July, 2015

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How to Handle the References Stall

Mr. Inside Sales

How do you handle it when a prospect asks you for a reference? Do you dutifully provide them with a list of clients they can call? And, if you do, how many of your prospects actually call those references? More importantly, do those prospects that call references ever close? In my experience when a prospect asks me for references they rarely – if ever – become clients.

How To 141
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7 Secrets of Success in Sales

Sales and Marketing Management

Issue Date: 2015-07-31. Author: Jamie Thomas, Vice President Talent Acquisition for Combined Insurance. Teaser: Building a successful sales career is challenging, but it can also be interesting and satisfying. To help determine if you have what it takes to build a career in sales, here are seven best practices that are the foundation of most every successful salesperson.

Insurance 250
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5 Keys To Becoming Your Customer’s Trusted Partner

MTD Sales Training

If you’re in any kind of sales position, you really want to make buying and using your products easy and profitable. That’s the real reason why people buy them in the first place; to make their lives. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

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[Missed Connections]: July Referral-Selling Insights

No More Cold Calling

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this month. A beach, a ball, an ocean, a lake, a pool … that’s all kids need for a great summer vacation. That’s all adults really need as well. But we don’t make time to relax, unwind, enjoy ourselves, or just have some alone time to think. A senior sales executive told me she checks out on weekends and schedules an hour each week to “think”—just to get “off the grid” and tap into her creativity.

Referrals 190
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Brick & Mortar Retail Relevance: How to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Speaker: Jay Black, Senior Account Executive

Let's set the record straight: in-store retail isn't dead - it's evolving! Faced with the digital age and the demands of omnichannel shopping, some retailers are thriving while others are struggling to adapt. Join Jay Black in this exclusive session as he explores the strategies that set successful stores apart, including: Crafting unique and unforgettable in-store experiences 🛍️ Mastering the art of retail demands 🛒 Navigating inventory challenges in today's climate 📦 an

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15 Sales Tips from NSA ‘15

The Sales Heretic

As a sales trainer and keynote speaker, I am, of course, a member of the National Speakers Association. Which means that last week I was in Washington, D.C. for the 2015 NSA Annual Convention. More than 1700 of the world’s top professional speakers and trainers gathered for four days to learn from each other. The [.].

Course 260

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Unconventional Ways to Get Your Salespeople Out of a Rut and Closing More Deals

Steven Rosen

Are your sales reps constantly complain that they are “stuck”? It could just be one tough deal that seems to be endlessly dragging on, and subsequently dragging them down. Or it could be a bad quarter that is making them feel stuck in a huge rut. How do you help them get through and get back on top of their game? Maybe we all need to think outside of the box a bit and explore some more unconventional ways to help them move on and start bringing in those big deals again.

Closing 240
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Are You Ready for Machine Learning?

Sales and Marketing Management

Issue Date: 2015-07-01. Author: Jeff Erhadt, CEO of WISE.IO. Teaser: In this era of Big Data, we’re inundated with messages to use data to drive personalized and predictive experiences for customers. But for many, the gap between this data-driven vision and reality is large and growing. Machine learning alleviates the burden of establishing fixed rules for how to react to data.

Data 216
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LinkedIn Serves Up Catholic Like Feature

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . People always seem to be looking for a means to repent and ease their guilt. Whatever the cause or underlying motivation, people feel better when doing something, even if it is not the right thing for the wrong reasons, acting gives the illusion of accomplishment. So when it comes to sales, social media offers an outlet more immediate and less demanding than going to a confessional, when they know they have wronged and are feeling guilty.

LinkedIn 240
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Wondering How to Grow Sales? Create Time to Think

No More Cold Calling

You’ll never get your next great idea without a quiet space to innovate. How do techies come up with such innovative ideas? Steve Jobs did it with the iPhone, and Elon Musk did it with Tesla. Reed Hastings did it with Netflix, Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, and Elizabeth Holmes with Theranos. Every day we read about new companies addressing needs that never existed before.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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What To Say When The Customer Asks, “Why Should We Use You?”

MTD Sales Training

So, you’ve got to the part of the conversation where the customer asks the £64,000 question, hence indicating they are interested but haven’t yet been persuaded to think seriously about your. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

Customer 228
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The Two Sides of Likable Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

If you have watched the TV series House of Cards , and if you're at all like me, you may have found yourself rooting for the lead characters, whose lack of character and integrity could make you question why you are rooting for them in the first place. Recently, we have been watching Homeland , which I find to be a more disturbing series than House of Cards.

Leads 196
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What the Price Objection Really Means

Mr. Inside Sales

Of all the objections sales reps get, the “price is too high” is still number one on the list. And it makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean think about your own purchases – whether you’re in the market for a new car, a new house, or even a dinner out with the family – what’s the one common component of your own buying decisions? Budget, right? So it makes sense that all of your prospects have a budget consideration as well.

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The Allure of Doing Nothing

Sales and Marketing Management

Issue Date: 2015-07-01. Author: Tim Riesterer. Teaser: Nevermind competitors, salespeople's most formidable adversary is the human preference for staying the course even when the current situation is clearly to their detriment. We look at why buyer indecision happens and what sellers can do to make sure it doesn't. Nevermind competitors, salespeople's most formidable adversary is the human preference for staying the course even when the current situation is clearly to their detriment

Course 208
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Redefining the CDP: 8 Data-Driven Designs for Successful Customer Journeys

In this guide, discover 8 use cases for how a customer data platform can tackle common challenges faced by marketing, commerce, service, and sales teams. With helpful diagrams and simple explanations in each use case, see how Salesforce’s CDP, Data Cloud for Marketing, powers personalized, real-time experiences across marketing, with capabilities that include: Optimizing ad spend Powering dynamic website content Increasing upselling and cross-selling Resolving service cases with marketing data B

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Decision Makers Want To Deal With Decisive People

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . A question I regularly ask when working with a group of reps on prospecting, is “who do you call on?” or “who do you want to call on?” The answer I get is “the decision maker”. Now I have used a lot of different directories and databases, and they all give a title, not role in decision. But let’s say they did, the real question is what happens when you speak to that decision maker.

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Questions to Ask to Gain Clarity

Anthony Cole Training

A guest post by Jack Kasel, Sales Development Expert, Anthony Cole Training Group. In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Steven Covey has a quote… “Seek first to understand. Then to be understood.” I think that statement is especially true for sales professionals.

Groups 147
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How To Present Solutions That Make The Prospect Think Differently

MTD Sales Training

When salespeople present their solutions to prospects, they seldom see the whole picture. What I mean by this is that many salespeople see their product or service and present it from their own. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

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On Vacation? Increasing Sales Can Wait Till You Get Back

No More Cold Calling

Next time you take vacation, give your Inbox a break too. Earlier this summer, I spent two weeks overseas without checking email. How could I possibly afford that luxury? As a small business owner, increasing sales and staying connected to my clients are top priorities. My team can keep the business running smoothly in my absence. They publish my social media posts, edit my writing, manage my database, and send regular communications to my audience.

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Gone in 8 Seconds: Overcoming Buyers’ Shrinking Attention Spans

Speaker: Jake Miller, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Allego

Buyers are savvier, buying teams are larger, and new research shows that buyers' attention spans have dropped to just 8 seconds. This means that the old approach of blasting buyers with email-heavy, generic communications no longer works. Instead, buyers need to be surrounded with relevant communications and personalized, self-service content throughout their journey.

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Bugged by the Difference Between Great and Lousy Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

Yesterday I noticed a large, furry, dead bug on the hood of my car. It seemed to be attached to the outer lip of the hood - like the edge of a cliff - right where the hood drops down to the grill. I got out of the car to remove the chunk of dead fur and I was shocked to see how wrong I was. It was dead all right, and it was furry. I'm not a tall person so I wasn't sitting high enough in the car to notice the distance between the bug and the lip of the hood but my estimate was off by more than 2

Exact 221
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How to Utilize Video in Your Sales Strategy

Sales and Marketing Management

Issue Date: 2015-07-24. Author: Matt Daly. Teaser: Video is a key component of the marketing mix. When marketing and sales work together to develop content and share resources that meet the needs of their customers, success is realized. Video is a key component of the marketing mix. When marketing and sales work together to develop content and share resources that meet the needs of their customers, success is realized.

Video 220
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The Key to Great Mid Year Reviews

Steven Rosen

What Great Sales Managers Do. By Steven A. Rosen. Many sales managers will be sitting down with their sales people over the next month or so to review progress on objectives, business plans and development plans. Sales managers spend a considerable amount of time preparing for a mid year performance review. Sales managers may spend a day per rep preparing and delivering a mid year review.

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Keep Doing What You’ve Been Doing… Unless You Need Different Results

Anthony Cole Training

A guest post by Walt Gerano, Sales Development Expert, Anthony Cole Training Group. There is a saying that goes something like “If you do what you have always done, then you will get what you have always gotten.”. I talk to a lot of salespeople who continue to plow ahead working harder to make more sales with the same approach they have used for years.

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How to Leverage Intent Data for Better Outcomes

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.

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3 Words to Ditch To Improve Your Sales – Sales eXecution 304

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . Words are a big part of selling, seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how little attention some in sales pay to the words they choose. Words impact not only what your prospects hear and their reactions to them, but almost as important is the effect they have on you as the seller. Words impact and reflect you view of things and situations, and while many will argue that it’s just semantics, they fail to realize or acknowledge the degree to which

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How to deal with, “I’ll have to speak with…”

Mr. Inside Sales

There are a few objections that seem – at first glance – almost impossible to overcome: “I want to think about it,” is one of them – but a close second has to be the “I’ll have to speak with….” someone else – a supervisor, regional manager, spouse, etc. In this case, like the one before it, the prospect isn’t objecting, per se, but they aren’t saying yes either.

How To 136
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5 Qualities Of New Salespeople That Will Make Them Valuable In Double-Quick Time

MTD Sales Training

We often see people who are new in sales on our programmes, some of whom having even started selling yet. They ask my trainers how they can quickly get up to speed and get results. We offer some. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]].

Up-Sell 131
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The millennial B2B buyer can’t be ignored

Sales and Marketing Management

Issue Date: 2015-07-01. Author: Paul Nolan. Teaser: By 2020, it is estimated that millennials will make up more than half of the work force. Many of them are being promoted to decision-making positions. Dustin Grosse, Chief Operating Officer of ClearSlide, a sales engagement platform that empowers sales teams to engage customers, recently shared his thoughts about the changing dynamics of buying, selling and managing the generation that is out to save the world.

Buyer 239
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Guide to Using Buyer Need Data

This guide explains how to use Buyer Need Data to identify prospects who could use your solution *before* they demonstrate intent.

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Are Referral Leads Waiting in Your Inbox?

No More Cold Calling

The fortune is in your follow-up. Salespeople and comedians have something in common: More often than not, success comes down to timing. Sometimes we get lucky. We’re in the right place at the right time and meet the perfect prospect. Other times prospects read content we’ve posted, and our phones ring off the hook. You never know when people are ready to buy, or how something you say will resonate at just the right time.

Referrals 227
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The Conversation Sales Leaders Must Have with Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

Thanks to another recommendation from my client and friend, Chris Collias, I am reading a terrific book called The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers. On page 49 (of the Kindle Edition) there is a must read passage for Sales Leaders who want to properly lead a sales force. The passage sums up what sales coaching and accountability are all about.

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Delivery Over Messaging In Prospecting Calls

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca . When it comes to effective prospecting there is usually a complete imbalance between two critical components of an effective message. Effective here means leading to initial engagement. The two components are “the content” of the message, and the “delivery”. The being the ability to ensure that the content is packaged and delivered in a way that the recipient can full receive and digest it and get out of it what the seller intended.