The Pipeline

MAY 15, 2014

To use a sport analogy, your pipeline is your core, no matter what sport you are in hockey, tennis, or running, a strong core, a well exercised and maintained core adds to athletic performance and lifts one competitor to victory over a comparably talented athlete with a less conditioned core. Sales Process Tibor Shanto'

Pipeline 300

Pipeline Top of Funnel Funnel Sports 300

Anthony Cole Training

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

I love to cook (and eat) and I love selling and coaching sales management. I often tie sports stories, analogies and themes to sales and sales management, and I generally have at least one in the crowd that doesn’t/cannot relate because they have not played sports or are just simply not into sports.

Sales Management 200

Sales Management Sports Motivation Coaching 200

The Pipeline

JANUARY 6, 2014

This a ritual not limited to sports, it is practiced in B2B sales, but under different names, fueled by the same need, and with all the same negative connotations; the end is nigh, and you know the drill. We’ve all seen it or lived through it, the end of quarter (or other sales period) deal coral and round up time. Tibor Shanto.

Top of Funnel 276

Top of Funnel Pipeline Sports Funnel 276

The Pipeline

DECEMBER 18, 2018

When you are in the middle of it, the heat of the experience, be that a sport game or sales or selling, it is easy to assume that the others involved are prepared and as ready as you are, or they should be; especially in a sales, where the buyers seem to be willing participants.

Buying Cycle 247

Buying Cycle Buyer Objections Face-to-face 247

Pipeliner

JULY 22, 2021

To start this playbook conversation, let’s build our understanding through one of our favorite methods – the sports analogy. I wrote an article a while back comparing sales playbooks to soccer corner kicks. In a sport with very few settled situations, they present unique opportunities for strategy.

Sports 90

Sports Guidelines Course Buyer 90

The Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

While no one will argue that there needs to be a greater focus on quality than quantity, you also can’t get away from the fact that numbers play a great role in sales success. Sales Success Tibor Shanto' I bring this up because of reaction to my piece the past Monday on how to deal with prospects who are reluctant to commit.

Top of Funnel 282

Top of Funnel Funnel Sales Qualified Lead Insurance 282

Sales and Marketing Management

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

In this business the sales cycle can be long. Fast forward 10 years and I’m still with this company and I’m still in business development, a fancy title for sales. What is my secret for being in sales this long? Visualizations - This is just not for sports, it can also be done for work and life. A Decade Later.

Engineering 205

Engineering Sports Guarantee Positioning 205

Pipeliner

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

And selling is, of course, a team sport. Long sales cycles, complex buyer networks, sophisticated competitors and large investments spent on pursuits are just a few of the challenges demanding that selling teams bring their very best. Again, it’s a team sport. In essence, you must be better.

Account 52

Account Face-to-face Sports Scale 52

Gong.io

MARCH 17, 2020

We’ve all heard that buying is a team sport. On average, winning deals have at least 3 people from the buyer’s side in meetings across the sales cycle. Now that we’ve established that buying is a team sport, we wanted to see if the same is true for selling. Enter, multi-threading. . Spoiler alert: It is.

Scale 79

Scale Sports Forecasting Influencer 79

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 27, 2023

We’ve witnessed a pervasive challenge sweeping through the industry: Sales cycles growing longer and more arduous. Invite the prospect to a game for a sport they enjoy watching (bonus points if it’s the team they support). The end of October already, which has me reflecting on the past year and beyond.

Pipeline 91

Pipeline Distribution Intent Data Intent 91

The Pipeline

MAY 8, 2013

Certainly there are parts of the sales cycle that you can remove yourself somewhat from the emotions of the sale, usually during the prospecting stage, especially if you are a proactive rather than a passive prospector. The ability to step back, assess the circumstance, and move on to the next sale.

Top of Funnel 276

Top of Funnel Sports Funnel Buyer 276

Chorus.ai

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

And I was always in sports and I have always been goal-driven. Margaret’s sport of choice is swimming, which was similar in some ways to Jim’s sport of choice: Tennis. There’s something similar to swimming in sales,” she said. Forecasting is very strongly correlated with sales skills.”. The Weekly Briefing.

Forecasting 62

Forecasting Sports Engineering Competition 62

SBI

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Yet not all sales workflows are created equal – there are some pros and cons to keep in mind before you decide whether a playbook is right for you. In sports (particularly football), playbooks are an integral contributor to a team’s success. Details the stages of sales cycles and a clear picture of the customer journey.

Scale 101

Scale Sales Cycle Quota Sports 101

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 22, 2012

This has resulted in more calls, but they are shorter; more resistance with a longer sales cycle; and greater success closing sales, deals and accounts that might not have been possible just a few years ago. The biggest difference though? It might just be the music.

Motivation 195

Motivation Face-to-face Sports Call-back 195

Pipeliner

AUGUST 25, 2019

One of the Fox Sports broadcast crews which consisted of ex-players dissected a pivotal corner kick from the standpoint of the playbooks of both the offense and the defense. Since we’re all not aficionados of the sport, let’s first consider the value of a corner kick. 12% more sales reps hit quota. Revenue growth is 7% higher.

Sports 73

Sports Guidelines Face-to-face Pivotal 73

Score More Sales

SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

It’s crunch time for B2B sales teams everywhere working to close deals by the end of Q3, and by the end of the calendar year. Just like professional sports, there are jobs on the line for sales leaders (coaches) and individual contributors (players) if they don’t hit promised and forecasted numbers.

Sports 208

Sports B2B Distribution Commission 208

Closer's Coffee

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Even more explainable for entry-level salespeople who work in industries with long sales cycles; many months may go by before they get to celebrate with their first commission check. As a result, more and more companies are adopting this idea of Gamification within the culture of their sales teams. Consider the Fantasy League.

Benefit 52

Benefit Sports Scale Motivation 52

Zoominfo

AUGUST 1, 2022

Recession Sales Tip #2: Anticipate Longer Sales Cycles with More Stakeholders An inevitable consequence of tighter budgets is more oversight of spending decisions. Selling is a team sport now more than ever, and unfortunately, that means more possible objections.”

Hiring 130

Hiring Face-to-face Lead Rank Lead Scoring 130

Anthony Cole Training

OCTOBER 14, 2014

When I was coaching at Iowa State University, I was interviewed by a local TV sports reporter about my role as the strength and conditioning coordinator for the varsity athletics. If I were to attempt to evaluate your effectiveness, there are a couple of things I would look at to determine the impact you have had on your sales team.

Intent 199

Intent Motivation Coaching Sports 199

Pipeliner

DECEMBER 12, 2020

It’s a team sport, selling is. Wide buyer networks, lengthy sales cycles, sophisticated competitors, and significant investments spent in pursuits are just a few of the frustrations demanding that selling teams bring their very best, especially from a distance.

Face-to-face 98

Face-to-face Enterprise Enterprise Ideal Customer Profile 98

Closer's Coffee

MAY 28, 2019

What sports figure do you think best represents you as a sales professional and why? I’m a huge Philly sports fan and it’s really raw how the Sixers just lost a couple weeks ago. There’s more length in the sales cycle and more scrutiny. You can’t just be a solution. That’s what everybody is.

Sports 72

Sports Hiring Trends Decision Maker 72

Igniting Sales Transformation

DECEMBER 1, 2019

Conduct sales meetings using business acumen & insight vs. feature dumps & demos? Reduce the sales cycle length and close deals more often? A better playbook for designing that sales kick-off meeting. Sports teams don’t show up on the field once a week expecting to win the game. Planning beyond the event.

Meeting 130

Meeting Decision Maker Revelation ACT 130

Mereo

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Profitability, customer acquisition cost (CAC), sales cycle length, win-rate, lifetime customer value and plenty more all contribute to revenue performance. In professional sports, the previous season’s champions do not skip training camp. Growth may be the primary measurement but not the only one. Do not believe the chatter.

Trends 45

Trends Revenue Tourism Decision Maker 45

Julie Hanson

AUGUST 2, 2022

On-camera professionals like actors, sports reporters and news anchors, have developed a knowledge base and a course of action that includes proper practice and feedback to be able to connect with an audience as effectively through the screen as they do in person. And the Future is Here.

Video 62

Video Face-to-face Sports Knowledge Base 62

The Sales Hunter

JANUARY 21, 2014

Men also have a desire to compete, which means a lot of time a conversation in their mind turns into a sporting event where someone will come out a winner and the other a loser. My second opinion is on the topic of being able to develop and close a sale. Here I give the nod to men to close a sale faster.

Hiring 278

Hiring Negotiation Sports Motivation 278

A Sales Guy

AUGUST 2, 2013

As we’ve seen, with the increased interest in Moneyball and sabermetrics, sports has become an accountants world, accounting for the good and the bad of every at bat, every throw, every steal, every missed basket, every carry, shot taken, and more. Unfortunately sales seems to view things differently. Who takes longer?

Lead Rank 121

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sports Quota 121

Salesmate

AUGUST 18, 2020

Whether it is sports, politics, or business, there is a podcast for everything. The sales podcast offers a wealth of information that can help you level up your sales game. These podcasts can help you in improving your sales approach and conversion rate. 16 million people in the US are “avid podcast fans”.

Cold Calling 113

Cold Calling B2B Pipeline Sports 113

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Every successful sports coach will tell you that games aren’t just won on the field or court. The same can be said for sales enablement. Sales Acumen: Talk to employees about target prospects, how to find them, and the general sales cycle. They’re won during planning and practice.

Sales Enablement 104

Sales Enablement Top of Funnel Hiring Ideal Customer Profile 104

Zoominfo

APRIL 19, 2023

To borrow an analogy from sports: tactical coaching will help you win a particular game, strategic coaching across multiple seasons helps you to build a winning team. Data-Driven Sales Coaching To provide effective sales coaching support, you need to look beyond top line numbers to identify where each rep has room for improvement.

Sales Coaching 130

Sales Coaching Coaching Hiring Analysis 130

Anthony Cole Training

OCTOBER 14, 2014

When I was coaching at Iowa State University, I was interviewed by a local TV sports reporter about my role as the strength and conditioning coordinator for the varsity athletics. Are your sales people all hitting their sales activity goals? Is the sales cycle reasonable to the industry segments to whom you market?

Sports 120

Sports Coaching Motivation Segment 120

BrainShark

JULY 4, 2023

Create a variety of coaching scenarios There are many stages of the sales cycle and aspects of a deal that cause reps to flex different selling muscles. Sales coaching programs shouldn’t be limited to one flavor but should target different skill sets and levels of experience.

Sales Coaching 62

Sales Coaching Coaching Hiring Video 62

Allbound

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Just borrow a time-proven strategy from the sports world. Having stand-out channel marketing content and a clear process for using it is vital to the B2B sales cycle. With them, you can help reps become skilled and versatile professionals that truly understand the sales process. Keep the right tools in hand.

Channels 63

Channels Revenue Marketing Sports 63

HeavyHitter Sales

AUGUST 23, 2016

Conversely, top salespeople take command of the sales cycle process in order to control their own destiny. During sales cycles, top sales, performers seek to understand the politics of customer decision-making. Achievement Orientation. Selling Style Impact: Political Orientation.

Lead Rank 60

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Decision Maker Sports 60

Gong.io

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

So I asked the Gong Labs team to analyze top performers across SMB and enterprise sales cycles and find out how they use small talk in their deals. . Those relationships are centered around common interests like hobbies, sports, food preferences, shared opinions, and content you consume. Surprising, right?

Video 118

Video Call-back Buyer Study 118

Salesmate

AUGUST 18, 2021

Sales is definitely a contact sport where success is obtained not just in the first outreach, but in the follow-up. . Or do they prefer a stronger sales pitch – in terms of demos, and collaterals that can present your offerings? c) Does the sales cycle involve multiple people and long decision-making?

Lead Rank 135

Lead Rank Sales Qualified Lead Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 135

Janek Performance Group

JULY 26, 2022

For sports fans, know the trade buzz on their favorite team. By anticipating objections, sellers can speed the sales process and shorten the sales cycle. Aside from making pleasantries, you never know when this info may become relevant. And her deceptive golf handicap. Post-Call Evaluation.

Decision Maker 62

Decision Maker Objections Sports Social Media 62

Sales Training Connection

JULY 29, 2013

Major account salespeople must be business-savvy sales consultants who have developed superior sales skills, have a comprehensive knowledge of their customer’s business and the knowledge and political acumen to leverage and orchestrate internal company resources – to both close new business and grow existing business.

Account 115

Account Strategy Ideal Customer Profile Sports 115