Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 4, 2023

This morning, I’ve been having a fascinating email conversation with my friend, Brian MacIver. If you don’t know/follow Brian, you should, he’s one of the best thinkers/practitioners I’ve met in selling. We were talking, loosely, around the advantages of being customer focused and what that means.

Customer 105

Customer Scale Buying Cycle Discount 105

Zoominfo

AUGUST 1, 2023

It’s just as important as any [IT] infrastructure you have, and ensuring data is incredibly accurate and usable by generative AI will be an infrastructural layer in the future.” Experian also found that only half of the companies surveyed feel their customer data is accurate enough to be used in their go-to-market (GTM) motions.

Data 130

Data B2B Harvest Scale 130

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 4, 2024

Having a bad sales month? However, it's not the slump itself that really matters, but what we do to address it. What makes a bad sales month? A bad sales month can be attributed to a variety of factors, ranging from internal processes to external market conditions. We have no pill for this.

Top of Funnel 104

Top of Funnel How To Hubspot Forecasting 104

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 24, 2023

Periodically, my friend, Martin Schmalenbach , and I have conversations on the state of “Value Co-Creation,” and selling. I’m still formulating my thinking on this, but in the spirit of provoking a wider conversation, here are some thoughts: How’s this different from being a trusted advisor? .”

Face-to-face 103

Face-to-face Retention B2B Groups 103

No More Cold Calling

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling. I know what you’re thinking: “Hold on, Joanne, that’s not how it works.”. If you make the mistake of being 100 percent heads-down getting deals done, you won’t have qualified leads in your pipeline for next year. I walked a marathon, so I know how long it takes.).

Referrals 209

Referrals Pipeline Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 209

No More Cold Calling

MAY 25, 2023

How do B2B buyers tell one internet security company from another? Often you can’t tell them apart, because sellers have similar offerings and the same party line about what they do. Image attribution: Tony Wu ) I Feel Like We’ve Met Before It’s the same old lead generation story. You have a choice. That’s pitiful.

B2B 177

B2B Buyer Referrals Sales Qualified Lead 177

The Pipeline

AUGUST 27, 2019

Not only do they seem to not worry about how they use time, but many also seem to go out of their way to waste it. and most don’t have an answer, or seemed to care. I have written about the importance of time to sellers, including an eBook you can grab , the focus here goes beyond that. Giving It Away.

Wireless 264

Wireless Discount Face-to-face Scale 264

No More Cold Calling

MAY 13, 2021

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard this from a VP of Sales. Building client trust has always been a challenge, so why is this new in a virtual world? That’s why building client trust is our most important job. How do you do that? Sales has gotten a bad rap. To know you is to like you. “As

Ideal Customer Profile 290

Ideal Customer Profile Social Media Referrals Sage 290

Adaptive Business Services

MARCH 27, 2024

As a Nimble CRM Solution Partner, I am frequently asked by clients to assist them with integrating Nimble with one or more 3rd-party applications. The short answer is … sorry, but I probably cannot. I have not even heard of, let alone worked with, 99.999% of the applications that are out there. Do your homework first!

CRM 71

CRM Enterprise Enterprise Google 71

Steven Rosen

AUGUST 26, 2021

Do you have a success checklist to see if you are on track for a successful year? Go through the checklist below and see how many items you have completed ensuring that you are on track. Here are the top 10 questions you should ask yourself and your sales managers to gauge if you/they have set the foundation for success.

Compensation 386

Compensation Lead Rank Lead Scoring Quota 386

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 29, 2023

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this quarter. I celebrated a milestone this month. It’s been 27 years since I founded No More Cold Calling. Referrals have an average conversion rate of more than 50 percent (most say it’s closer to 70 percent) and an increased ratio of qualified opportunities.

Referrals 177

Referrals Channels Cold Calling Scale 177

The Sales Hunter

AUGUST 2, 2019

Do you have lousy customers? If you’re saying yes, then why do you think your customers are lousy? Are your customers lousy because your sales process attracts the wrong customers? It’s not a good enough reason to get a customer just to help make your monthly or quarterly number.

Customer 169

Customer Prospecting Sales Process Up-Sell 169

Steven Rosen

MARCH 23, 2022

The only problem is that managers have not been taught how to coach effectively. Do You Want To Increase Sales Performance? The only problem is that managers have not been taught how to coach effectively. You may still see yourself as a problem-solver, like, “If I solve this rep’s issue, she/he can make the sale.”

Coaching 292

Coaching Sales Management Face-to-face Sports 292

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 29, 2019

Do your clients want more from you? We all want a stellar customer experience, and we’re pissed when we don’t get it. B2B customers are just louder about it. I just cancelled a shipping order with Office Depot for a standard metal filing cabinet. I told him to cancel my purchase and refund my money. In her Sales 3.0

Referrals 261

Referrals B2B Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 261

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 15, 2024

Many moons ago, I was pitching a huge deal to Sony Pictures. I like to call this “ghosting” — when a sales process is chugging along smoothly with a client, you feel positive that the deal will close, and then your prospect disappears without a trace. To combat ghosting, you have to understand what’s causing your client to avoid you.

Prospecting 113

Prospecting Follow-up Call-back Proposal 113

The Sales Hunter

MARCH 29, 2019

Do not assume anything! This is easy to say, but sometimes tough to do in the moment. We should have these four words posted above our laptop and on the top of our phone. Think about the number of times you have made an assumption only to be proven wrong later. Pick up the phone and have a conversation.

Travel 251

Travel Conversion Customer Examples 251

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 22, 2024

Whenever, I talk to Orrin, he is deeply thoughtful about all the business, strategy, leadership, growth issues that arise in our conversations. But the thing that’s always struck me is is deep involvement, in support of his teams, with the customers. I was raised in a perfect family to do that.”

Hiring 73

Hiring Retail Engineering Call-back 73

SalesLoft

APRIL 25, 2024

In this three-part series, you’ll learn how a Salesloft AE lands multiple mega deals — from prospecting to selling to power, to delighting them as customers — so you can replicate his success. The customer is on board. In this episode, Corey explains why you need a strong vision, a strategic foundation, and a lot of patience.

Commission 52

Commission How To Scale Enterprise 52

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 2, 2021

Not long ago, I was on a Zoom call with a bunch of CROs. Everyone piled on, sharing their experiences and their “favorite” bad prospecting ploys (Found a lot of great materials for Hank Barnes’ #FridayFails.). Aren’t they doing the same things?” ” Here’s where I became a real jerk.

Social Media 113

Social Media LinkedIn Prospecting Groups 113

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

I’ve been revisiting a lot of selling basics. What we do, why we do it, who it’s for… The reality is few training programs address these things well, focusing instead on how we do these things. We just do what we have always done, moving unconsciously through our and our customer’s days.

Meeting 106

Meeting Call-back Face-to-face Maximizer 106

Hubspot Sales

JANUARY 30, 2024

Why the change? They’ll have personalized conversations about a prospect's specific needs and why their product or service is the best-fit solution. Learning from trends and what others do is extremely important, but Facebook overtaking LinkedIn for some salespeople doesn’t mean you have to jump ship.

Trends 88

Trends Social Media Lead Rank Lead Scoring 88

Julie Hanson

OCTOBER 14, 2022

But there’s a whole category of advice that clearly comes from people who have never had to make a living in front of a camera. Taking bad advice is costly as some of these “best practices” can damage your credibility and send buyers to their phones, or worse, to your competition. The camera is the eyes of your customer.

Face-to-face 127

Face-to-face Video Buyer Up-Sell 127

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

As much as we obsess on winning, hitting our goals, earning commissions; we are actually pretty bad at it. Over the years, the data demonstrates how badly we actually do. Fewer sellers achieving quota, more customers choosing not to buy, more customers choosing not to engage sellers. Where do we have the best fit?

Ideal Customer Profile 73

Ideal Customer Profile Pipeline Analysis Commission 73

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 2, 2024

I suspect much is based on our love of really bad puns. But most of it is how deeply I respect her as a leader. Here’s Maria: “I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering with a chemistry minor. Here’s Maria: “I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering with a chemistry minor.

Chemicals 73

Chemicals Engineering Demographics Guarantee 73

Partners in Excellence

AUGUST 27, 2020

It might seem odd, particularly in these difficult economic times, to talk about the concept of “good and bad revenue.” ” What’s the difference between good and bad revenue? It is from deals that strengthen our experience and position within a customer, a market, an industry.

Revenue 112

Revenue Margin Buying Cycle Opportunity 112

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 11, 2021

I struggled a moment. Regular readers know that I write a lot about “pet peeves.” ” Whether it’s bad prospecting, bad Social Channel interactions, bad selling, weak sales management, ineffective training, and so forth. .” He asked me to contribute a post commemorating this occasion.

Revelation 133

Revelation Jigsaw Account Lead Rank 133

Adaptive Business Services

JANUARY 31, 2024

Let’s examine that … Back in the 80’s, I was the sales manager for a local office equipment company. This gave the customer an extra layer of confidence. I’m not even sure if, at the time, I fully comprehended this dynamic. I trembled in fear as to what their response would be. I ask if they had been inspected.

Transportation 71

Transportation Epiphany Banking Vendor 71

Partners in Excellence

AUGUST 17, 2023

” I worry whether “we” can’t handle the truth. I and others have become broken records. As sellers, we would hope that customers would want to engage us, but the reality is they do everything the can to minimize their need to engage selling. We do more, yet more produces less.

Face-to-face 87

Face-to-face Trends Data Examples 87

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

I read a fascinating study from GTM Partners. One of the observations was, “There is an average of 8 handoffs in the average customer acquisition and delivery process.” ” As I read that, the image of eating in a cafeteria struck me. If you have questions, it slows the line down. Do you have an allergy?”

Retention 106

Retention Customer Exact Study 106

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

They are the foundation of high impact conversations with our customers. In reality, we are pretty bad. As managers, for various good/bad reasons, we are too often in tell mode. What do we have to do to conduct high impact, collaborative conversations? We, me included, tend to be very glib about these.

Conversion 81

Conversion Construction Intent Follow-up 81

Partners in Excellence

JULY 17, 2023

Over the course of my career I’ve looked at thousands of pipelines/funnels. Most are pretty bleak, they don’t have enough opportunities to achieve their goals. Recently, I was in a meeting discussing the pipeline health. “What do you mean? .” “What do you mean?”

Pipeline 78

Pipeline Ideal Customer Profile Analysis Face-to-face 78

Hubspot Sales

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

So many salespeople have done so many slimy things over the years that at this point, buyers now think of “sales” itself as a dirty word. If you've used slimy sales tactics in the past, or if you’re using them today, I implore you: please stop. The backstory : In 2007, my eight-month-pregnant wife and I had just bought our first home.

Commission 94

Commission Call-back Hotels Sales 94

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 25, 2024

next year Three in four D2C companies have some form of subscription offering The combined market cap of all digital subscription companies has reached $14T (with new entrants still jumping in ) Source: UBS But making a buck isn’t as easy anymore, especially since consumers today paying $1k per year on subscriptions seem to be outgrowing this model.

Churn 75

Churn Scale Hiring Consumer 75

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 20, 2023

As we face tougher business and economic times, I see too many organizations implementing frenzied strategies of doing more–more prospecting, more outreaches, more activities, more deals. And along with that, more meetings discussing why things aren’t working and trying to figure out what more to do.

Ideal Customer Profile 82

Ideal Customer Profile Face-to-face Resources Strategy 82

Showpad

AUGUST 18, 2020

Sales enablement shouldn’t automate bad practices. Our topic today is why that’s an issue and how to do it better. One of the statements I made there might be a good starting point: “Be aware that a dysfunctional process remains dysfunctional, even if digitized.”. Isn’t this what I was told for many years?

Sales Enablement 127

Sales Enablement Outsourcing Services Ideal Customer Profile Hiring 127

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Reading my feeds this weekend, I realized how badly I have been missing things. The solution to everything we do. And the clues have been there. To emerge from our product, marketing, sales, and customer success silo’s focusing on one thing, Revenue. What am I missing?”

Revenue 79

Revenue Enterprise Enterprise Customer Service 79

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 17, 2022

I’m fascinated by studying lazy sales people! Let me qualify that a little, I’m fascinated by studying lazy sales people that consistently achieve their goals. I read a post from some “expert” talking about the long hours of work, declaring he starts his day at 3 am! (

Margin 128

Margin Call-back Incentives Incentive 128