Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 3, 2019

Along with Steve and others, we believe sales people waste too much time chasing the wrong deals. Too many pipelines are filled with garbage–stuff that isn’t real, isn’t qualified, isn’t in our ICP, and more likely to be wishful thinking or desperation on the part of sales people. Let me walk through this.

Top of Funnel 90

Top of Funnel Funnel Pipeline Ideal Customer Profile 90

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 15, 2017

Every sales person, manager, executive inevitably says: “We need to make our numbers, we need more wins, we need more in our pipelines!” Sales people are told, “Get more into your pipeline.” Inevitably pipelines grow—every self respecting sales person can always get more in their pipeline.

Pipeline 76

Pipeline Top of Funnel Maximizer Funnel 76

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 16, 2021

Preface: It’s always dangerous to preface an article with a warning. We are seeing a profound shift in buying, with customers preferring digital engagement channels to sales engagement. For those of you who make it through this, I’d love your feedback and ideas. This is a long article.

Sales Process 94

Sales Process Lead Rank Ideal Customer Profile Channels 94

Sales Training Connection

JANUARY 7, 2013

Sales coaching. Sales leadership talks about it all the time. Sales consultants advocate it and Sales Managers say they would like to do more of it if they had the time. The “it” of course is sales coaching. So sales coaching gets put off until Friday and it never happens. Great Numbers. Zombie Ideas.

Sales Coaching 127

Sales Coaching Coaching Sales Leadership Fashion 127

Partners in Excellence

JULY 24, 2019

In sales we are deluged with all sorts of metric, most of which are meaningless, many of which are contradictory. Too often, these metrics divert a lot of sales time and way too much management time trying to understand and track. My colleague suggests the 3 most important metrics in sales are: Number of New Opportunities Generated.

Sales Cycle 59

Sales Cycle Quota Pipeline Intent 59

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 5, 2012

” I wonder, “Why does this seem to be a surprise, do people have the right measurement systems in place?’” At any point in time, you can look at: Are we pursuing a sufficient number of opportunities to achieve our numbers? I have to admit, it’s a little difficult for me to understand the “surprise.”

System 90

System Top of Funnel Funnel Sales Qualified Lead 90

Close.io

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Want more, higher quality customers with a lot less effort than it takes to do cold outbound sales or inbound marketing? Use this simple referral sales system to grow your business starting today. One of the most valuable sources of quality sales leads is right in front of you: your existing customers.

Referrals 89

Referrals Customer Outbound Incentives 89

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 26, 2018

I just read a good article on ABM, ABS, ABE (Account Based Marketing, Sales, Everything). Everything we do in sales and marketing, by definition, must focus on our ICP! Sales people want to fill their funnels. That’s a sales management problem–they have no idea what their ICP is, so they keep casting a wider net.

Ideal Customer Profile 48

Ideal Customer Profile Account Based Marketing Top of Funnel Funnel 48

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 19, 2013

Do you conduct them? Sometimes I see loss reviews conducted–but most often, it’s not a loss review, it’s a reason code in a CRM system–and most of the time it is price or a product reason. We may talk to the sale team only, never going to the customer and asking for their feedback. Mid-sized deals?

Analysis 91

Analysis Competition Segment System 91

LeadFuze

AUGUST 18, 2021

3 Sales Voicemail Statistics You Should Know. Are you leveraging sales voicemail as part of your prospecting process? There’s this dirty little rumor circulating the sales world that says voicemail is dead and gone this 2021. 80% of Sales Calls Just Go to Voicemail. 14 Effective Sales Voicemail Tips.

Closing 98

Closing Call-back Decision Maker Incentives 98

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 18, 2018

Fast forward to the telecom world of today and, “Can You Hear Me Now,” is no longer an advertising campaign, but the reality we live in every day. ” We seem to do the same things in marketing and sales. The same with selling, win rates, sales cycle, average transaction values were important.

Telecommunications 52

Telecommunications Campaigns Advertising Advertising 52

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 13, 2013

I talk to hundreds of sales people and executives each year. OK, you know I’m a prone to a little exaggeration.). It seems we’re always looking for something more and getting that will solve all our sales problems. We have a sales process…but we aren’t using it.

Collateral 86

Collateral Pipeline Account Margin 86

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 31, 2013

Pipeline reviews and reporting are constant sources of contention between management and sales people. From a sales person’s perspective, they get no value from it, but managers need it to make sure the business in control. At it’s worst, sales people view it as a “Big Brother Is Watching Exercise.”

Pipeline 93

Pipeline Top of Funnel Revelation Sales Cycle 93

Sales Training Connection

JUNE 3, 2015

Sales Coaching. Sales leadership talks about it all the time. Sales consultants advocate it and sales managers say they would like to do more of it if they had the time. The “it” of course is sales coaching. So sales coaching gets put off until Friday and it never happens. . Great Numbers. Zombie Ideas.

Sales Coaching 50

Sales Coaching Coaching Scale Fashion 50

Partners in Excellence

JULY 14, 2016

Inevitably, as I do pipeline and deal reviews, I see sales people hanging onto too many bad deals. The deals are hopeless, the sales person may reluctantly admit it, but stubbornly wants to keep it in their active pipeline. You need to fill up your pipeline! You need to fill up your pipeline!”

Pipeline 48

Pipeline Margin Sports Top of Funnel 48

Partners in Excellence

JULY 16, 2013

It’s amazing the number of sales people and organizations I encounter claiming to have great pipelines. But then you start drilling down, you look at age–number of days in a stage, number of days in the pipeline. Sales people insist they are good, the customer will start moving forward on the deal any day now.

Pipeline 93

Pipeline Top of Funnel Funnel Software 93

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 23, 2014

I wrote, Finding The Decisionmaker , discussing the consensus buying process and the increasing number of decisionmakers involved in complex B2B sales ( Average of 5.4 Martin posed the issue, “Think of the poor sales person reading this. Now you are asking them to call on 2-3 times more people. according to CEB.)

Sales Qualified Lead 91

Sales Qualified Lead Coaching Tools Lead Rank 91

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 13, 2012

Too often, they consume too much time of front line sales people and managers–who should be increasing the time they spend with customers. They deluge the sales force with new things, “here’s a great program to overcome the sales problem,” “we’ve done this promotion,” and so on.

Top of Funnel 85

Top of Funnel Face-to-face Funnel Report 85

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

The funnel/pipeline is a key tool for sales people and managers to assess performance. It provides so many insights beyond knowing whether you will make your sales goals. It tells me so much about the organization or the sales person. ” Finally, I said, “Could you send me your most current pipeline report?”

Pipeline 94

Pipeline Top of Funnel Funnel Churn 94

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 28, 2012

Every sales professional knows the importance of keeping a full pipeline. But if we are keeping full pipelines, why do only 53% of sales people make their quotas? I get to see the pipelines of dozens of organizations and hundreds of sales people every year. Something’s wrong. Why aren’t we moving the deal forward?

Pipeline 95

Pipeline Top of Funnel Quota Sales Cycle 95

SBI

MARCH 18, 2015

This post is part of a series of Executive Interviews of top sales and marketing solutions company executives. What problem/s are you solving for sales and/or marketing organizations? What problem/s are you solving for sales and/or marketing organizations? This week I interview K.V. Rao, CEO of Aviso.

Up-Sell 50

Up-Sell Revenue Sales Forecasts Forecasting 50

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 14, 2013

The funnel/pipeline is a fundamental tool for sales professionals and managers. The problem is, when our funnels start looking a little lean and managers start hammering on sales people for the right coverage model. As a sales person, it’s pretty easy to get my manager off my back on this one.

Top of Funnel 96

Top of Funnel Funnel Pipeline Distribution 96

Partners in Excellence

MAY 16, 2013

I’ve been having trouble with a sales person. Why don’t you ask her?” ” He politely asked, “Would you make sure to call me when you want to get the new car?” I said, “Please, we’ll talk to you in July, don’t worry. We will not buy a car from you.

Top of Funnel 92

Top of Funnel Funnel Decision Maker Churn 92

Close.io

OCTOBER 29, 2018

Sales productivity can be a pretty nebulous term. At its core though, sales productivity is all about increasing your number of sales for the amount of time you spend actively selling. At its core though, sales productivity is all about increasing your number of sales for the amount of time you spend actively selling.

Lead Rank 117

Lead Rank Closing Lead Scoring Hiring 117

Hubspot Sales

OCTOBER 29, 2017

in 2013 on hiring sales training companies, one of the top five outsourced training expenditures, according to Training Industry. Clearly, if your team needs sales training, there's a lot of options out there. Warning: If you’re supposed to be productive today, bookmark this post and come back to it. Best Sales Videos.

Channels 111

Channels Video Training Hiring 111

Partners in Excellence

MAY 3, 2016

Over the past weeks, I’ve been participating in a number of quarterly reviews–sales people presenting to their managers, regional vice presidents reporting to the CSO, EVP’s and GM’s presenting to the CEO. Most are OK, maybe not great, but you can see a way for them to get to the goals they are trying to achieve.

Face-to-face 48

Face-to-face Trade Show Pipeline Sales Qualified Lead 48

Close.io

JUNE 3, 2019

Imagine two sales managers walk into a room. Sales Manager #1 wants to crush her quarterly targets and has an idea of what it’s going to take to get there. Sales Manager #2, on the other hand, doesn’t hope. Before you yawn and your eyes glaze over, realize forecasting doesn’t have to be a complicated or tedious tool to manage.

Sales Forecasts 91

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Top of Funnel How To 91

Nutshell

APRIL 17, 2020

If you missed it, watch the full replay here.). Featuring live presentations from some of the brightest minds in sales, marketing, and customer retention, the event was a massive step forward from the first BOUNDLESS show back in February 2019 , both in terms of production value and attendance. KRISTEN GRAY, CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER.

Conference 126

Conference Top of Funnel Promotion Social Media 126

Lessonly

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Seeking to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly of gamification is important before deciding how to leverage it within your enablement program. In the early 2000s, business leaders began applying some of these same techniques to their teams in an effort to capture some of the same results: engagement, loyalty, and fun.

Lead Rank 30

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Face-to-face Motivation 30

Gong.io

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

B2B sales is a rapidly evolving discipline. With this in mind, what place do progressive technologies like AI ( artificial intelligence ) and machine learning have in a modern sales process? With this in mind, what place do progressive technologies like AI ( artificial intelligence ) and machine learning have in a modern sales process?

Lead Rank 62

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Churn Forecasting 62

Gong.io

MARCH 26, 2021

Sales training is the most underrated growth driver. Because training is the lever that fuels all other initiatives (new products, multi-year contracts, or sales methodology – you name it). I mean, how else are you making sure strategic decisions make it to the front lines? Do you have a follow-up call scheduled?

Training 62

Training How To Coaching Call-back 62

Sales Hacker

MARCH 2, 2020

And for leveling up your sales skills, nothing beats a good sales book. So what are the best sales books for helping you reach peak performance? Have been recommended by sales professionals. Here’s how you can find the sales books that are most relevant to you. Sales Models and Fundamentals.

Top of Funnel 141

Top of Funnel Lead Rank Hiring Handbook 141

SBI

OCTOBER 19, 2017

We call it Sales Tech Simplified. Michael: There are three critical sales processes that are central to driving revenue: forecast management, pipeline reviews, and deal reviews. Unbelievably, despite the critical importance of getting it right, sales teams are relying on good old fashioned “gut feel” and human judgment.

Forecasting 126

Forecasting Pipeline Segment Sales Forecasts 126

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

But, before you brush this off as just another list of tips and tricks , we urge you to stop what you’re doing and bookmark this page. So, whether you’re new to the world of content marketing or simply in need of a refresher, this article is for you. And, you decide on a particular topic for the next quarter.

Top of Funnel 189

Top of Funnel B2B Buyer Persona How To 189

Gong.io

AUGUST 2, 2021

Most sales managers don’t get the full ROI from their coaching. But t op sales managers drive maximum impact by focusing their coaching on high-leverage areas. Coaching opportunities are everywhere, you just need to know where to look. Sales Coaching Opportunity #1: Tactical Coaching (i.e. Very un- you.

Sales Coaching 62

Sales Coaching Opportunity Coaching Top of Funnel 62

Zoominfo

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

But, before you brush this off as just another list of tips and tricks , we urge you to stop what you’re doing and bookmark this page. So, whether you’re new to the world of content marketing or simply in need of a refresher, this article is for you. And, you decide on a particular topic for the next quarter.

Top of Funnel 100

Top of Funnel B2B Buyer Persona How To 100

Sales Hacker Training

DECEMBER 8, 2020

If you missed episode 137, check it out here: From Marketer to CEO: The Power of Brand as a Growth Amplifier with Jake Sorofman. Subscribe to the Sales Hacker Podcast. Sam Jacobs: This week on the show, we’ve got Luke Rogers, the Vice President of Sales at Instabase. Learn how modern sales teams with deals, win deals now.

Hiring 119

Hiring Top of Funnel Scale Banking 119