May, 2023

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Best Practices for Your First EVER Strategic Planning Process

OnStrategyHQ

Play Watch the video Q: What would be the best practical approach to implement the first-ever strategic planning process as a (medium-sized) 2,000-person company with 5 C-level executives and 12 managers? A: Give yourself enough time, do market research, and hire a consultant or follow a guide! Great question! Here are a few of the best answers from our Strategy Collaborative Q&A Session!

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8 Strategies for Getting More Out of Every Negotiation

Hubspot Sales

The ability to negotiate can bring you and your business tremendous advantages. Yet, many salespeople approach negotiations with trepidation. Part of the problem is that we rarely have the opportunity to practice. There are only a few occasions where we typically have the ability to negotiate, and they are usually high-stakes such as buying a house or taking a new job.

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Business Transformation Strategy: Breakthrough Ahead

Kainexus

Business transformation strategy is the comprehensive process of changing an organization's core operations, processes, culture, and capabilities to achieve specific goals or outcomes. The strategy aims to restructure an organization's fundamental approach to its business, often in response to new opportunities or challenges. Business transformation involves more than incremental improvements; it requires fundamental changes to an organization's operations, culture, and technology infrastructure

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Enablement is Hard. Do It Anyway.

Mike Kunkle

Purposefully orchestrating organizational performance improvement is difficult. It requires a wide range of knowledge, skills, capabilities, practices, and mindsets, as well as mental toughness, emotional maturity, and, often, the ability to influence without authority. It’s organizational behavioral change management, for sure, and requires both smart and hard work.

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AI Strategies for Sales Managers: How to Cut Down on Tedious Admin Work

What if you could help your sellers stop wasting 72% of their day on non-selling activities and focus on bringing in revenue? Incorporating AI in your enablement workflows can help you cut down on busy work, get projects done faster, and let your team (and you!) focus on making a bigger impact. We put together this guide to show you how to use AI to cut time and costs for projects, including collateral creation, development of training videos, and automating tedious processes.

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For the Best Results Don’t Wing It. Follow A Process!

The Center for Sales Strategy

Have you ever tried to make chili by throwing all the ingredients together in a giant pot, stirring, and then slowly cooking all day? If you had, you’d know that is NOT the best way to cook chili! First, you brown the meat. And if you were an onion lover, then you’d add onions during this stage to get the most flavor. After the meat is browned and fully cooked, drain the fat (if healthy eating is important to you), and add the chili seasoning, followed by the rest of the ingredients, which could

Sales 103
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Sales Velocity Equation – 4 Levers to Success

Upland

Velocity is the speed of something moving in any given direction. At Upland Altify, we think about velocity a lot. So much so that we created this sales velocity equation to get sales teams moving in the right direction. That direction is revenue. How fast you get there depends on four key levers. Sales velocity vs deal velocity – what’s the difference?

Sales 356

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Revolutionizing Customer Experience with Digital Transformation

Customer Think

The era has turned digital. So, enterprises around the globe are using digital transformation to drive business success. With the advancement in technology, companies can now engage with customers in more ways than ever. Digital transformation has become the key to improving customer experience.

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Price Conversation when Prospect Wants to Discuss Price Prematurely

Sales Readiness Group

In the sales world, pricing is crucial in determining whether or not a prospect will convert into a customer. However, discussing pricing prematurely with a prospect may not always be the best approach. Doing so can lead to a focus on cost rather than the value of the product or service. So, what should sales professionals do when faced with prospects who want to discuss price prematurely?

Sales 139
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How Consumer Spending Trends Impact Your Recession Sales Strategy [Data + Insights]

Hubspot Sales

Sales is a tough job under normal circumstances, but throw in a recession and things get even more complicated. As whispers (or shouts) of an economic downturn persist, salespeople need to shift from defense to offense. This means retiring the old playbook and getting creative with your sales strategies. Here, we cover the top consumer spending trends in 2023, along with five key strategies for selling during an economic downturn.

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5 Ways AI Will Help Sell More

The Center for Sales Strategy

Whether you think the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Wall-E or The Terminator, the reality is that AI is going to change the way that you sell. According to Crunchbase, there are nearly 10,000 AI startups. 10,000 new AI companies in the last year are a staggering number of people focused on how AI can help your life, business, and organization.

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2024, The Year of the Customer

2023's struggles fueled a shift: companies are ditching wasteful strategies in favor of data and AI-powered growth. Enter 2024, the year GTC takes center stage. Discover 5 ways a customer-centric approach unlocks new revenue and delivers lasting success.

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What is Key Account Management? Strategy and Tips

Upland

Account planning and effective account management strategies are about much, much more than your key accounts. That said, any account manager worth their salt has a strategy for their key accounts. And it should almost always look different to their strategy for smaller accounts. There are many reasons for this. While all your accounts are important, key accounts are where most organizations receive their greatest revenue.

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The 7 best CRMs for nonprofits

Nutshell

Table of Contents Do nonprofits use CRM? The 7 best CRMs for nonprofits Nutshell How nonprofits use Nutshell Salesforce Kindful Fundly CRM Salsa CiviCRM Bitrix24 How do I choose a CRM for a nonprofit? What is the average cost of a CRM for a nonprofit? What is the best CRM for small nonprofits? Choose the perfect CRM and supercharge your donor relationships Whether you have only a handful of donors or a database overflowing with them, each and every one is essential to the success of your nonprof

CRM 139
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Can customers tell you how to run your business?

Customer Think

If you put what’s important to them ahead of what you think is important for your business, and allow your imagination to take over, customers will begin to drive your business and ultimately, if you let them, drive your success.

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How to Build Rapport in Sales With 3 Simple Techniques

Sales Readiness Group

Capturing the attention and trust of your potential customers is a crucial aspect of successful sales. When you establish a strong relationship, you gain their respect, the willingness to value your insights, and the potential for long-term business. But the question is, how can you build rapport effectively?

Sales 133
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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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Enablement is Hard. Do It Anyway.

Mike Kunkle

Purposefully orchestrating organizational performance improvement is difficult. It requires a wide range of knowledge, skills, capabilities, practices, and mindsets, as well as mental toughness, emotional maturity, and, often, the ability to influence without authority. It’s organizational behavioral change management, for sure, and requires both smart and hard work.

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8 Mistakes That Destroy Credibility With Prospects (& How to Avoid Them)

Hubspot Sales

The average buyer in this day and age is shrewd — naturally skeptical of salespeople and having certain standards reps have to measure up to. That makes establishing credibility central to the success of any sales effort. But maintaining that kind of trustworthiness and legitimacy over multiple sales conversations can be easier said than done — a lot of reps run into hitches, hiccups, and human errors that undermine their credibility with prospects.

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Forget the Ferrari: “Trusted Advisor” as a Status Symbol

Upland

Sales is all about kicking butt and taking names. The best sellers get in, get out, land the big deal and move on to the next one. It’s all about putting your strategy for an account first, and everything else will fall in place. Right? Wrong! What if we told you that becoming the best seller in the world had nothing to do with antiquated, lone wolf –run-and-gun tactics and everything to do with – drum roll…becoming a trusted advisor to your client?

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How to Use CRM to Build Your Real Estate Empire

Nutshell

Real estate success hinges on relationships. Whether you’re an agent or broker working in residential, commercial, or industrial property real estate, you need to stay on top of your client’s needs, respond quickly, and anticipate trends. That’s a lot to take on. To succeed, you need the tools to help you increase efficiency and stay on top of your leads so you can close more deals.

CRM 135
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1st, 2nd, and 3rd Party Intent Data: Which Is Right for You?

How do 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party intent data compare? 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party data each have specific advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to four factors: accuracy, cost, control and quantity. This infographic explains the pros and cons of each and helps you understand which one is best for meeting your business objectives. Intent data can be a great way to fill your pipeline and close more deals.

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6 Simple Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Strategy

Customer Think

Image source: Canva for free It’s no coincidence that the more knowledgeable you are about email marketing strategies, the better your results are. Below I’ll share some easy ways you can make your emails better. Sometimes, the smallest tweaks can get you spectacular results.

Marketing 137
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How to Motivate Your Sales Team to Reach Your Business Goals

Sales Readiness Group

As a sales manager, you want your sales team to be motivated and work toward achieving business goals. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, understanding the six common factors that motivate salespeople can help you increase your sales team's motivation to achieve sales goals. In this article, we'll cover: What Is Sales Motivation? What Happens If Sales Managers Don't Motivate Their Teams?

Sales 133
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Conversation skills book review 3: Conversational intelligence – How great leaders build trust and get extraordinary results by Judith E Glaser (2014)

Red Star Kim

I’m often asked to provide training in conversation skills. Whether it’s for confident or commercial conversations as part of the networking skills toolkit or part of a relationship building or sales conversations. I often wonder whether the perceived conversation skills gap was caused by the imposed isolation during the Covid lockdowns or a by-product of the digitisation of communications.

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Why Sales Leaders Must Focus on Beliefs to Transform Sales Behavior

Software Sales Guru

Why Sales Leaders Must Focus on Beliefs to Transform Sales Behavior I just began work with a new client whose baseline call recordings showed their talk ratios on initial sales calls with buyers were: Sales team 90% Buyers 10% The Sales VP reported that his initial use of a Mutual Agenda led to a conversation in which the buyer willingly opened up and shared their.

Sales 130
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How to Leverage Intent Data for Better Outcomes

Speaker: Susan Spencer, Principal of Spencer Communications

Intent signal data can go a long way toward shortening sales cycles and closing more deals. The challenge is deciding which is the best type of intent data to help your company meet its sales and marketing goals. In this webinar, Susan Spencer, fractional CMO and principal of Spencer Communications, will unpack the differences between contact-level and company-level intent signals.

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Account Planning Template – Five Components for Success

Upland

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” -Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe knew the value of not launching head-first into something without a considered plan of attack. How are sales teams meant to grow revenue in key accounts without a well-thought-out account planning strategy ? Do they need an account planning template in order to properly “attack” the revenue waiting within potential accounts?

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How Sales Professionals Are Using Artificial Intelligence (New Data)

Hubspot Sales

On average, salespeople save two hours and 15 minutes a day using AI. Based on this stat alone, it's no surprise why so many sales teams are folding AI into their workflow — and saving time in the process. Here, we'll explore how salespeople are harnessing the power of AI in their day-to-day work with insights from our 2023 State of AI Report. Let's dive in.

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Five Ways to Make Your Email Marketing More Personal

Customer Think

Source: Canva The more you understand email marketing, the clearer picture you see that it’s really about personal connections. Whether a list is small or massive, your most imperative task is strengthening the relationship with your subscribers. You’ll please your customers, and you’ll enjoy more effective marketing.

Marketing 133
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The best sales prospecting tools that integrate with your CRM

Nutshell

For outbound sales teams, prospecting software is essential to finding new leads and nurturing them into customers. Sales prospecting tools for lead generation are critical for helping sales representatives find, qualify, and reach more prospects. These tools streamline the prospecting process and can help sales teams close more deals. But if you don’t know which prospecting tools to use or whether your sales prospecting tools integrated with your CRM , you’re looking at hours of hunting down co

CRM 128
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The 2023 Supply Chain Crystal Ball: Challenges and Solutions

Speaker: Olivia Montgomery, Associate Principal Supply Chain Analyst

Curious to know how your peers are navigating ongoing disruption? The supply chain management techniques that dominated the last 30 years are no longer supporting consumer behavior or logistics and manufacturing capabilities. So what’s working now? What should your plans for 2023 include? By researching the supply chain challenges and solutions that businesses – especially small and midsize businesses – are currently experiencing, we’ve learned what’s working and what’s not.

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Assertive communication: The importance of voice

Red Star Kim

At the PM Forum half day workshop on “Impact, assertiveness and effectiveness” there were delegates from law, intellectual property and accountancy firms. Some felt these skills weren’t taught at university and others wanted help to develop their roles and grow personally. Some were new to their roles and professional services marketing. There were also a fair number from Liverpool who were surrounded by the excitement of the Eurovision Song Contest preparations.

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Counter Negotiation Tactics to Use When Buyer Makes the First Offer

Sales Readiness Group

One frequently discussed issue by negotiation experts is when you should make the first offer in a negotiation. Conventional wisdom is to never make the first offer in a negotiation. After all, by making the first offer, you risk "showing your cards" too early and leaving money on the table. On the other hand, there are many cases where it is to your advantage to make the first offer.

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Sales Win Rate: How to Calculate Yours

Upland

As you are developing your sales strategy for 2023, one of the critical elements in determining your sales velocity is your Win Rate. If you don’t know how many opportunities to need to pursue to make your number, your vision for the future will be cloudy. It is hard to build a sales strategy or know what marketing needs to deliver into the funnel.

Sales 195
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4 Types of Stakeholders Who Will Sabotage Your Deal (& How to Counter Them)

Hubspot Sales

The more people involved in a buying decision, the less likely you are to close. Getting multiple stakeholders to arrive at a consensus is hard enough on its own, and bringing an additional decision-maker into the fold means adding a potential detractor to the mix. As you’ve probably seen first-hand, there’s normally at least one blocker in every company — and they can do a lot to sabotage your sales efforts.

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How to Prove Marketing Value: Demonstrate Content ROI and Contribution to Sales

Every marketer knows how important it is to prove their efforts drive sales opportunities, but that’s easier said than done. When problems like sales and marketing misalignment, lack of data, and wasted efforts persist, marketers can’t measure, prove, or increase their impact on revenue at a time when demonstrating marketing value is critical. Using analyst and expert data, this guide to marketing impact and content attribution explains: How B2B buyers use content The most common types of conten