April, 2019

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How Not to Close End of Quarter Deals

John Barrows

For many of us, April marks the start of a new quarter, fresh targets and quota and new opportunities to focus on. Sometimes you hit your quarterly number with weeks to spare, other times you’re pushing in any deal you can to Make It Happen by the end of that third month. I received this email last week (looks like the end of someone’s Q1), which is a great example of sales done wrong, in my opinion.

Closing 161
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How the Rubber Band Sabotages Sales Performance

Understanding the Sales Force

I have written many articles about Sales DNA, the combination of strengths that support sales process, sales strategy and sales tactics; or, when it appears as a weakness and sabotages ones ability to execute.

Sales 283
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Why Flexible Slides are the Key to Conversational Sales

Jill Konrath

Recently I interviewed Luke Goetting, Director of Puffingston Presentations for an Engaging Presentations video series I did with Prezi. His expertise is in "transforming stale business presentations into visually engaging stories." That's why I asked him to share his thinking with you.

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Leaders Without Moral Courage Let Their Employees Down

No More Cold Calling

Has management ever told you to take a break? Our pace is too frenetic. We take shortcuts when we know we shouldn’t. We’re conflicted whether to stay in a job we don’t like or jump ship. We want to spend more time with our families, to exercise more, to be happy … really happy. All of that’s tough to achieve today, especially if our managers are constantly pushing us to do more, to work later, and to be available around the clock.

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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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5 Keys for Motivating Your Top Salespeople

Sales and Marketing Management

Author: Kevin F. Davis It goes without saying that your top salespeople are the backbone of your team. Sure, they keep the sales rolling in, but they also play a key role in keeping your entire team motivated. When your top few are hard at work, the rest of the team aspires to their greatness. However, those top salespeople aren’t robots – they go through burnouts and times where they just need an extra boost of motivation, themselves.

More Trending

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10 Reasons Why I Love Sales

The Sales Hunter

Not many people dream of having a career in sales. Let’s be real here: sales was probably not your first choice. For many of you, although afraid to admit, sales wasn’t even your second, third or fourth choice. Some of you reading this are thinking to yourself, “Mark you’re smoking something funny.” Calm down. Although I used to live in Oregon, I haven’t smoked anything.

Sports 269
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Six Overlooked Factors When Hiring Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

This week I've been sick with my annual bout of asthmatic bronchitis - fun stuff - and the question I've been asking myself is, "how long will it last this year?" Historically, it's takes 2-4 weeks for this to subside and it sucks big time during that 2-4 weeks. But thinking about time frames got me thinking about one of the universal timelines and challenges facing companies everywhere.

Hiring 264
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Is This Mental Trap Making It Harder for You to Close Deals?

Jill Konrath

The first time I heard the call-in radio interview with the "deer crossing lady," I couldn't believe it. Tears of laughter were streaming down my face. The more she talked, the worse (or perhaps better) it got.

Closing 264
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Surprise! All Intuition Isn’t the Same

No More Cold Calling

Did you know we have three different types of intuition? “Darn, I wish I’d trusted my gut.” I won’t even try to count the times I’ve said that. Eventually, most of us learn that trusting our gut makes sense—which is a non sequitur, because making sense is not intuitive. Making sense is systematic and sequential, and intuition is the opposite. It’s a feeling.

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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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Promoted! Now What? First-Time Sales Manager Series

Connect2Sell

You’re new to your role as a Sales Manager. Congratulations on your recent promotion! (Not promoted yet but angling for a sales manager role? Here's a post to help you get there.).

Promotion 243
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A Cold Call By Any Other Name

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto. The expression ‘Cold Call’ brings an immediate visceral reaction from people, when it shouldn’t. Most picture opening the yellow pages, picking a business at random, dialling and barking “Wanna buy, wanna buy, wanna buy?” on the other hand, a cold call by another name is just direct contact. When I say cold calling, I specifically refer to calling someone when that call is not previously scheduled.

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What Is An Emotional Selling Proposition & Is It Better Than A Unique Selling Proposition?

MTD Sales Training

Emotional Selling Proposition – have you got one? We all know that sales are based mostly on emotion and the decision is backed up with logic. That’s the law of the salesperson! So, do we often come up with emotional selling points in our proposals? Do we develop our emotional selling propositions as well as our unique selling propositions? You’ve heard of a USP right?

Call-back 243
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The 21-Day Solution for the Toughest Sales Weaknesses

Understanding the Sales Force

About a year ago, I wrote a very popular article called, Persistence Over Polish , where I discussed the competencies that the top 10% of all salespeople were better at than everyone else. The article identified 5 of the 21 Sales Core Competencies that were the biggest difference makers, showed the gap in capabilities, and explained the impact of having these competencies as weaknesses.

Sales 257
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Supercharge Your Sales: 5 Steps to Effortless Selling

Sales teams often lose precious time hunting for updated sales materials, while marketing struggles to keep these assets accessible and current. It's not just about managing; it's about seamlessly finding, presenting, and sharing critical sales content. All of this takes place within an intuitive, unified platform. Dive into Showell's groundbreaking content management realm.

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Is There A Place For Anger In Management?

Sales and Marketing Management

Author: Paul Nolan Anger has its benefits, writer Charles Duhigg states in a recent Atlantic cover story on the topic. “We’re more likely to perceive people who express anger as competent, powerful and the kinds of leaders who will overcome challenges. Anger motivates us to undertake difficult tasks. We’re often more creative when we’re angry, because our outrage helps us see solutions we’ve overlooked,” he writes.

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Even in B2B, Customer Experience Defines You (April Referral Selling Insights)

No More Cold Calling

Do your clients want more from you? Would you be surprised to learn that prospects want the same buying experience in their business lives as in their personal lives? I’m not. We all want a stellar customer experience, and we’re pissed when we don’t get it. B2B customers are just louder about it. Everyone complains about their cell phone providers, their utilities companies, and their myriad of unpleasant shopping experiences.

Referrals 261
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How Do I Get a Promotion to Sales Manager?

Connect2Sell

You’re successful as a seller. You’re planning for the future, and you’re eyeing that next-level job of sales manager.

Promotion 292
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Maximize Every Prospecting Call

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto. Every mode of communication offers opportunities for proactive prospectors, which is why you don’t want to skip the phone. The phone offers a number of advantages absent from email, LinkedIn and other social platforms. It creates contact between two human beings. What’s interesting is those who stick with one mode, especially social, seem to miss entirely the infinite social interaction and the possibilities the phone lead to.

Maximizer 282
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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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The Future of Sales Enablement in the Tech Sector

SBI Growth

Customer centricity and stiff competition in the tech industry are changing how sales enablement operate. Teams need to focus on sales reps solving customer challenges instead of simply selling products and services. Sell Solutions Instead of Products. Traditional sales enablement motions are.

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Using the Power of a Duracell to Help You Hire Perfect Salespeople

Understanding the Sales Force

Apparently, Duracell 9 volt batteries are the picture of consistency. Last night, all 7 of our upstairs smoke detecters starting squawking within about 30 minutes of each other to indicate that their batteries needed to be replaced. Given that the Duracells were installed in those units on the same day 4 years ago, one would hope that there are more things that we could rely upon to be as consistent and predictable.

Hiring 229
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How Sales Engagement Solves 7 Major Business Pain Points

Sales and Marketing Management

Author: Manny Medina, Max Atschuler and Mark Kosoglow The days of old-school communications have passed. In their stead, we have new modern sales communications that are data-driven, personalized, relevant, omnichannel, sequenced, and fully optimized for today’s sophisticated buyer. The following are the seven major business pain points solved by sales engagement: Business Pain Point #1: Not Optimizing for the Modern Buyer.

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7 Steps to Improve Email Deliverability

Zoominfo

Take a look at your inbox – how many unread or deleted messages do you have? And how many of them are from companies trying to catch your attention? This is the reality of email marketing today. As such, it’s crucial to understand best practices that can help you improve email deliverability and compete in an environment where much is outside your control.

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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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Sales Leadership and the Questions You Ask

The Sales Hunter

How well do your questions push the customer’s thinking? Sales leadership is about the customer seeing you differently than every other salesperson. If all you do is ask the basic questions that they’ve already been asked a thousand times, how will you stand out? Sales is about taking the customer to a different level. If you just satisfy their basic needs, you are not selling your service to the customer.

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Why Hold A Grudge?

The Pipeline

By Tibor Shanto. The start of any quarter is an opportunity to step back take stock and recommit to your success. The first quarter, however, is a bit different, it is far enough away from the year-end, that you can think, be positive, and have the space to course correct or accelerate your triumphs; it is an entirely different affair the first week of October, when the desperate clouds of Q4 cover the top of the funnel.

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LinkedIn Voice Messages

John Barrows

You may have heard about the benefits of LinkedIn voice messages. Many sales reps, including Morgan, are using them with great success. Of the 125 Morgan has sent, he’s seen 50 responses and booked 25 meetings. That’s a 40% response rate, and 20% success rate in getting next steps. Here’s how you can get started with LinkedIn voice messages. Who you can send them to.

LinkedIn 141
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2 Selling Shortcuts That Will Always Work

Understanding the Sales Force

Do shortcuts work in sales?

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Contact vs. Company Intent Signal Data

Contact and company intent data both have their advantages. Contact-level intent leads can be acted on immediately to reach active buyers, while company-level leads improve outcomes for account-based marketing and other programs. This infographic unpacks the advantages of both contact and company data and gives details about how B2B marketers can benefit from both.

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14 Sales Presentation Techniques That Will Help You Close More Deals Today

Hubspot Sales

What makes a good sales presentation? An effective presentation tells a compelling story, highlights your value proposition, and aligns with your audience's needs and desires. It ends with a strong call-to-action. Hate the thought of doing sales presentations ? You’re not alone. But the best reps have sales presentations down pat, even if it’s not their favorite activity.

Closing 143
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Out with the Funnel, In With the Flywheel: The Modern Buyer’s Journey

Zoominfo

As human beings, we’re naturally inclined to regard change with a sense of skepticism. But, sales and marketing organizations must resist this instinct in order to constantly adapt to changing markets, new technologies, emerging trends and so on. But, there’s one business concept that’s stood the test of time like no other. It’s a model so deeply ingrained in modern strategies that most businesses don’t even think to question it.

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Monday Motivation Video: Do You Believe In Yourself?

The Sales Hunter

Your customers will never accept what you have to offer unless you are confident in what you’re selling. The first thing you are selling is not the product or service but actually yourself. Have confidence and work with integrity. Together, working with your customers, you will be able to achieve what they didn’t think was possible. It starts with you believing in you.