Cycle 309

Nutshell

MARCH 11, 2024

The sales cycle can be a mysterious concept for a lot of people. Most businesses subconsciously understand that it exists, but they may not use the cycle as effectively as possible. The sales cycle is a universal reference of what happens in a successful sales process for all kinds of industries.

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Sales Cycle Ideal Customer Profile Sales Qualified Lead Negotiation 77

Hubspot Sales

DECEMBER 30, 2020

If sales is a journey, your strategic plan is the roadmap you'll provide your team to help them reach their destination. It is one of the most important activities you will ever do as a sales manager because, without it, your sales team will have no direction and no instruction manual to follow in order to achieve their targets.

Sales Management 137

Sales Management Hiring Buyer Persona Exercises 137

The Pipeline

JUNE 26, 2014

It is not a Wish List, it’s not an “I’d love to have that business” list, it is made up of the Ten best prospects you’ve made presentations to and are working through the sales cycle. The Top Ten List depends on the old adage, “You can manage what you can measure”. NOTE: If you don’t have ten today, that’s OK.

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Pipeline Positioning Twitter Closing 325

Vengreso

AUGUST 12, 2024

The sales cycle, or sales cycles, is a systematic approach adopted by sales teams to monitor and finalize transactions, beginning with the recognition of prospective customers and continuing through acquiring their business to cultivating enduring partnerships.

Sales Cycle 68

Sales Cycle Ideal Customer Profile Strategy Sales Qualified Lead 68

SBI Growth

JUNE 5, 2013

Overlays/Specialists aren’t on the same page as the sales rep – I have witnessed many sales calls where this is the problem. Front-line Sales Managers aren’t providing adequate coaching – Sales people need a second opinion. Lack of value – Sales people that talk product and price are a dime a dozen.

Objections 335

Objections Coaching Follow-up Lead Scoring 335

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 2, 2013

The normal sales cycle plays out, and revenue doesn’t improve. Team meetings are run by sales managers. What happened? Let’s review what a real adoption plan looks like: In this generic example, it’s all about a defined and executed cadence of activities. First a set of activities is created.

Sales Process 308

Sales Process Webinar Metrics Vendor Energy 308

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 9, 2014

It’s our job as smart, strategic sales pros to deliver value—real value—and we can only do that if we’ve invested time in researching our prospects. In fact, 86 percent of business buyers engage in research independent of the sales cycle. Associations Enterprise Sales Management Salespeople Small Business'

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Cold Calling Call-back Small Business Small Business 280

SBI Growth

MAY 27, 2013

Right now, most sales organizations predict deal closure probability in two ways: Sales Stage : Each stage has fixed probability assigned to it. When a Sales Opportunity moves forward in the sales cycle, the probability increases. This creates a huge headache for every sales manager.

Data 323

Data Top of Funnel Hiring Harvest 323

Vengreso

JANUARY 17, 2025

Businesses realize that these digital solutions offer a flexible and cost-effective alternative to traditional sales training methods, helping to shorten sales cycles and improve interactions with prospects. This accessibility ensures that sales teams are always one step ahead, equipped with the latest digital selling skills.

Webinar Metrics 98

Webinar Metrics Selling Skills Sales Cycle Coaching 98

Zoominfo

JANUARY 15, 2021

If you’re a sales manager, you’ve maybe been in the sales forecasting hot seat — of presenting numbers that look different from your prediction. What Is Sales Forecasting? Sales forecasting is how sales managers, directors, and VPs estimate upcoming revenue. Step 2: Clean up your sales process.

Sales Forecasts 207

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Hiring Pivotal 207

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 18, 2024

What’s your sales cycle? It’s the other questions, starting with profitability, going on to win rates, deal sizes, sales cycles, and others that my questions start to gain intensity and then go crazy. We dive in deeper, I ask, “What’s your win rate? How’s retention/renewal?

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Scale Hiring Sales Cycle Inbound 97

Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 7, 2018

For example, a supporting framework is required where executives drive sales enablement efforts top-down and sellers receive consistent, proactive coaching from sales managers. Further, in my view the definition should precisely reflect the alignment required between the buyers’ journey, sales process, and content.

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Sales Enablement Hiring Compensation Buyer 192

Vengreso

MARCH 2, 2021

The actual criteria will vary depending on the industry and the characteristics of the sales cycle and the ideal customer profile, but you should at least track the prospect’s past engagement and buying intent signals during the prospecting activity.

Pipeline 145

Pipeline Prospecting Ideal Customer Profile Sales Qualified Lead 145

Zoominfo

AUGUST 12, 2020

If company expansion is planned for the future, you will need more field sales reps. Account Size: Lengthier, more expensive sales cycles are inevitable if you sell solely to large enterprises. Enterprise sales take a lot of resources, time, and luck, especially for smaller businesses. Team Leads: .

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B2B Lead Rank Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel 200

eGrabber

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

In todays fast-paced world, boosting sales performance and closing deals quickly are more important than ever. Sales leaders, sales managers, and sales professionals must work smart and act fast. In 2025, the key is to use smart tools like sales automation and track real sales data.

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Closing Top of Funnel Ideal Customer Profile Incentive 52

Zoominfo

AUGUST 11, 2021

Given the uncertain times we’re living in, ineffective sales pipeline management can easily grow from being something that holds your business back to actively endangering it. COVID-19 has affected best practices for lead generation, follow-up, sales quotas, and sales cycle length.

Pipeline 217

Pipeline Closing Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel 217

Allego

DECEMBER 10, 2024

How does this ROI translate into measurable improvements like higher sales, shorter deal cycles, or larger contracts? This gap leaves sales managers asking an essential question: How do you demonstrate the ROI of sales training in a credible, reliable way? Proving the impact of sales training is no small feat.

ROI 62

ROI Training Lead Scoring Lead Rank 62

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

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. When this lack of awareness is prevalent at the top of a sales organization, it is challenging to grow it or scale it.

Company 220

Company Hiring Scale Forecasting 220

Sales and Marketing Management

DECEMBER 18, 2017

A high-performance sales environment is one where the conditions conducive to a successful sales culture have been put in place – resulting in predictable, continuous, metric-based performance improvement. Effective Sales Process. Only about 15 percent of sellers are natural, intuitive “sales eagles.”

Sales Qualified Lead 198

Sales Qualified Lead Pipeline Face-to-face Objections 198

Vengreso

JANUARY 13, 2025

By implementing sales acceleration tools, businesses can significantly increase sales velocity, improve conversion rates, and drive substantial revenue growth. Sales acceleration tools are designed to enhance every stage of the sales cycle, from lead generation to closing deals. SalesTech Magazine.

Tools 68

Tools Top of Funnel Lead Rank Analytics 68

Zoominfo

MAY 17, 2018

For this reason, sales professionals don’t always have a clear view of their pipeline. A better way to forecast sales is to use historical sales data and your own understanding of your company’s particular sales cycle. Who handles the sales forecasting in your organization?

Sales Forecasts 232

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Pipeline Scale 232

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 2, 2018

These metrics tell a story, individually and together, but forward looking indicators tell a more timely story, especially if you have a long sales cycle. However, as you'll read below, measuring sales progress doesn't stop with metrics because there is another powerful way to get instant feedback on a salesperson's progress.

Sales Cycle 214

Sales Cycle Pipeline Coaching Revenue 214

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 30, 2023

Salespeople aren’t prospecting as required because sales managers are not holding them accountable. Hold your Sales Managers accountable for holding their salespeople accountable to agreed upon KPIs. Give them an ultimatum but consider the length of the sales cycle. Hire hunters. Learn more here.

Decision Maker 156

Decision Maker Hiring Proposal Sales Cycle 156

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Generally, I find it most useful and accurate to look back at least one sales cycle. If we have an average 6 month sales cycle, I would want to look, minimally, at the trailing 6 months of opportunities that went full cycle. But you can see, we are missing a huge amount, the abandonments!

Sales Cycle 71

Sales Cycle Examples Opportunity Analytics 71

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Sales reps look to increase conversion rates by upping their cold call game. Along with actionable intelligence, guidelines for cold calls allow both sales managers and SDRs to tailor their sales processes. Warm calls mark the beginning of the sales cycle , which requires extensive personalization and communication.

Cold Calling 264

Cold Calling Guidelines Prospecting Face-to-face 264

Hubspot Sales

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

We rebuilt our prospecting criteria around this insight, specifically targeting companies hiring their first marketing manager. Our sales cycle shortened by half because we stopped pursuing prospects who looked good on paper but didn't match our retention pattern. My sales manager was aghast.

Ideal Customer Profile 98

Ideal Customer Profile Prospecting Hiring Lead Scoring 98

Vengreso

JANUARY 6, 2025

Key performance indicators such as average deal size and sales cycle length are critical in driving towards this goal. Similarly, understanding the average sales cycle length can help in optimizing the sales process and setting realistic sales goals. Clear goals will guide your KPI selection.

Lead Rank 68

Lead Rank Lead Scoring How To Top of Funnel 68

Zoominfo

APRIL 2, 2018

Every sales manager wants their team to be successful– but sometimes, that’s easier said than done. Sales reps face a number of obstacles that can keep them from their goals and it’s your job as their manager to help them overcome these challenges. Use the right tools and technologies. Time spent selling.

Sales Qualified Lead 207

Sales Qualified Lead Penetration B2B Face-to-face 207

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.

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Hiring Decision Maker Energy Face-to-face 233