SBI Growth

DECEMBER 30, 2012

Over the past year, there have been many great Marketing & Lead Generation blog posts. I offer you an executive summary of key takeaways from SBI’s marketing related posts. I have compiled the top 15 questions to evaluate your performance against best-in-class marketing operations. I created Buyer Personas ?

Marketing 297

Marketing Face-to-face Lead Rank Lead Scoring 297

Increase Sales

JANUARY 22, 2013

Years ago my father shared with me that all sales objections could be placed into five buckets and those buckets were in order of priority. ” Within the marketing phase of the sales process, the interaction is between you and the potential ideal customer. Funny, according to Dad, you are also the first sales objection.

Objections 129

Objections Wireless Webinar Metrics Facebook 129

SBI Growth

JANUARY 22, 2013

Few marketing teams of $100M+ companies are built for modern demand generation. Marketing team structures too often are remnants from the days of print ad dominance. Marketing teams advanced effectively with this approach in the past. In-house marketing technology is a lynch pin of success. Evolving your Marketing Team.

Demand Generation 322

Demand Generation Demand Generation Targets Marketing Customer 322

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 6, 2012

This is an executive-level overview of the Internal Content Marketing Agency (ICMA). What is an Internal Content Marketing Agency? It can be located within your Sales or Marketing organizations. It produces content of sufficient quantity and quality to meet the needs of the Marketing and Sales departments. I thought so.

Demand Generation Agencies 267

Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Hiring Demand Generation 267

Fill the Funnel

DECEMBER 3, 2012

This years Top Sales Books to Read in 2013. They represent the freshest, most innovative thinking on sales currently on the market and take into consideration the changing sales climate and competitive realities every sales rep and sales leader is facing. Top Sales Books to Read in 2013. LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Face-to-face 132

Face-to-face Top of Funnel Call-back Social Media 132

Your Sales Management Guru

DECEMBER 3, 2012

Sales Leadership: 2013 Sales Theme. At this time of the year everyone is working on your sales business plans for 2013 and finishing budgets and forecasts. This word reinforced the company’s focus on sales growth, professional growth, market share growth and company growth. Creating a “Drive Statement” can assist you.

Sales Leadership 82

Sales Leadership Incentives Incentive Motivation 82

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

We recently surveyed hundreds of marketing leaders in small to medium size businesses. In our research, we found that marketers are feeling the growing pressure to prove their marketing spend is generating results. And in a growing number of cases, CEOs have given their marketing leader a “new business” quota.

Marketing 288

Marketing Face-to-face Hiring Social Media 288

SBI Growth

JANUARY 17, 2014

As the CEO, you have a company growth objective. Whatever the reason, the objective is real. According the “Year-End CEO Report” conducted by Challenger, Grey & Christmas, CEO turnover rose in 2013. According the “Year-End CEO Report” conducted by Challenger, Grey & Christmas, CEO turnover rose in 2013.

Remedy 281

Remedy Hiring Margin Guarantee 281

The Science and Art of Selling

JANUARY 17, 2014

For two weeks in December 2013, ShareBloc ran a contest to find the Top Content Marketing Posts of 2013 as part of their open beta launch. My article about the Agreement Frame was #1 in Sales Management for 2013, and #10 in the overall contest! Read my article: Objection-Handling Technique: The Agreement Frame.

Sales Management 52

Sales Management SAP Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Lead 52

SBI

DECEMBER 18, 2012

And we have big plans for 2013. The new site will allow me to provide targeted services to our end-user clients, all aimed at helping you identify the right steps to take to jolt productivity and revenue to new heights in 2013. Prospecting Attention Deficit Disorder: How to Avoid the Shiny Object Syndrome. Sales 3.0:

Vendor 128

Vendor Sales Cycle Software Software 128

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan My vision, of how the future of selling is shaping up, appears in today''s (the December 18, 2013) issue of Top Sales Magazine. This issue also features the 2013 Award Winners of the Top Sales & Marketing Awards in 18 Categories. We did pretty well this year!

Sales Talent 235

Sales Talent Video Course Up-Sell 235

Your Sales Management Guru

JULY 30, 2012

Sales Leadership: Impacting Your 2013 Revenue. Yes, I am fully aware it is still 2012 and there are five months left in this year to exceed your quota and hopefully you are well positioned from a pipeline, marketing and headcount to achieve your goals.

Sales Leadership 68

Sales Leadership Revenue Hiring Compensation 68

The Pipeline

JULY 3, 2013

But no, given the opportunity they offered up not quite a toaster, but a tablet, how 2013 is that? Many of the questions posed, assumptions made, benefits highlighted during the sale, have more relevance to the seller, their marketing department and company, leaving the buyer underwhelmed, disappointed and looking for alternatives.

Banking 293

Banking Opportunity Objections Intent 293

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

The darker dotted line is the trend for the percentage of sales management candidates that were recommended by Objective Management Group for the same time period. During 2009, only those companies with cash and a willingness to spend it - mostly mid-market companies - were hiring salespeople. What do you think?

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

SBI Growth

AUGUST 1, 2013

We’re nearly 60% through 2013. The market has dictated. With no increased budget and only five months remaining in 2013, efficiency is needed. Providing them an objective way to better prioritize customers is a great start. Reps that do this objectively will gain great insight. Time is running short for 2013.

Ideal Customer Profile 317

Ideal Customer Profile Tools Scale Hiring 317

SBI Growth

AUGUST 6, 2012

The Sales Leader is about to receive the 2013 Revenue Number. Have you conducted growth opportunity analyses in your market? The objective for each was to identify growth opportunity and align resources accordingly. Sales Resources are focused in the wrong markets. Is the above what you can expect for your 2013 goals?

Opportunity 316

Opportunity Strategy Banking Territories 316

SBI Growth

AUGUST 23, 2012

Here it comes, the 2013 budgeting process. On top of finishing out 2012, you need to determine which Sales Strategy initiatives to prioritize in order to make the 2013 number. This tool provides you with the ability to rate each of your key initiatives across the 5 variables that are critical to hitting the 2013 number.

Strategy 293

Strategy Analysis Quota Resources 293

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

It''s being perpetuated by extremist marketers who are claiming that inbound will become the be-all end-all. The latest proof can be found in this July 2013 USA Today article. Not only that, our company, Objective Management Group , will need to change it''s BHAG from 14 million to 16 million salespeople evaluated!

Hiring 246

Hiring Inbound Trends Positioning 246

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 12, 2012

What does utter and complete professional success look like from your perspective in 2013? Duplicating efforts with your sales VP takes away valuable time to focus on driving towards the company’s overall objectives. The fact is you should be focused on things like: Which markets to pursue. Define 2013 objectives.

Hiring 282

Hiring Scale Compensation Guidelines 282

SBI

JULY 22, 2014

If you’re a B2B seller you no doubt find it increasingly difficult to make sense of the marketing technology landscape. Scott Brinker of Chiefmartec has created a marketing solution map for each of the past few years. It’s my pleasure to announce our upcoming, inaugural issue of the Top 40 Marketing Tools guide.

B2B 123

B2B Tools Top of Funnel Marketing 123

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Well I am here to tell you it does work in 2013, and will continue to work in 2014 and beyond. Opens Up Untapped Overlooked Markets: Above I spoke about facts supporting cold calling as a key component of any prospecting success, one example is a recent WSJ article “ Cold Calls Still Help the Bottom Line ”. What’s in Your Pipeline?

Cold Calling 267

Cold Calling Handbook Inbound Social Media 267

Jonathan Farrington

MARCH 16, 2013

The 2013 contributors line-up has been finalized over at Top Sales World , and these are the sales experts who will be working with TSW this year: They will be writing articles, providing tips, taking part in roundtables and interviews etc. Providing the Faculty for the forthcoming Top Sales Academy.

PointClear 55

PointClear Groups Twitter Survey 55

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

You still have time before 2013 to fix any blatant disconnects. The initial reaction is to reach for a recent market survey. They expose brand preferences, market segments and trends. Unlike marketing studies, customer interviews ‘map’ the buyer’s journey. The role for Human Resources leaders is to provide objectivity.

Incentives 267

Incentives Incentive Customer Compensation 267

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2013

I am honored to have been nominated for one or more of the annual Top Sales & Marketing Awards since the event''s inception several years ago. This year I was nominated for 3 awards and Objective Management Group was nominated for 1 award. Top Sales & Marketing Thought Leader - Dave Kurlan.

Inside Sales 193

Inside Sales Groups Objections Benefit 193

The Sales Hunter

SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

For some reason, he was hung up on the idea he needed cute pictures and “marketing speak” content to wow his customer. That is the objective, so let’s engage them with a discussion. Your objective is to know what you sell and know it so well that you don’t need anything other than the questions you want to ask.

Consultative Selling 201

Consultative Selling Face-to-face Selling Skills Motivation 201

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 16, 2013

The November 2013 issue featured an article titled Dismantling the Sales Machine. Their member companies are big companies - most of what happens when they sell stuff doesn''t apply to small and mid-market companies. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' Their survey data is limited to 2,500 salespeople at 30 member companies.

Sales Process 249

Sales Process Margin Survey Forecasting 249

The Sales Hunter

JUNE 25, 2013

State how they have plenty of options to buy on the “grey market” at a much better price. Their objective isn’t to take advantage of you, even if it does feel that way at the time. Their objective is to help reduce the cost of buying for their company. Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.”

Negotiation 215

Negotiation Buyer Discount Selling Skills 215

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 17, 2013

The “push” and “pull” concept has been key to marketing for years. “Push” marketing is focused around loading up the channel, advertising heavily and trying to convince the customer to buy. (Yes, I know the true marketing definitions of these are much more complex.

Strategy 241

Strategy Cold Calling Consultative Selling Margin 241

Pointclear

MARCH 20, 2014

My objective was to book a 15 minute call with them (not a tough sell with a warm inbound lead). So, when marketing sent me the new inbound leads, I naturally got excited. What Was Wrong with Marketing''s Inbound Leads. I''m changing the facts of the story slightly to avoid scapegoating the responsible marketing team).

Inbound 262

Inbound Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Social Media 262

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Objective Management Group (OMG) uses Predictive Validity - the most time-consuming and expensive form of validation. But if the company is ready to change, and their markets are ready for them to change, then they must be able to select salespeople who can make those changes as well. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Hiring 260

Hiring Licensing System Consumer 260

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 14, 2014

Some of them are marketers who, in order to push their applications, must convince you that marketing can handle both finding and closing sales - all via the internet. Without question the internet, inbound marketing, and social selling have replaced traditional sales - IN CERTAIN AREAS. It''s really that simple. Register here.

Top of Funnel 250

Top of Funnel Inside Sales Conference Webinar Metrics 250

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Yesterday I was in the office, preparing for the today''s formal introduction of Objective Management Group''s (OMG) award-winning, new and improved, fourth generation, Sales Candidate Assessment ( View the 25-minute Webinar here ) when the phone rang and I answered. It''s a must read.

Inside Sales 271

Inside Sales Oracle Examples Top of Funnel 271

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 17, 2013

The reality though is that almost every available "sales assessment" is a marketing-modified version of a personality assessment. Objective Management Group (OMG) has been perfecting sales selection for 23 years and you can''t beat these two statistics: 75% of Candidates, who are not recommended but get hired anyway, fail within 6 months.

Hiring 228

Hiring Construction Exact Groups 228

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

The rise of inbound marketing - yes it''s happening, and yes it helps generate leads; but it''s not the be-all, end-all that inbound marketing folks make it out to be. The death of selling - yes, marketing people are predictably predicting this and no it''s not going to happen. Salespeople are not being replaced. Do I love them.

Inbound 209

Inbound Survey Lead Rank Lead Scoring 209

Increase Sales

AUGUST 26, 2013

Phase I is marketing and marketing is all about doing. Marketing is the action activity or activities (doing) within the sales process. Doing is asking the right questions with thinking how to turn stalls into objections as two examples. Writing this blog is a doing action. Going to B2B networking events is doing.

Sales Process 173

Sales Process Referrals Networking B2B 173

The Sales Hunter

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Are the markets you service growing and, if so, are you growing with them? The objective is for you to be seen as being different from other salespeople. Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” How much information do you have as to how your customers like what you provide them?

Margin 249

Margin Motivation Objections Competition 249

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Dealing with objections. We know how important qualifying is and Pete Caputa , Sales & Marketing VP at Hubspot , proves that qualifying improves closing percentages with the metrics data he included in this recent post. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' Challenging a prospect''s thinking, plan, or position. Qualifying.

Sales Qualified Lead 275

Sales Qualified Lead Hotels Hubspot Decision Maker 275