Anthony Cole Training

OCTOBER 1, 2015

I’ve not read the book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff and It’s All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson. It’s a catchy title and I’m sure a good read. If you are looking for a solution on how to keep from chasing every chicken you see then I’m sure there is good information to be gleaned from the book. But if you are a sales manager responsible for developing your people and for driving sales growth this is awful advice.

Sales 190

Sales Growth 190

A Sales Guy

OCTOBER 5, 2015

You want to know where the biggest opportunity for sales growth is today? Do you want to know what is the one short thing you can do to blow out your numbers and crush the competition? It’s to turn your sales organization in to a teaching organization. Times have changed and so has your job. As a sales leader it used to be you had to build a sales organization that could sell by telling, pitching and closing.

Pitch 143

Pitch Sales Education Prospecting 143

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Do you remember when Slack launched last year? At the time, I was a diehard HipChat fan. Needless to say, I wasn’t interested in trying Slack. I considered it nothing more than a passing trend. Now? I use it for an average of 10 hours a day for personal and professional reasons. (Sorry, HipChat.). What’s going on here? How’d I go from loathing something to using it daily in the span of just 3-4 weeks?

Conversion 129

Conversion UX Retail Follow-up 129

Closing Bigger

OCTOBER 6, 2015

A big thanks to the BCITMA for inviting me to speak at your event this evening. I know I covered a lot in our brief time together so I thought I would post my slides and some links for your reference. Here are some quick links for you: Shane Gibson’s Online Professional Sales Certification Program. The Vancouver Sales Performance Meetup. The 2014 Sales Quota Attainment Study by A Sales Guy Inc. and Kitedesk.

Sell 128

Sell Quota CRM Sales 128

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Sales

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Last week I was training a sales force to sell value - an absolutely revolutionary concept - when the unthinkable happened, not once, but twice in the same training. As incredible as it was to me, it clearly illustrates why it is so darn hard for companies to get their salespeople to sell value.

Sell 112

Sell Price Sales 112

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Does your level of sales drive your motivation or does your motivation drive your sales? Yes, it is a chicken or egg type of question. In my mind they drive each other, but in the end I want to close as many sales as possible, so it means my motivation needs to be at […].

Drivers/motivators 111

Drivers/motivators Sales Closing Sell 111

A Sales Guy

OCTOBER 19, 2015

So, where are you on this social media thing? Do you have a Twitter account? Are you on LinkedIn? Do you use Google +? Or are you one of those people sitting on the sidelines still trying to figure out why social media even matters, because you have too much to do to be bothered with what someone is eating for lunch. Let me help you out. Consider this a Sales Guy Public Service Announcement: Social media makes quota!

Quota 121

Quota Price Closing Sell 121

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 20, 2015

If I asked you, “what’s the most persuasive word in the English language,” what would you say? Many would say “free” – and that may or may not be accurate. It’s one of those CRO ‘best practices’ that is often repeated but rarely discussed in detail. There are studies that support its power, but there is also plenty of data that supports the idea of ‘free’ being detrimental to optimization.

A/B testing 124

A/B testing Click Through Rate Intrinsic Price 124

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 11, 2015

Marketing has been developing fantastic content. They are leveraging every analytic tool imaginable, they’ve got marketing automation tools, they’re active on social channels, doing everything possible to generate demand. Sales people wait for the coveted SQL–the Sales Qualified Lead. Regardless of what’s been agreed between marketing and sales, to a sales person the SQL is a buying ready (hopefully PO ready) lead.

SQL 101

SQL Pipeline Cold Call Commission 101

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Most of the great books I read are disappointing, at best, when they become movies. The Davinci Code, Gone Girl, Absolute Power, Lone Survivor, Hunger Games, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Lincoln Lawyer, 127 Hours, and Heaven is for Real are just some of my recent disappointments. Unbroken, The Blind Side and Moneyball didn't get botched up too badly.

Sell 110

Sell Gaming Up-sell 110

Speaker: Jay Allardyce, Deepak Vittal, Terrence Sheflin, and Mahyar Ghasemali

As we look ahead to 2025, business intelligence and data analytics are set to play pivotal roles in shaping success. Organizations are already starting to face a host of transformative trends as the year comes to a close, including the integration of AI in data analytics, an increased emphasis on real-time data insights, and the growing importance of user experience in BI solutions.

Product

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 20, 2015

We all want to close deals faster. Too many times the way salespeople close a deal faster is by cutting the price, thinking a lower price will create a faster decision. Here are 10 things you can do right now to close deals faster, and not one of them involves changing your price: 1. […].

Price 108

Price Closing Sell Sales 108

Anthony Cole Training

OCTOBER 7, 2015

One of the problems facing many companies today is getting more from what they have. In a time of economic pressure to manage the profits companies have become very creative in finding solutions to manage the burn rate of their cash. The solution that many, if not most, struggle with is how to get the cash generation rate to meet and exceed the burn rate.

Sales 165

Sales Meeting Process Drivers/motivators 165

A Sales Guy

OCTOBER 12, 2015

You “Can’t” It’s not that you can’t get ahold of the CEO. It’s not that you can’t make Presidents Club. It’s not that you can’t find more “A” players. It’s not that you can’t penetrate that big account. And it’s not that you can’t get your team to use a CRM. It’s that you haven’t yet ; and that is an entirely different situation. The minute you say you can’t it’s over.

CRM 118

CRM Sales 118

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 28, 2015

More choice equals freedom, right? Well, yes, but there’s a good body of evidence that the more choices we are presented, the less happy we are with the one we make. What does that mean for conversions, though? Retention? Revenue? The Psychology of Choice. The most famous, and I believe the first, study that pointed to the adverse effects of choice was in 2000 and the subject was jam.

Conversion 123

Conversion Price Drivers/motivators Networking 123

Speaker: Brendan Sweeney, VP of Sales & Devyn Blume, Sr. Account Executive

Are you curious about how artificial intelligence is reshaping sales coaching, learning, and development? Join Brendan Sweeney and Devyn Blume of Allego for an engaging new webinar exploring AI's transformative role in sales coaching and performance improvement! Brendan and Devyn will share actionable insights and strategies for integrating AI into coaching and development - ensuring personalized, effective, and scalable training!

Sales

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 23, 2015

I’ve seen thousands of pitch decks. The vast majority are horrible. There’s the corporate vanity deck. It always has a lot of slides. Usually it mentions the customer name in about 3 places, on the cover slide, the second to last slide, and the last slide. The rest of the deck is all about the vendor. You are regaled with size, locations, financial performance, logos of customers, and all sorts of stuff telling the customer how wonderful they are and why the customer would be a

Pitch 98

Pitch Presentation Gaming Conversion 98

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 1, 2015

If you had a crystal ball to predict whether or not your next sales candidate would succeed in a difficult selling role at your company, wouldn't you want to use it? Heck, you would want to look into that thing even if it wasn't a difficult selling role. But what if you were recruiting kids right out of college? What would you do then? Would you just recruit a whole bunch of kids and keep the ones who didn't quit?

Sales 106

Sales Sell 106

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Recently after a conference where I spoke, a salesperson asked for ideas on how he could increase his value. The question got me thinking, so here’s my list of what you need to be doing to become a top-performing salesperson: 1. Ask your customer questions both you and your customer can’t answer. Salespeople are famous for […].

Customers 103

Customers Sell Sales 103

Pointclear

OCTOBER 13, 2015

“Why,” I was asked, “must you manage sales leads in order to manage sales? Sales lead management is a marketing function, isn’t it?”. It was with a slight hesitation that the sales manager added the second sentence about sales lead management being a marketing function. Of course it is, but only partially. With marketing automation it is a growing part of the job.

Territory 97

Territory Sales Contact Follow-up 97

Speaker: Laura Noonan, Chief Revenue Officer at CallFinder + Angie Kronlage, Director of Program Success at Working Solutions + April Wiita, Vice President of Program Success at Working Solutions

Are you still manually reviewing calls? 🤔 It's time for a change! The traditional method of manual call monitoring is no longer cutting it in today's fast-paced call center environment. Industry experts Angie Kronlage and April Wiita from Working Solutions are here to explore the power of innovative automation to revolutionize outdated call review processes!

Customers

A Sales Guy

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Hey peeps, #heykeenan 14 is up and cranking. In this Take, I answer a great question by the great Gabe Villamizar , social media king of Utah. There is a big difference between coaching and training. Yet few people understand it. Great question Gabe. Send me your questions for #heykeenan, if you shout out, and I’ll shout back.

117

117

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Are you familiar with the expression, “The most valuable customer is the one you never lose”? In the CRO industry, it’s easy to focus on simply converting more leads all day, every day. More visitors to the landing pages, more emails submitted, more phone numbers captured, etc. A higher conversion rate is great, but as Peep says, “If you want to increase conversions, make everything that you sell one cent, conversions go way up, but you go out of business.

Conversion 122

Conversion Referrals Service Start-ups 122

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Perhaps it’s because it’s early Fall (for us in the Northern Hemisphere), but a couple of things have happened this weekend that have caused me to stop and reflect–actually to pay attention. I have just rediscovered “Vinyl.” What I mean, is that I’ve rediscovered physical record albums and the pleasure of listening to music.

Presentation 96

Presentation Technology Technology Meeting 96

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Last week I published a case history on a company that we nicknamed, BigBrains. Many readers emailed asking if we could perform this analysis for them (yes, in most cases) and whether this would be considered benchmarking (no). In this article, I will actually show you the difference between benchmarking and the Perfect Fit Analysis that we use as proof to clients and to customize Objective Management Group's (OMG) Sales Candidate Assessments.

Clients 104

Clients Sales Customers 104

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Follow-up

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 27, 2015

1. Don’t ignore the gatekeeper. Treat them the same way you would the senior level person you are trying to reach. Ask the gatekeeper the same questions you would the senior person you’re trying to reach. Many times the gatekeeper is the one who in the end will determine whether you merit time on […].

Prospecting 102

Prospecting Sell Sales 102

Engage Selling

OCTOBER 20, 2015

The best salespeople are constantly looking for ways to improve. They are not staying static for extended periods of time because, let’s face it, if you’re not moving forward – you’re moving backwards! There’s almost nothing better than reaching (or exceeding) all of your sales goals for the year. A certain feeling of accomplishment is […].

Gaming 96

Gaming Sales Clients Quota 96

A Sales Guy

OCTOBER 2, 2015

What’s a corporate hack? A corporate hack is that corporate guy or gal that plays the political game like a master. Corporate hacks are the people in the organization who always have a personal agenda, and are shrewd executioners of it. They rarely take risks. They don’t rock the boat. As a matter of fact, they are squeaky clean, except after they’ve brilliantly minimized someone else or some other group in the eyes of the CEO or executive.

Growth 116

Growth Promote Start-ups Gaming 116

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 23, 2015

You spend most days analyzing and interpreting numbers, right? You’re constantly sifting through Google Analytics dashboards, Formisimo reports, Mixpanel data – the list is endless. When you spend so much time focusing on the numbers, it’s easy to forget about the people generating those numbers. That’s where qualitative conversion research comes into play.

UX 122

UX Objectives and Key Results Conversion High impact 122

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

Retail

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 26, 2015

My friend Kelly Riggs got me all wound up on this topic I hope had died, but apparently hasn’t had the sense to die. As you look at related titles at the bottom of this post, I’ve run out of titles and use variations of the same one over and over. Kelly writes about an infographic on the death of selling that’s making the rounds. I understand the infographic, buying into it makes you want to buy the author’s products and services.

Cold Call 95

Cold Call Sales Up-sell Presentation 95

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 22, 2015

The way that most people watch television these days is to fall in love with a continuing series, and then watch the episodes, on demand, when they want to. I believe that when it comes to reading, Blogs work very much the same way. You come across a Blogger whose work you like and who writes about things that interest you and you check back often or subscribe via email or RSS.

Sales 96

Sales 96

The Sales Hunter

OCTOBER 24, 2015

If you are not following up quickly with prospects, you are missing out on sales. I guarantee it! I am amazed when I hear about or read about salespeople who don’t follow up! If you want the business, you have to go get it. Following up efficiently is vital to your sales success! Check […].

Follow-up 101

Follow-up Prospecting Sales Sell 101

Pointclear

OCTOBER 6, 2015

I consider SiriusDecisions to be the gold standard when it comes to best practices in B2B marketing and sales processes. So it’s with great pleasure that I conclude this series on ABM with feedback from SiriusDecisions. First, here’s the question we’ve been asking our experts: According to a report by SiriusDecisions, 2015 State of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), more than 60 percent of companies plan to invest in technology for ABM to better align sales and marketing over the next twelve months.

Lead generation 95

Lead generation Technology Technology Contact 95

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