Anthony Cole Training
JULY 3, 2012
I am currently conducting a poll on Linkedin. I'd like to gather some data from those in sales executive positions as to "why" people fail to meet expectations. Here is the link: Linkedin Poll. The other thing I wanted to share about sales success is my informal polling over the last 20 years of conducting sales training and sales management development classes and workshops.
Partners in Excellence
JULY 15, 2012
There are a lot of great technologies that can become indispensable to sales professionals. Great sites to research things going on in our markets and with our customers, CRM tools, playbooks, and all sorts of other sales aids. Each of these can help magnify our impact and effectiveness with customers. They can help make us much more productive and accomplish a lot more each day, week, month.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
A Sales Guy
JULY 30, 2012
The single most important element of account management and one of the most critical sales skills is proactivity. This seems rather obvious. Yet, unfortunately, far too many farmers or account managers leave too much to reaction or reactivity. The great advantage to account management is your access to data. You should know almost everything there is to know about the account, what the culture is, what’s been budgeted, who the decision makers are, who the competition is, what the pitfalls are,
Understanding the Sales Force
JULY 24, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan The first problem with today's title is the "5" in "Top 5.". They are not the 5 that most sales managers spend their time on, so let's begin with the sales management practices that most sales managers actually spend their time on. By the way, that's how so many "best practices" (that aren't) actually get published.
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.
ConversionXL
JULY 11, 2012
People will not buy your stuff on their first visit. The more expensive and/or complicated the product, the more time they need to think and decide. People like to buy from people and businesses they know and like. This is why it’s a good idea to capture emails and build a relationship before you even ask them to buy anything. This post is about getting the most out of your relationship building efforts with your email list.
Pointclear
JULY 17, 2012
I asked this question on Focus.com a few weeks ago and got answers that surprised me. Knowing the B2B lead generation market like I do, here is what I expected to see : “The inbound lead is better because outbound is dead.” “Inbound rules. Stop interruption marketing.” I expected these types of responses because all you read these days are article after article and blog after blog saying that “70% of the buyer’s journey is done before a sales rep needs to get
Technology Sales Today brings together the best content for technology sales professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Partners in Excellence
JULY 14, 2012
Managers play a critical role in the lean sales and marketing organization. It’s different from we think in the traditional organization. In the traditional organization, there’s the belief we work for our managers. We all know the corporate hierarchy and pyramid. In too many organizations, managers spend too little time coaching. They are busy in meetings, they are busy with paperwork, they don’t have time or the skills to work with their people.
A Sales Guy
JULY 11, 2012
Yup, I said it. Shitty sales management can kill pipeline movement. As sales leaders, we spend so much of our time evaluating our teams and the individuals on them, we often forget that our s**t can stink too. We can be the reason deals are getting stuck. After all, it is our job to help keep deals moving. This is especially true with first line managers.
Understanding the Sales Force
JULY 30, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Yesterday, we were in a small seaside village and in a nautical gift shop, I read this sailing quote: "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails.". Translated for selling: "The pessimist complains about the prospect. The optimist expects him to buy.
ConversionXL
JULY 5, 2012
If you want to double your results, you can either double the number of visitors (very expensive), double the conversion rate (possible, but increasingly harder as there’s a max limit to your conversion rate) or double repeat purchases – loyalty. Jakob Nielsen has mentioned that 2010–2020 will be the loyalty decade. Investing in loyalty is as important as investing in usability and conversion optimization.
Speaker: Jesse Hunter and Brynn Chadwick
Today’s buyers expect more than generic outreach–they want relevant, personalized interactions that address their specific needs. For sales teams managing hundreds or thousands of prospects, however, delivering this level of personalization without automation is nearly impossible. The key is integrating AI in a way that enhances customer engagement rather than making it feel robotic.
The Sales Hunter
JULY 26, 2012
Recently I was doing a training session with some very capable salespeople. We were talking about how to engage the customer in a conversation. It was a good discussion, minus one thing. Too many in the group were talking about how they share with the customer results of things they’ve been able to do for other customers. Sharing what I refer to as testimonial information with a customer can be a great approach, if it’s done right.
Anthony Cole Training
JULY 16, 2012
The results are in for my poll question on Linkedin. The question I asked was: When you are asked about someone on your team not meeting expectations your response is? The possible answers where: They are failing to execute. They lack effort. They need more training. They are making progress. I have failed to develop them. The results in a nutshell: 50% blamed the performer, 50% took responsibility for the failure of the team member.
Partners in Excellence
JULY 3, 2012
As sales people, we always are trying to get into our Buyers’ minds. We want to understand what they are thinking, what drives them, how we can position ourselves and our solutions most favorably. We constantly search for some insight about how to connect more effectively. I’m always fascinated by the machinations we go through to understand what’s going on in our Buyers’ minds.
A Sales Guy
JULY 26, 2012
Revenue, just about EVERY sales organization runs on it. Everyone has a revenue quota. Sales reps are measured on it. Sales leaders are hired or fired on their ability to make it. Sales teams are managed to it. Revenue is the king of sales metrics and thats why many sales organizations fail. Pulling the revenue lever is a big lever. It’s a big lever because revenue can come from a number of different places; increased deal sizes, more deals, conversion or win/loss ratios etc.
Advertisement
What if you could help your sellers stop wasting 72% of their day on non-selling activities and focus on bringing in revenue? Incorporating AI in your enablement workflows can help you cut down on busy work, get projects done faster, and let your team (and you!) focus on making a bigger impact. We put together this guide to show you how to use AI to cut time and costs for projects, including collateral creation, development of training videos, and automating tedious processes.
Understanding the Sales Force
JULY 30, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Yesterday, we were in a small seaside village and in a nautical gift shop, I read this sailing quote: "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails.". Translated for selling: "The pessimist complains about the prospect. The optimist expects him to buy.
Score More Sales
JULY 31, 2012
Last week we talked about how a focus on improving your speaking can grow your sales revenues – the same, if not more holds true with being an effective listener. Listening – and really hearing – what buyers are looking to do, what problems they are trying to solve, and what the pulse of the market is – it’s critical for success.
The Sales Hunter
JULY 10, 2012
You’ve been chasing a sales prospect you think will turn into a great customer, but for one reason or another, the trail has gone cold. The prospect hasn’t provided you with any indication such as proprietary information or sense of time to lead you to believe they may buy from you. The question now becomes,”What do I do next?” There are two strategies you can use.
Hubspot
JULY 31, 2012
How great would it be if you could target your organic Facebook business page updates by more than just users' location and language? That'd probably be pretty valuable -- and more effective -- right? If you're nodding your head in agreement, we've got some great news for you. According to TechCrunch , it looks like Facebook has started rolling out powerful new post targeting options today called 'Page Post Targeting Enhanced.'.
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.
Partners in Excellence
JULY 21, 2012
In the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review, the folks at the Conference Board have declared “The End Of Solutions Sales.” Upon reading this, I immediately thought of Mark Twain’s quote, “Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.” While, I suppose, it stirs up the pot to declare the end of Solutions Selling and may sell more workshops or consulting services, in the end I think it is wordsmithing and positioning.
A Sales Guy
JULY 12, 2012
I woke this morning to this story in the USA Today: Team USA Uniforms: Controversial choice? The article discussed the fact that the women’s uniform apparently had no pants and that the uniform was made in China and not the U.S. To me however, the real offense is the placement and depiction of the female athlete in the uniforms official promotional photo (above).
Understanding the Sales Force
JULY 26, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan One of my clients owns a Mexican company that provides phone, video conferencing and surveillance equipment to integrators and end-users. During the height of the violence in Mexico, Arturo was kidnapped and held, bound and gagged, at gun point. He was released - one of the few, fortunate survivors - but the emotional scars ran deep.
Score More Sales
JULY 6, 2012
If there is one thing true it is this – no one likes to deal with personal rejection. Those of us who are or have been professional, long time sales representatives, business development managers, and sales evangelists have typically learned the secret to success: You don’t take rejection personally. Even athletes miss some balls – sometimes lots of balls – or they miss the net and the game is lost.
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!
The Sales Hunter
JULY 13, 2012
Yes, there is a punch line to this question. Why do salespeople talk too much? Because as long as they’re talking, the customer can’t tell them “no.” I hate to say it, but there is a lot more truth in that statement than a lot of people will want to admit. This is also why the number one part left out of a sales presentation is the close.
Hubspot
JULY 31, 2012
You all know The Old Spice Guy, right? "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign was successful for many reasons, but one of them was that it gave Old Spice a voice. A voice that came through in every video, commercial, tagline, Facebook update, tweet -- you name it. And do you know who is behind all of that marketing collateral ? Copywriters. The ability to find the exact right words to tell your company's story isn't an easy feat, and it's even harder to do so consistently.
Partners in Excellence
JULY 17, 2012
It should come as no surprise to anyone that has been semi-conscious over the past decade, that our worlds are becoming increasingly complex. Our jobs, and those of our customers are more complex and difficult. Fewer people doing more. The rate of change is accelerating. We have too little time to accomplish even our “A” priorities. In a recent IBM CMO Study , 79% of the respondents expect high/very high level of complexity over the next 5 years, yet only 48% felt prepared to de
A Sales Guy
JULY 16, 2012
Community member Jeff Abbott commented on a recent post about how he’d like to better understand how quotas are set and by whom. I thought this could be a good topic, so here it goes. The first thing you need to know about quotas is there are a lot of different ways to set them. There are rules that deviating from can be costly, but outside of that there are a lot of roads to setting the right quota.
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!
Understanding the Sales Force
JULY 10, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan If you have no desire to find a lot of new business from new accounts, you don't need telemarketing (and you can stop reading this article). If you would like to establish new accounts and generate a significant increase in revenue, there are several things you can do: You can hire hunters - salespeople who will find and close those new accounts.
Score More Sales
JULY 13, 2012
Recently I read a rant from one of my colleagues who was tired of people not responding to e-mail. I know exactly what he means. It happens so often that it seems now to be acceptable and perhaps even fashionable to not reply to an email – even between client and company, or family members, or friends. Before you get as mad as my colleague did, (which I don’t blame him for) – if you are a seller or other business professional making a living building relationships through comm
The Sales Hunter
JULY 19, 2012
I’ve been looking closely at 6 secrets for prospecting success , and we’ve already covered confidence and follow-through. Now we have arrived at telephone skills! If you feel you don’t have the telephone skills you should have to be successful in sales prospecting, don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Telephone prospecting skills are the number one thing salespeople say they lack.
Hubspot
JULY 30, 2012
Social media marketing : tweet a hashtag, post a picture of my lunch, like a photo in my news feed. Nailed it. Uh, not really. And if you're doing social media marketing -- real social media marketing -- you know that. Thing is, if you add up all the hours you spend doing social media marketing in a week, it's likely not that much time compared to all your other marketing activities.
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
182 
Let's personalize your content