The Pipeline

APRIL 25, 2012

A couple of weeks back, I was asked about value, and provided a firm definition for value. The definition is step one, it provides the direction for the seller, next sellers need to learn how to surface it and leverage it for the mutual benefit of the buyer and the seller. As a follow up I was asked: So working with that definition of value, that is removing obstacles that stand between the buyer and their objectives, how does a sales person know or determine the buyers’ objectives?

Objections 292

Objections Buyer Follow-up Pipeline 292

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 26, 2012

Shift the focus of your emails to your prospect (it’s not about you) and watch your sales take off! In keeping with my theme of “Get Personal,” I’m sharing with you a blog by email marketing and copywriting guru, Ivan Levison. Ivan is king when it comes to content. Change your message from one that’s all about you, what you want, and what you offer.

ACT 275

ACT Advertising Advertising Direct Mail 275

MTD Sales Training

APRIL 23, 2012

As economic conditions begin to rebound and more sales opportunities arise, it may be time to reinvigorate your sales team. Below are two ways to help you motivate the sales team for a new charge. Use this new modern approach to reignite that old-fashioned fire! A New Approach to Goal Setting Ok, you set the [.

Fashion 272

Fashion Motivation Sales Opportunity 272

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 21, 2012

Innovation and new ideas can’t just come from corporate leaders or the executive level. Innovation must be an “all in” proposition, says business innovation consultant Stephen Shapiro (steveshapiro.com).

263

263

Advertiser: ZoomInfo

Longer sales cycles. Increasingly discerning buyers. More meetings. Intensifying competition. Economic uncertainty. Go-to-market teams of every size, in every industry, are grappling with these challenges firsthand. Thankfully, there’s an answer. We’ve developed an entirely new way for GTM leaders to identify and execute proven, data-driven strategies that drive revenue.

Sales Cycle

The Pipeline

APRIL 27, 2012

We have all faced the situation where the person we have been working with on a sale turns out to be the wrong person, or more often an obstacle to moving the deal forward. While it is OK to be frustrated, you also need to act, and when you step back the only logical thing to do is escalate things, go higher, or what sales people commonly call “going over their head”, for me the only smart way to get the deal.

Face-to-face 288

Face-to-face Call-back ACT Pipeline 288

MTD Sales Training

APRIL 27, 2012

Every sales manager, supervisor, director or otherwise frontline sales team leader, wants to have and develop a great sales force. Everyone wants eventually to have a sales team made up of superstar sales people. We all want that sales crew in where every sales person is a high-level, top performing, consultative, executive-level super sales person. [.

Sales Management 256

Sales Management Sales 256

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 23, 2012

“I have people who will run through walls to get something done for Jerry.” -- Pete Desraps, area merchandizing manager, Sure Winner Foods.

Examples 243

Examples Marketing Qualified Lead Leads 243

The Pipeline

APRIL 23, 2012

Sounds like a straightforward concept, but when you step back and look at individual sales people, you’ll find the old Pareto Principle (80/20) or the more up-to-date Shanto Principle (70/30) very much apply. That is very few are complete sales people, meaning competent at all key elements of B2B sales, starting with lead gen and management, to prospecting, a thorough discovery process, presenting a winnable proposal, winning the deal, and then penetrating and maintaining the account.

Lead Gen 288

Lead Gen Penetration Top of Funnel Proposal 288

Score More Sales

APRIL 27, 2012

In an inbound marketing world, is there still need to call people? This is the current question on many sellers minds and one that deserves some ongoing discussion. Of all the ways we have seen people actually talking to prospects, it most often is in a combination of the following: 1) Simple web research. 2) LinkedIn or other warm connection. 3 )Have data and knowledge of your prospect’s world. 4) Use of the telephone.

Prospecting 212

Prospecting Lead Rank Lead Scoring Cold Calling 212

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Sales

MTD Sales Training

APRIL 25, 2012

It is easy to spend a small fortune on sales contests and incentive programs designed to motivate, stimulate and reinvigorate the sales team. However, you may have found that such programs meant to motive, can end up having the reverse affect and deflate, berate and de-motivate instead. Sometimes the problem is not the structure of [.

Incentives 251

Incentives Incentive Motivation Sales 251

Pointclear

APRIL 24, 2012

As much as marketing and sales best practices—not to mention just plain common sense—dictate that cost-per-lead not play a prominent role in managing and measuring B2B lead generation investments, the metric continues to prevail. I included the following in a blog on the cost-per-lead metric I wrote in the summer of 2010: “I continue to marvel at the high number of companies that only use cost-per-lead as a basis for lead generation buying decisions.

Cost per Lead 220

Cost per Lead Lead Generation Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank 220

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 24, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Objective Management Group just completed it's annual international conference for Partners. Normally, I wouldn't write about it, but this event was different. Not most of it, but one magical hour of it. We have had great, world-reknowned keynote speakers in past years like, Guy Kawasaki , Dan Millman , Robert Kriegel , and Verne Harnish.

Face-to-face 205

Face-to-face Conference Exact Opportunity 205

Score More Sales

APRIL 27, 2012

In an inbound marketing world, is there still need to call people? This is the current question on many sellers minds and one that deserves some ongoing discussion. Of all the ways we have seen people actually talking to prospects, it most often is in a combination of the following: 1) Simple web research. 2) LinkedIn or other warm connection. 3 )Have data and knowledge of your prospect’s world. 4) Use of the telephone.

Prospecting 212

Prospecting Lead Rank Lead Scoring Cold Calling 212

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Data

MTD Sales Training

APRIL 26, 2012

Many sales people today still have problems getting enough good referrals. While there are a few astute sales professionals that have truly mastered the art of getting referrals, it still seems to be primarily in getting referrals from clients. Some sales people have become skilled at getting referrals from those prospects that buy. However, there [.

Referrals 231

Referrals How To Sales Prospecting 231

The Sales Hunter

APRIL 21, 2012

Maximizing your price is never easy. Customers today expect discounts. Unfortunately, they’ve come to expect discounts, because far too many salespeople have been willing to give in and reduce their price. With more and more people becoming accustomed to getting a discount or special deal of some type, it makes the role of the salesperson that much harder to hold the line and not offer a discount.

Maximizer 212

Maximizer Discount Margin Motivation 212

Jeffrey Gitomer

APRIL 25, 2012

Tweet Networking takes time. Quality time invested in networking will build your sales, your business, and your career. Done the right way, networking will lead you to make valuable connections that will earn you more than a contact, but a relationship with lasting profit. I’d like to personally invite you to join me for my upcoming No Fear Networking webinar on May 15th, 2012!

Webinar Metrics 187

Webinar Metrics Networking Lead Rank Lead Scoring 187

Increase Sales

APRIL 26, 2012

Is your sales leadership team one of being “Lion Hearted Full” or “Lion Hearted Empty?” Credit www.sxc.hu. What I mean is do you and your sales people demonstrate both of these two words: Lion? Heart? Many salespersons in business today are quite lion like in their behaviors. Their sales leadership style is to focus on the prey or sales leads and then stalk them using contemporary tools including social media, customer relationship management (CRM) and effective sales ski

Sales Leadership 180

Sales Leadership Social Media Facebook Follow-up 180

Speaker: Andrew Regan, Managing Partner at BlueSeed Retail Ltd.

Did you know that 70% of new retail technology fails to deliver expected benefits and can often decrease customer value, service, and experience? With that in mind, how can we empower our store associates to leverage new technology to optimize the customer experience and boost productivity? This exclusive webinar with Andrew Regan will dive into strategies to empower retail associates for success with new technology.

Retail

Sales and Marketing Management

APRIL 26, 2012

Becky Sawicki, senior sales & marketing manager at Jura-Capresso, won an iPad 3. Her prize was presented to her by Sales & Marketing Management magazine account executive Lori Gardner at this year’s 42 nd annual Incentive Manufacturers and Representatives Alliance (IMRA) conference which concluded in Tampa on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Sawicki won the iPad in a drawing based on the first 100 “Early Bird” registrants.

Incentives 120

Incentives Incentive Conference Account 120

The Sales Hunter

APRIL 25, 2012

A big part of selling involves understanding all the ins and outs of your product or service. And it seems that especially when you are meeting with a major client, you will go to great lengths to prepare a thorough sales presentation. Maybe it even has quite a few bells and whistles (PowerPoints, nicely-printed handouts and so forth). But are you wise enough to recognize when the sales presentation actually is getting in the way?

Face-to-face 202

Face-to-face Motivation Sales Up-Sell 202

A Sales Guy

APRIL 25, 2012

How have you built your sales organization? How have you deployed your sales resources? What method have you used to make sure you have the best resources focused on the right things? How you structure your sales organization can be the difference between a successful strategy and a failed one. A brilliant sales strategy won’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t build the best underlying sales structure to support it.

Face-to-face 130

Face-to-face Sales Cycle Compensation Segment 130

Increase Sales

APRIL 25, 2012

Credit www.sxc.hu. Yesterday in speaking with a client and listening to his workforce challenges, the old folk song of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” suddenly popped into my brain and I discovered myself replacing men with “good workers.” The quest to find good workers, but retain them will be one of the most significant business productivity challenges organizations will face in the next 10 years.

Small Business 177

Small Business Small Business Government Face-to-face 177

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Even in today’s data-driven sales world, cold calling remains a fact of life for many go-to-market professionals. Fortunately, today’s sales leaders have a crucial advantage over their predecessors: market intelligence and outreach platforms that can warm up virtually any introduction.

Cold Calling

SBI

APRIL 24, 2012

Tweet AA-ISP Inside Sales Summit. Four hundred Inside Sales leaders attended the 2-day American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) Summit last week in Dallas. After an inspiring opening by Bob Perkins, AA-ISP Founder and CEO, Jill Konrath got the audience roaring with her skit that deftly demonstrated the reality of today’s sales world, all the while making a very serious point.

Inside Sales 122

Inside Sales Cold Calling Webinar Metrics Sales Qualified Lead 122

The Sales Hunter

APRIL 23, 2012

Okay, it wasn’t quite a crisis. But some of you may have noticed that over the past few days, there were a few spammy posts on my site. We had a glitch in our website that allowed a few uninvited people to sneak into the party through an unlocked door. Fortunately, we caught it fairly quickly, but not before about a dozen spam posts made their rounds through my channels on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. .

Face-to-face 162

Face-to-face Twitter Motivation Facebook 162

A Sales Guy

APRIL 24, 2012

In 2009, in the middle of the economic melt down, Hyundai was the only car company that grew. They grew because they offered the job assurance guarantee. If you bought a Hyundai and lost your job, you could return the car. It was a GREAT idea and a brilliant sales strategy. More impressive however, was the ability of Hyundai to executie on the idea.

Guarantee 120

Guarantee Follow-up Strategy Company 120

Increase Sales

APRIL 23, 2012

Symptom fatigue more often than not infects the mindset of small business leadership. These crazy busy small business owners to management and sales executives because of what they believe seek solutions to the symptoms or shadows of the real problems. Credit www.sxc.hu. The inability to increase sales is one example of symptom fatigue. Sales have been flat for a couple of years and so a solution is sought to turn the sales around.

Small Business 169

Small Business Small Business Hiring Coaching 169

Speaker: Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach®

Niche markets represent a huge opportunity for the financial services industry in America. From college students and women to communities of color and low-to-moderate-income households, niche populations have specialized financial needs – but they often underutilize many valuable financial products and services. How can you better connect with these consumers?

Marketing

Fill the Funnel

APRIL 24, 2012

Radius launches first SMB sales intelligence tool! If you are selling to the small business marketplace, you know how you struggle to obtain current information and data for companies with fewer than 100 employees. Dun & Bradstreet, Jigsaw/Data.com and other well known names due a commendable job of providing this information for larger companies but fail miserably for small businesses.

Small Business 122

Small Business Small Business Jigsaw Top of Funnel 122

The Sales Hunter

APRIL 27, 2012

As promised, I’m cruising through the specifics of my 5 Sales Tips to Maximize Your Price. We already covered Sell the Outcome, Not the Activity. Today we are focusing on what it means to… Sell the urgency of the customer’s timeline. Customers are far more willing to pay more when what you have is what they need now. Key is in knowing what that timeline is.

Proposal 156

Proposal Discount Maximizer Closing 156

A Sales Guy

APRIL 27, 2012

While heading down an escalator in the airport today, I saw a man get off the train in a rush. In his haste, he accidentally started up the down escalator. Rather than acknowledge his error and turn around, he kept climbing up the wrong way. Up he went, one step forward one step back as the escalator carried him back down. To avoid losing ground, he picked up his pace.

Negotiation 119

Negotiation Groups Training Sales 119