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'Some reps are convinced they can’t sell a new product. The next day, another rep does just that. Why is this? How can some reps be so effective and assertive, and others so passive? Confidence and belief are certainly big parts of the equation. The other part: exceptional storytelling. Here’s a great example: Rick, a sales rep with a wholesale coffee company, calls on a new prospect.
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'I’ve had the privilege of working with many salespeople in my career and have seen a great number of successes gained by these highly-prized professionals. Sometimes, I’m asked what makes. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].
'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 look at each rep’s performance to quota. They review the pipeline. These are difficult to control. Sales leaders can control the quality of sales calls every day. Great single sales call execution will lead to great results.
AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.
'The sales field is suffering. Customers are suffering. Sales forces lack buyer-centered tools for success. When will Sales catch up with Marketing? Sales field alignment with the modern day buyer requires more than lip service. This blog is focused on the transformation of Sales to incorporate buyer-centered tools. CMO’s can help sales make the number in 2014.
'Read on to learn if your Reps today are right for the future. This post is especially for HR Leaders and Business Partners in support of sales. Sales personnel will also benefit from the indicators of obsolescence. These are available in the downloadable tool: The 13 Symptoms of Sales Rep Obsolescence. The Problem: The buying environment has dramatically changed.
You don’t want a new job. You want to excel at the job you already have. To do that, you must outperform your peers and close more deals. So your success tomorrow depends upon your pipeline today. In today’s environment, a quality pipeline starts with LinkedIn. This post describes the Social Seller's strategy to grow their prospect list through LinkedIn.
You don’t want a new job. You want to excel at the job you already have. To do that, you must outperform your peers and close more deals. So your success tomorrow depends upon your pipeline today. In today’s environment, a quality pipeline starts with LinkedIn. This post describes the Social Seller's strategy to grow their prospect list through LinkedIn.
'Are your prospecting skills keeping pace with the market? Phone and email are losing their appeal. Now LinkedIn is the best way to reach your Buyer. To be effective on LinkedIn, carefully consider how you correspond with your extended network. Every word must be carefully chosen. You are selling yourself in order to sell your product. This article outlines how to write effective prospecting messages on LinkedIn.
'Not all “A” Player sales reps were meant to be managers. If you’ve been in sales long enough, you’ve seen this mistake unfold. The newly promoted manager repeats behavior that made him successful as a rep. He neglects his skill development and sales initiatives. His team flounders. He tries to do it himself. Before the year is over, he’s back in the field or on the street.
As the head of sales you can become overwhelmed with technology options. With limited time, how do you prioritize initiatives? We will discuss how your sales organization can prepare to utilize technology effectively. Many sales organizations are using new technology to automate broken processes. Why? They are looking for a quick fix. This leads to a lack of faith in the technology.
Your ears should perk up when you hear of a major Google algorithm update. Marketing leaders immediately want to know if they were affected. Understanding the implications and knowing the go live date is your team’s priority. The faster you uncover any surprising change to search traffic, the faster you can be reactive or proactive. Be optimistic that the changes will favor you.
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.
Over the last 18-24 months Sales Operations leaders have experienced Diminishing Authority. Diminishing Authority is easy to spot. The Chief Sales Officer is not relying on Ops to translate data into insight. Ops remains close to the CSO but marketing, finance and HR are more influential. Sales Ops has lost some of its credibility. Diminishing Authority has two root causes: Another department has collected superior data – Have your peers outpaced your evolution?
In B2B corporate environments, Social Selling gets a Sales Rep’s foot in the door. But the transition from a virtual conversation to a real opportunity is complex. During this transition, Reps are met with a wall of bureaucratic process and resistance. This article is for B2B Sales Reps who work in complex sales environments. I discuss how these Reps align themselves with the Buyer’s process to be successful.
As a Marketing Leader, you hear Pinterest in the news. The key question is should we be using Pinterest ? Will it work for complex product/service offerings with 6+ month buying cycles? The answer rests with the target audience of your Ideal Customer Profile. Will your potential buyer consume content on Pinterest? To help you make a decision, let’s break it down below.
'You are a B2B Sales Rep with a new product to sell. Do you know who your Buyer is? New company, new division, or new product, you must ask that question. This article discusses how Sales Reps define their Buyer as a Persona. I describe how to use LinkedIn as a source to create these Personas. Then I provide a Persona Builder tool to organize your effort.
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.
Your fiscal year just came to an end. Your top rep walked into your office, collected his commission check and resigned. He contributed 20% of your new revenue number last year. It was twice your next best producer. He made more money than your sales leader. He hit the top commission rate. Yet, he left. Why did you lose your top rep? Here’s a secret: It’s not all about the money.
Recent enhancements to LinkedIn’s social network should be leveraged to generate leads. The new LinkedIn user profile offering is one of many recent enhancements. Engaging with these enhancements will drive Demand Generation. Sales teams know that social selling on LinkedIn will help make their number. The Marketing team can help support sales rep social sellers by growing their own networks.
'The Holy Grail of 2014 Planning: Marketing Contribution as a % of Total Revenue. 2013 is the last year executives accepted activity-level results from marketing. CEO''s don’t accept activity reports from Sales leaders without revenue results. Expectations of marketing accountability have increased to the level expected of sales performance. It’s easy to get caught up in reporting activity and miss the big picture.
'Below is a letter of resignation. It was submitted by the head of sales at a client company of mine. If you have ever wondered “ why did the sales manager quit? ” this might be informative. I think the reasons this sales manager quit are typical, unfortunately. Replacing a sales manager takes lots of time and effort. You need to build a profile, conduct a search, perform interviews, on board, etc.
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.
'Gaining B2B prospects via LinkedIn referrals is the best way to succeed in 2014. Hands down. Don’t waste time on cold calls with a 1-3% appointment success rate (AAISP, 2012). Think investing in email blasts is better? Slightly better maybe, but still an unimpressive 4.4% open rate (Google, 2013). Still not convinced? Read the 3 Reasons why you aren’t getting enough quality referrals.
'Every Marketing Leader has asked the question: “Can Facebook be leveraged to drive leads?” Many in the retail, travel and restaurant industry will immediately say, “Yes”. What about for B2B? The B2B CMO’s that I have asked are typically skeptical of a Facebook investment. A common answer is, “Facebook is for personal usage, not B2B. LinkedIn and twitter are more professional”.
'80% of CEO’s believe their brand provides a superior customer experience. Only 8% of their customers agree. -Bain & Co. CEOs have a problem. As a Sales Ops leader, you can help. Ease of doing business with your sales team is the linchpin of B2B customer experience. Sales reps are the face of the organization. Most often, however, they are shackled by internal processes that are time killers.
The market is changing. The Social Seller is replacing the traditional prospector. Gone are the days with four hour time blocks to dial for dollars. Successful Reps now spend their four hours taping into social networks to win business. Why? Because Buyers spend more time online, gathered around their social networks. Today's Buyer finds influence in Twitter and LinkedIn, not their email or voicemail.
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.
'It’s getting harder for your sales reps to get at bats these days. It didn’t used to be that way. Not long ago, you could cold call and email your way to appointments. Now, it seems you have to fight to get into every deal. As a result, your sales team is missing out on revenue opportunities. Signs this is happening to you are: Customers and prospects are declining meeting requests.
Why do my customers buy? What drives their buying behavior? When do they make their decision to purchase? These questions are the Holy Grail of sales and marketing. Answer them and you’re on your way to a great year. For the marketing leader struggling to produce leads , mapping the buyer’s journey is priority #1. A Buyer Process Map will focus your marketing efforts for maximum demand generation.
I’ll send an SOS to the world. I’ll send an SOS to the world. I hope that someone gets my. Message in a bottle. Sting (Song: Message in a Bottle). Does your messaging strategy feel more like an SOS strategy? Is it a strategy built on hope? We have all been there. Your team has developed a messaging strategy. You exit the meeting with a plan to move forward.
As a Marketing Leader, you pay attention to the competition’s marketing and lead generation tactics. But how close of an eye do you have on them? Do you actively monitor and research? Most of you are nodding your head yes. Let’s dig deeper. Are you monitoring how the buyer is interacting with the competition? This is often overlooked. I’ll offer a tool to help you identify competitive gaps across many areas.
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.
'My professional life is focused solely on helping the VP-Sales “Make the Number.” I’m amazed by the continuous misdiagnosis made by Sales Leaders. Sales Leaders often focus their energies on one person – the Account Executive (AE). This is a huge mistake. This article will discuss why your focus needs to extend beyond the AE. At times, other team members are to blame for lost deals.
'In this post we will discuss Agile Sales. Agile sales is an approach that can help you keep pace with your customers. A few months back I wrote a post about becoming an Agile Sales Leader. Now it is time to make the entire sales organization agile. Let’s start with the definition of agile sales. Agile is not a process! The Agile sales approach places the customer buying experience above everything else.
'A recent study by CEO.com shows that 70% of Fortune 500 CEO’s are not on Social Media. LinkedIn, the leading social network for business professionals, shows an 11% growth rate in CEO presence. This is by far the greatest CEO presence of all social platforms. Ignore this trend, and run the risk of being left behind by your peers. In addition, 45% of all LinkedIn users can make a business decision.
'You’ve invested in the technology. You’ve trained the entire sales organization. The sales process is finally out in the field. Will your efforts get the best possible return? Rolling out a new sales process is tough work. For Sales Operations, it’s one of the most important projects you’re responsible for. The risk is high because the money and time invested is significant.
Every sales organization wants their sales force to be agile. Why? Because the world is rapidly changing, becoming more complex, and making the salesperson’s job harder. Organizational leaders are unsure of the best way to equip sellers to succeed in this new reality. Should they change their sales methodology? Should they adopt better technology tools?
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