May, 2013

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Busting Sales Myth #3 - When Enough is Enough

Anthony Cole Training

'Several years ago, while conducting a sales training and sales management workshop to rebuild an insurance agency, I was talking with one of the highly successful agents who asked: "Tony, When is enough enough?" I responded with, "Ask me another question because that''s the wrong one.". Too often highly successful sales peope reach a point in their carrer where they become complacent.

Extrinsic 182
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Don’t Hire People Who Aren’t Great At Something Else!

A Sales Guy

'I am well aware this post is going to rile some feathers. Yup, I know it’s controversial. I know some of you aren’t going to like it. It’s one of those posts that just touches too close to home for many. I get it. With that said, I will also qualify this post with the statement that I have no empircal data to support my believe. Although I believe very strongly in my theory or hypothesis, I have little evidence to back it up so therefore if you don’t like what I say then

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21 Ways You’re Screwing Up Your Landing Pages (And What To Do About It)

ConversionXL

'So you have a landing page – or maybe 87 of them. Too bad you’re screwing them up. Landing pages are easy – in theory. In the real world, landing pages are quite hard to get right. But now that it’s getting more and more difficult to make money via AdWords and other PPC channels, boosting conversion rates on your landing pages is more important than ever.

SQL 132
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Everyone Can Sell. Not Really. Top 10 Reasons Why Not

Understanding the Sales Force

'Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Dan Pink, Author of To Sell is Human , has been getting a lot of well deserved exposure. He wrote a terrific book and most who have read it really like it. I don''t have a problem with his book because read in its entirety, it makes sense. I do have an issue with the people who write about his book and take the concept, that everyone can sell, out of context.

Sell 123
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AI Strategies for Sales Managers: How to Cut Down on Tedious Admin Work

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.

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Seeing Things Differently, Seeing Different Things

Partners in Excellence

'What do you see in this picture? It’s a very famous–some people see an old woman, others see a young woman. Some of you may just be able to s ee one image, you’ll have to ask me for clues for the other. Even though I knew there were two different images in this picture, it took me a long time to “find” the old woman (tells you where my mind is at).

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30 Ways to Reach Prospects

Score More Sales

'With this being the end of the month and 2/3 through Q2, I thought it might be helpful to post a lot of ideas to help you or those on your sales team reach B2B decision makers, influencers, and strategic partners. Not all of these work for all situations, so please view in the framework of looking for one tip or two that might be helpful in your world.

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3 Things Sales Leaders Must do to Stay in Sync with Their Sales Team

A Sales Guy

'You have a sales process in place, but the sales manager and sales people are using separate spread sheets with additional stages, because the current sales process doesn’t meet their needs. You’ve built a killer sales portal the sales team never seems to visit. You’ve created an entire library of sales tools and yet the sales team creates their own selling tools.

Territory 128
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How to Build a Strong A/B Testing Plan That Gets Results

ConversionXL

'A strong A/B testing plan will allow you to increase your revenue. You will also learn valuable insights about your customers, because you will be “knowing” instead of “thinking about” their preferences. A/B testing produces concrete evidence of what actually works in your marketing. Continuously testing your hypotheses will not only yield good results for conversion rates, but will also give you a better understanding about your customers – Having a clear idea of what your customers actu

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Top 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Let Price Drive the Sale

Understanding the Sales Force

'Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Selling value. What comes so easily to the top 6% and some of the top 26% is so very difficult for others. Most of your salespeople have very little capability to build value in the first place. Talking about what your company does better or differently is not building value. Telling a prospect what your value proposition is, does not build value.

Price 121
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Deal Value Or Buyer Value?

Partners in Excellence

'A few years ago, a client called me very frustrated. He was the CEO of a large company, he’d been traveling in the field, visiting customers and sales people. He told me of a ride-along with a sales person in Boston. Proudly, the sales person was talking about a large system he had just sold. When my client asked him, “What did you sell if for?

Price 111
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Prepare Now: 2025s Must-Know Trends For Product And Data Leaders

Speaker: Jay Allardyce, Deepak Vittal, and Terrence Sheflin

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.

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4 Reasons Why Mondays Matter to Salespeople

The Sales Hunter

'First reason is how you start Monday is a good indicator as to how the entire week is going to go. If you allow Monday to slide by and not make it productive, then most likely you’re going to let the entire week slide by. Second reason is Mondays are the best day of the week to firm up appointments for the week. Use Mondays as your time to schedule any additional appointments you need to make it a full week and to confirm with people you will be meeting with.

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Busting Sales Myths: #2 - Lucky and Unlucky in Sales

Anthony Cole Training

'As a younger sales guy, and still as an older sales guy (sales development expert), I took many opportunities to listen to, meet, or read about what other success gurus had to say. I believe it was Larry Winget, (but it might have been Mark Victor Hansen), that said outcomes occur as a result of “The Law of Causes and Effect,” rather than “The Law of Accident.”.

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Succes Saturdays – The Secret to Success MOST PEOPLE Miss

A Sales Guy

'If there is a true “secret” to life and success, this is it. Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

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Your Design Sucks. And Copy. And Your Idea is Wrong (or Why You Need Continuous Optimization)

ConversionXL

'How often does this happen: A company budgets for a website. It’s built according to the budget. And then it’s done – hooray! – and everybody moves on to other important things. Unfortunately too often. Declaring it done is a waste of money. Your website is not done. Declaring it done is arrogant, stupid and will cost you a lot of money.

Consult 121
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Don't Let AI Pass You By: The New Era of Personalized Sales Coaching & Development

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!

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Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving

Understanding the Sales Force

'Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan We talk a lot about the importance of using a Consultative approach instead of a transactional approach to better differentiate and sell value instead of price. When we explain Consultative selling we usually emphasize the importance of listening and questioning. When we further explain effective listening and questioning it becomes much more difficult to describe in a paragraph or in the absence of a demonstration or role play.

Consult 101
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Buyers Are Self Educating, So Should Sellers!

Partners in Excellence

'Buying has changed. The traditional role of the sales person in “teaching” the customer about solutions and products is much less important. Buyers are self educating on the web. Depending on which research you read, as much as 70% of the buying process is completed before sales people are even engaged. The web provides a vast array of sources of information to prospective customers about solutions.

Education 105
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Inside Sales Power Tip 114 – Build Trust

Score More Sales

'After being in sales for many years, I had an “Aha” moment. I don’t remember ever hearing about this idea in sales training (I’ve been through so many programs over my sales career) but I immediately knew it to be true when it registered in my head. I don’t even know where it came from. This idea has impacted me and hundreds of individual contributors making calls from that day forward whom I’ve had the pleasure to train and coach.

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Busting Sales Myths: #1 - I Don’t Have Time To Prospect

Anthony Cole Training

'"I don''t have enough time to prospect" is a myth and I can prove it to you and your sales people. But proving or disproving that isn’t the critical issue. The critical issue is that you, as a sales leader, must do something when you have sales people that are not prospecting. This means that you must: 1. Recruit sales people that don’t have the prospecting/hunting problem to begin with. 2.

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How to Optimize Call Monitoring: Automate QA and Elevate Customer Experience

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!

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The 5 Key Components of a Healthy Sales Organization — No, It’s Not The Pipeline [Note to CEO's and VP Sales]

A Sales Guy

'Sales is hard. I say it all the time. In particular, running, leading and building sales teams is hard. But, just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we have to struggle. There are only five things that affect your ability to make your number and understanding what they are and how you fair in each of them is the difference between success and failure.

Pipeline 119
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How Call Tracking with Google Analytics Increases Your Profits

ConversionXL

'According to a comScore Study commissioned by Google , 63% of website visitors complete their purchases offline. Online, we have plenty of ways to track visitor behavior. Tracking cookies, heat maps, click tracking, ad retargeting etc, but as soon as that person picks up the phone, we’re lost. But we don’t have to be. Without call tracking, you have no idea what web pages that caller has visited.

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PowerViews with Michael Brenner: The Battle for Customer Attention

Pointclear

'My guest today is Michael Brenner, Vice President of Marketing and Content Strategy at SAP and Managing Editor for the SAP Business Innovation site. At SAP, Michael’s challenge is to transform social business and content marketing to reduce cost-per-acquisition of new customers. Michael is also the author of B2BMarketingInsider.com , where he discusses content marketing, demand generation, mobile strategy, and sales alignment to name a few.

Customers 104
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We Misunderstand Lean—But It Is So Important!

Partners in Excellence

'I was having a conversation about the “state of sales” with some colleagues recently, some of the smartest people I know in looking at sales performance. I asked them, “How are you seeing sales organizations leverage Lean concepts?” The reaction was quick, “Oh you’re talking about eliminating waste……” It’s a natural reaction but a real misunderstanding of Lean and Agile methods.

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How to Improve Email Deliverability and Optimize Each Send

Learn how to optimize email deliverability and drive greater email ROI. What lands your email in the customer’s inbox? Understanding those factors, otherwise known as email deliverability, is critical to getting the most return on your campaign investments. But the “rules” around which factors land you in the spam folder aren’t always easy to keep up with.

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Inc Magazine Gets it Wrong on Sales Prospecting

Understanding the Sales Force

'Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan I have to question Geoffrey James for an article he recently posted on Inc. Magazine''s online site. He opens the article by saying that for most companies " the ability to find potential customers is the difference between growth and bankruptcy." His opening might be a bit of an exaggeration. The reality is that it could be the difference between growth and lack of growth because most companies that aren''t growing aren''t going bankrupt.

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Busting Sales Myths #3 - When Enough is Enough

Anthony Cole Training

'Several years ago, while conducting a sales training and sales management workshop to rebuild an insurance agency, I was talking with one of the highly successful agents who asked: "Tony, When is enough enough?" I responded with, "Ask me another question because that''s the wrong one.". Too often highly successful sales peope reach a point in their carrer where they become complacent.

Extrinsic 145
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Don’t Sell. Help [How to become a Better Sales Person]

A Sales Guy

'I came across this great quote while reading Give and Take, by Adam Grant. My mindset is not to sell. My job is to help. I can’t think of a more succinct way to describe the mindset required to be successful in today’s selling world. The mindset of a helper puts the prospect or customer first. A helper starts with the problems, challenges and issues of those they are trying to help and that’s where the magic happens.

Sell 119
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Pricing Strategies: 13 Articles You Need to Read

ConversionXL

'Most businesses struggle with their product pricing strategies. Am I charging too much or too little? What’s the price elasticity like? How can I grow sales with the right pricing? Here’s one answer that you’re not going to like: there is no one magical pricing strategy. However, you CAN make more money by doing it better and actually having some strategy in your pricing.

Price 111
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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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4 Secrets on How to Respond When They Say, “I Just Want to Know Your Price.”

The Sales Hunter

'The phone rings and the person says they just want to know your price. Is this a customer, a prospect, a suspect, or just somebody knee-jerking you? We’ve all had that price statement posed to us in one form or another. It’s tempting to get excited, and the new salesperson is the one most likely to get excited, thinking it’s a customer.

Price 101
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Try Selling Sand

Partners in Excellence

'As much as sales people try to sell solutions or sell value, too often they fall back on great products. They focus on product, features, functions, feeds and speeds. Recently, I saw a “sales playbook” from an enterprise software company. It was 121 pages, of feature by feature comparison of their product to competition, “Our date field is structured this way, which is better than the competitors………” Too often, particularly with organizations with gr

Sell 101
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Impact of Sales Process versus Sales Coaching

Understanding the Sales Force

'Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan We are in the middle of the first day of our 2-day Sales Leadership Intensive. While most attendees admit that they must be more effective at coaching, many who said they have some kind of sales process in place didn''t come to the same conclusion. So, why is it so obvious to sales leaders that they need to improve their coaching, but so elusive that they need to improve their sales process?

Process 97
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Busting The Sales Myth #1 - "I Don’t Have Time To Prospect"

Anthony Cole Training

'If you are a salesperson or a sales manager, you have either said or heard, "I don''t have enough time to prospect." This is a myth and the chart below illustrates that for you. So, what does this chart convey? It shows that it doesn’t take much time to dial 100 times. Out of 100 calls, a sales person will generally connect with about 7 people - typically short conversations.

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How to Prove Marketing Value: Demonstrate Content ROI and Contribution to Sales

Every marketer knows how important it is to prove their efforts drive sales opportunities, but that’s easier said than done. When problems like sales and marketing misalignment, lack of data, and wasted efforts persist, marketers can’t measure, prove, or increase their impact on revenue at a time when demonstrating marketing value is critical. Using analyst and expert data, this guide to marketing impact and content attribution explains: How B2B buyers use content The most common types of conten