Sales and Marketing Management

MAY 12, 2019

Author: Todd Caponi Negotiating an agreement with a client is often perceived as requiring the development of a completely different selling muscle: During the sales cycle, we’re doing things to add value to the buying journey, building trust and providing the information a buyer needs to make a confident, informed decision. .

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Negotiation Discount Proposal Face-to-face 166

Customer Centric Selling

JUNE 26, 2014

Sellers are under monthly, quarterly and annual quota pressure. Take a look at the sales training workshops available to get started and improve sales performance. Read more sales training articles for helpful sales tips and techniques from CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company.

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Buying Cycle Discount Energy Incentives 76

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

I wish I had the wisdom back then to encourage all of my staff to look a sales cycle ahead to evaluate whether their pipelines were sufficient to deliver the numbers needed for them to be YTD against quota or better. Read more sales training articles. Let’s say you “sprint” the last few months of 2016.

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MEDDIC

JULY 8, 2021

The move from the full sales cycle model to the SDR/AE is no exception; we wanted to reduce the CAC (customer acquisition cost) and thought we would improve specialized skills, but we lost in customer centricity, people centricity and didn’t always observe that promised profit. That’s how they fall in love with sales.

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Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Sellers striving to achieve quota in December face similar challenges. A seller’s usual sales techniques can be compromised and sales can be lost. Register for one of our 2014 sales training workshops and get a jump on making your new number. Need some help with your sales performance?

Training 55

Training Quota Face-to-face Margin 55

The Pipeline

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

If you make the sale about them, you win, if you come across as focused on the sale and your quota, you smell desperate. Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation. Sales Cycle. Sales eXchange. Sales Force Alignment. Sales Leadership. Sales Management. Sales Meetings.

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Customer Centric Selling

APRIL 2, 2014

As sellers go through a year, it’s important that they temper optimism with a realistic view of where they stand against quota. Now would be a good time to attend a sales training workshop to learn how you can save the year and make your number. Need some help with your sales performance? Miss your Q1 target?

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Training Buying Cycle Engineering Sales Cycle 59

Mindtickle

JANUARY 1, 2017

The following month is a blur of job-specific training workshops and e-learning, as your new reps try to get up-to-speed on your product, target customers, and industry intel. It’s easy to blame the recruitment process here, but it’s more likely that your sales onboarding program could benefit from a more systematic approach.

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Hiring Quota Sales Qualified Lead Follow-up 52

Mindtickle

DECEMBER 31, 2016

The following month is a blur of job-specific training workshops and e-learning, as your new reps try to get up-to-speed on your product, target customers, and industry intel. It’s easy to blame the recruitment process here, but it’s more likely that your sales onboarding program could benefit from a more systematic approach.

Hiring 52

Hiring Quota Sales Qualified Lead Follow-up 52

Customer Centric Selling

AUGUST 17, 2016

Sales Tips: Knowing When to Walk. The worst possible outcome for sellers and vendors is to go through entire sales cycles and lose. Many have cast blind eyes to signals buyers give throughout sales cycles. The road less traveled is likely to take sellers to a better YTD position against quota.

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Customer Centric Selling

JULY 2, 2014

By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company. Early in my sales management career, I was astounded by how hopeful salespeople were that had achieved 35% of their annual quota going into the fourth quarter. Need some help to increase sales?

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The Pipeline

DECEMBER 16, 2011

However, in reality, once they are back at the “front-line”, the day to day pressures of hitting quota, etc. To achieve sustained success in all of these disparate industries requires specific skills sets and the “generalized” workshops simply cannot deliver them. Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation.

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Showpad

DECEMBER 11, 2020

It must support your sales training program. Not all of the elements of the onboarding processes you follow for new sales agents need to be virtualized — there must be room for workshops and informational sessions where you discuss the interpersonal aspects of sales in real time.

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The Pipeline

DECEMBER 19, 2011

First discipline is to understand the average length of your sales cycle, and by definition the average and optimal length of each stage of the sale. Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation. Sales Cycle. Sales eXchange. Sales Force Alignment. Sales Leadership. Sales Management.

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Customer Centric Selling

MAY 7, 2014

He made me aware that the IBM rep would likely not make quota that year if the mainframe upgrade order wasn''t placed. Sign-up for a sales training workshop to learn how to better navigate sales cycles and improve sales performance. Need some help with your sales performance?

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Training Insurance Insurance Vendor 45

Highspot

JANUARY 9, 2024

Here’s what the B2B sales cycle looks like: Prospecting: This business development is where the sales process begins, as sales reps search for potential clients who might need their products or services. Integrate Sales Training into the Broader Business Strategy Align sales training with the overall business strategy.

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Babette Ten Haken

MAY 21, 2018

Either the sales force in dedicated to ensuring they, themselves, have jobs next quarter by meeting quota. Lengthy sales cycles and subsequent product and service contract lifecycles create a false sense of product-fit security. Or, customer service is busy serving as many customers as possible. Click To Tweet.

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Customer Pivotal Retention How To 51

Customer Centric Selling

JANUARY 4, 2015

By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company. Sellers face a new year that likely includes higher quotas. A Sales Benchmark Index study found 52% of sales cycles end in “no decision”. I hope 2014 was a good year. No access to power.

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Proposal How To Face-to-face Vendor 40

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 19, 2019

Sales training is a big investment. Not only are you paying for the training itself and related expenses, but your sales team is also losing prime selling hours to attend workshops and sessions. Nonetheless, this investment can reap significant benefits and set your sales teams up for success.

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Training Hiring Discount Hotels 84

Customer Centric Selling

JUNE 12, 2013

Sales Training Article: Confusing Activity with Progress. By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company One of the major differences of sellers that will deliver their quota and those that can''t is having an understanding of the difference between activity and progress in opportunities.

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Trade Show Training Demographics Face-to-face 53

Customer Centric Selling

JUNE 26, 2013

I’d like to share four (4) major characteristics of Adaptive Sales Organizations: 1. Common approach – Reaction to change is quicker and more concise if salespeople perform tasks within sales cycles in a consistent manner (same skill set and messaging). Need some help with your sales performance?

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Training Sales Qualified Lead Quota Sales Cycle 45

Customer Centric Selling

OCTOBER 2, 2013

If you add up all the opportunities in the pipeline of a C Player, it may approach the GDP of a small country, yet the seller continues to fall short of his or her quota. Marketing organizations by default now own the top of sales funnels. I suggest organizations step back and consider that buying cycles start in one of two ways: 1.

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Top of Funnel Training Lead Rank Lead Scoring 61

HeavyHitter Sales

AUGUST 23, 2016

The personality tests were given to high technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops I was conducting. The responses were then categorized by percentage of annual quota attainment and classified into top performers, average performers, and below average performers categories.

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Lead Rank Lead Scoring Decision Maker Sports 60

Customer Centric Selling

JULY 22, 2015

They’re under pressure to achieve revenue targets each quota year. At a high level, one of the primary responsibilities of first level sales managers is ensuring that sellers work on opportunities that have a high probability of closing. Statistics show about half of sales cycles end with prospects making no decision.

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Vendor How To Inbound Sales Qualified Lead 40

Customer Centric Selling

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Like major league hitters checking their batting average, so sales staff from reps up to SVPs focus on their YTD positions against quota. Projecting a sales cycle ahead of time gives sellers a much better chance of making their numbers. Let’s say your average sales cycle is three months.

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Top of Funnel Hiring Sage Sales Qualified Lead 40

HeavyHitter Sales

JULY 1, 2011

The personality tests were given to high technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops I was conducting for their company. The responses were then categorized by percentage of annual quota attainment and classified into top performers, average performers, and below average performers categories.

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Study Lead Rank Lead Scoring Penetration 163

Customer Centric Selling

MARCH 4, 2016

For example, capturing historical close rates and applying them to current pipelines can allow sellers to project a sales cycle to determine if they have enough activity to be ahead of quota year-to-date. This amounts to creating roadmaps of how sales cycles should progress. Need some help to increase sales?

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Customer Centric Selling

APRIL 3, 2013

A few months into my new job, I came to the stark realization that if these people could sell half as well to customers and prospects as they were selling to me, they wouldn't be 55% of quota! Project a sales cycle ahead to determine if each seller has sufficient pipeline to yield quota over that period of time.

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Pipeline Training Face-to-face Quota 45

The Pipeline

MARCH 18, 2011

Trading one Mickey Mouse sales idea for the next. Always looking for the quick (and easy) way to make our quota without needing to care too much about the people we happen to be dealing with at the moment. Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation. Sales Cycle. Sales eXchange. Sales Force Alignment.

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Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 20, 2016

The reality: If you don’t close anything this January, you’re going to have to close twice as much in February just to make year-to-date (YTD) quota! The time to begin developing your 2017 Territory Sales Plan is NOW. 2017 Compensation Plan: What will your sales revenue requirement be in 2017? Need some help to increase sales?

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Revenue Territories How To InsideView 40

Customer Centric Selling

APRIL 12, 2013

The over assignment of quota. CEOs made the Q1 number but their sales forces did not. The practice of over assigning quota has gotten out of control and needs to be reigned in. The sales cycle in a complex sale is between 6-12 months. Author: Greg Alexander, Sales Benchmark Index (SBI).

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The ROI Guy

DECEMBER 2, 2014

The research clearly indicates that the issues are not around sales having enough leads, more sales training, improved social selling ability or increased product knowledge. Just like diets, a lot of them can be good, but you have to go beyond reading a book or attending a workshop to make it work.

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Lead Rank Lead Scoring Proposal Buyer 86

The Brooks Group

OCTOBER 19, 2015

That’s not to say your salespeople should never take a chance on a marquee account, but with a larger time commitment and sales cycle comes a greater risk, including lost time and energy if the opportunity isn’t won. Regardless of size, a prospect isn’t worth going after unless they meet your organization’s ideal customer criteria.

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Customer Centric Selling

AUGUST 30, 2013

If the sales team was getting better, why did they keep missing quota? The Sales team hadn''t vastly improved. Instead, their buyer was engaging with sales later in their buying cycle. Companies that live in the second half of the sales cycle will increasingly find themselves in a competitive battleground.

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The ROI Guy

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

In the face of frugal buyer sentiment, a majority of B2B vendors are now requiring more leads to generate the same amount of sales and are reporting a substantial increase in buying cycle time. The inability for sales to engage buyers with value messaging has currently been cited as the number one reason for sales not making quotas.

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Research Buying Cycle Webinar Metrics Sales Enablement 40

OpenSymmetry

MARCH 25, 2015

Even though these points above help define what best in class entails, is your sales team really functioning at a high level? Lack of clarity what is expected, including, but not limited to territory, quota management, and reward schemes. Schedule that workshop with us, today!

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Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Sales Training Article: Why Are Your Deals Bleeding Margin? By John Kenney, Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) This blog post is for those who sometimes find their sales teams negotiating against themselves, closing dirty deals to make quota, or finding their margin-rich transactions disintegrate at the end of quarter.

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