December, 2014

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What’s More Important - Sales Management Skills or Behaviors?

Anthony Cole Training

'The obvious gut reaction answer is …both. However, if you HAD to choose, it would be a dilemma similar to the age old “Which came first - the chicken or the egg?” And, you know, I have never been able to answer that question. I honestly don’t know that there is a RIGHT answer to the question I’ve posed today, but if you held a gun to my head and demanded an answer – not that you would have to go to that extreme to get an answer from me – I would have to say start with the behaviors.

Consult 199
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When’s The Last Time You.

A Sales Guy

'When’s the last time you read a book on sales? When’s the last time you found a new blog on sales or business? When’s the last time your refused to accept “no,” because you knew the other person was wrong? When’s the last time you helped out a fellow team member? When’s the last time you created a new process that helped you do your job better?

Process 126
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Trending Sources

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Testing The Hamburger Icon for More Revenue

ConversionXL

'Mobile traffic is a significant part of most websites, and smooth navigation for mobile users is critical. Most websites use the hamburger navigation icon to display the menu as it’s become a default option for this. Is that a good idea? There’s a good chance that it’s not. . Lots of designers have made a compelling case against the hamburger.

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Selling Value - Everything You Always Wanted to Know

Understanding the Sales Force

'Copyright: kchung / 123RF Stock Photo. Some news stories just don''t go away. Today those stories include Ferguson, Bill Cosby, ISIS and The NFL''s Domestic Abuse Problem. There is also Obamacare, Immigration and Ebola. They remain in the news more because the media continues to milk these stories than readers demand to know more. When we look at the sales stories of the recent past, the topics that sales experts continue writing about are Social Selling, Inbound Marketing, LinkedIn, Twitter, C

Sell 119
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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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Attrition Is A Leadership Problem

Partners in Excellence

'Some time ago, I wrote, A Frightening Look At The “Cost Of Selling.” It has been one of the most widely read posts I’ve ever written, with 10’s of thousands of views and 100’s of tweets. The post generated lots of discussion and comments about the challenges of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, development planning.

Growth 111
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Sales Prospecting in Beast Mode

Score More Sales

'As the year draws to a close, it can be challenging to find inspiration to be productive when there are so many distractions going on. Want to make the most of your days through the end of the year? Just think Beast Mode. Yesterday, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks went “Beast Mode” on the Arizona Cardinals and ran for a 79 yard touchdown.

More Trending

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How Sales People Lie In A Way That Let’s Them Believe They Aren’t

A Sales Guy

'Some sales people lie but don’t believe they do. They lie to make a sale. They lie to get you to buy what they want you to buy. They lie to promote their agenda, not yours. They don’t believe they lie because they don’t give you false information. They don’t blatantly tell you a lie. They don’t tell you something that is straight up not true and so because the don’t directly lie; they’ve convinced themselves they aren’t lying.

Price 123
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5 A/B Tests You Should Be Running on Your Landing Page Opt-In Forms

ConversionXL

'In an iconic scene from Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) , Alec Baldwin lectures a group of salesmen about the correct way of doing business. In his motivational (read: foul-mouthed) speech, he highlights a very important strategy that still rings true today – especially in the world of conversion rate optimization : “Always be testing.”. That’s how it went, right?

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Top 5 Keys to Select and Hire Great Salespeople in 2015

Understanding the Sales Force

'Copyright: swingvoodoo / 123RF Stock Photo. I''m always amused when an email comes through with a message that says something like, "Maybe we should target candidates that aren''t recommended" or "Why do so many candidates lack Commitment?" or "Your assessments are only recommending 1 out of every 5 candidates!" or "The questions don''t fit the role!

Sales 115
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Top Performers: Obsessive Learning And Relentless Execution

Partners in Excellence

'At one point, I wanted to get better at golf (it’s hard to be worse than I am). I started reading a lot of “How To” books, watching videos, and taking lessons. As I stood, club in hand, looking down at the ball, I struggled to remember: “Keep your head down, bend your knees, keep evenly balanced, keep your back straight, shoulders level, reach straight back, keep your arm straight, watch your elbow……” I’d always end up twisted like a pretzel,

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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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5 Best Sales Closing Techniques

The Sales Hunter

' Salespeople are always asking me for the closing techniques that work the best. Here the five I have found work the best time and time again. What’s even better is the first three are great for the new salesperson or the “non-salesperson” who suddenly finds themselves having to sell. 1. Pick a Date Close […].

Technique 105
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Grab The Right End of the Problem For Effective Sales Management

Anthony Cole Training

'My dad used to tell me, “Anthony, sometimes you have to pick up the dirty end of the stick.” Well, actually, my dad’s quote was “Sometimes you have to pick up the shi**y end of the stick.” For the life of me, I had no idea what he was talking about then…and I still didn’t know what he meant until many years later. Why would I ever want to pick up the shi**y end of the stick when there was a perfectly clean end to grab?

Territory 190
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Production Is The Name Of The Game

A Sales Guy

'You may not like it. It may not seem fair at times, but at the end of the day, production is the name of the game. Production is what we bring to the table, it’s our contribution to the business pot-luck. Production is our input, it’s our way of adding to the bigger picture, it’s our way of making a difference. But when we stop producing, not only are we not adding to the pie, we’re taking away.

Gaming 122
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Website Redesign for Higher Conversions? Tread Lightly

ConversionXL

'Your conversion rate is not what it could be – and you know you need to do something about it. Should you redesign the whole website? Maybe. Probably not though. It depends. But if you are going to do it, you need to tread very lightly. Website redesigns only work if they are carefully managed and data-driven. Careful – radical website redesigns often backfire.

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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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Approaching 2015 From a Sales Perspective

Understanding the Sales Force

'Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo. You’ve made your New Years resolutions to exercise, lay off the carbs, lose weight, be kind, leave the cell phone in another room at night, close the laptop by 7PM, and be an all around better person. You may have even set your goals for 2015. But what can you do to kick-off the New Year so that 2015 is your best sales year ever?

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What If You Shared Your Deal Strategy With Your Customer?

Partners in Excellence

'I had a fascinating conversation with Gerald Vanderpuye today. He shared what many of us would think as the Nightmare To End All Nightmares. He was working a huge deal, it was important to the company’s ability to make their numbers for the quarter. Deals like that get a lot of visibility all the way to top management, so as expected, top management in his company wanted to do a deal review.

Customers 103
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2 Things You MUST Know to Kickstart the New Year

The Sales Hunter

'Here are two things you must know to kickstart the New Year: If you think you’re good, it may prevent you from becoming great! Failure can be a foundation for becoming great. You may have had a very good year. If so, congratulations! But at the same time, don’t think for a moment 2014′s performance […].

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Time Is Short – Get It Right

Anthony Cole Training

'Occasionally, maybe 3 or 4 times since I started blogging, I write about something that is bigger than managing sales people, sales growth, sales coaching or selling. Something happens that is meaningful to me and I feel compelled to write about it. Maybe it’s my way of dealing with the event. Often, the event is when someone in my life (or our lives) is lost.

Clients 186
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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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Hey Look at Me! #sshour

A Sales Guy

'The title of this post is a double entendre. Dang, my s**t is good. 1) The first part of the double entendre “Hey look at me.” I’m on Social Sales Hour #sshour with @rachelloumiller and Brian Fanzo ( @isocialfanz ) we’re breaking down personal branding and why it’s important. 2) And the other half of the double entendre, “hey look at me” is regarding personal brand and the importance of standing out.

Sales 118
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How to Analyze Your A/B Test Results with Google Analytics

ConversionXL

'A/B testing tools like Optimizely or VWO make testing easy, and that’s about it. They’re tools to run tests, and not exactly designed for post-test analysis. Most testing tools have gotten better at it over the years, but still lack what you can do with Google Analytics – which is like everything. When you run a test until you’ve reached validity ( not the same as significance ), you have to do post-test analysis to decide on the way forward.

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The Most Important Sales Issues Heading into 2015

Understanding the Sales Force

'Copyright: zimmytws / 123RF Stock Photo. As we approach the end of the year, do you pass judgement on the personal contributions you made to your wallet, family, friends, co-workers, customers, community, industry, religion, and the world during the past year? How did you do? If you''re like me, you did really well in some areas, and in others, not very good.

Sales 103
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You Can’t Get What You Want By Focusing On What YOU Want

Partners in Excellence

'Bear with me on my word play in the title. I was just doing some deal reviews with a very frustrated sales person. He had a deal that was very important to him. He’d been working it for a long time, he needed it to make his numbers, he was in the closing stage of the process. Apparently, he was winning the deal, but he couldn’t get the PO.

Closing 99
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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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Closing Mistake: Did the Customer Know You Were Asking for the Order?

The Sales Hunter

'You may have thought you asked for the order, but did your customer know you were asking for it? Surprisingly, there are quite a few times when the customer doesn’t even know the salesperson is trying to close. The situation usually happens like this: Either the salesperson is so timid and scared of hearing […].

Closing 101
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Commit To Sales Activity.and Stick To It

Anthony Cole Training

'Well…I already blew my goal to blog every day that I work in December. That happened when I failed to do so yesterday, December 1 st. But, I didn’t blow my commitment to making phone calls to prospects every day I work in December. As a rainmaker for Anthony Cole Training Group , I have a responsibility to keep an active pipeline of prospects. I made a choice.

Sales 185
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The Only First Impression A Salesperson Needs To Make – Ever

A Sales Guy

'There is only one first impression you need to make as a sales person. It’s the impression you can deliver value. Any other impression is immaterial. The next time you meet a buyer for the first time, you’re only goal should be to get the buyer to say, Man that person was impressive, they could make a serious impact on my organization. You can make other impressions.

Meeting 117
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Top 10 Articles on ConversionXL In 2014

ConversionXL

'Another one bites the dust. Here are our most read articles for 2014. Make sure you didn’t miss any. . 10#: The Science of Storytelling & Memory and Their Impact on CRO. If your website isn’t converting well, it’s likely the story you’re telling your customer’s journey through the marketing funnel isn’t resonating on some emotional level.

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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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Key Sales Strategies for December

Understanding the Sales Force

'Copyright mreco99 / 123RF Stock Photo. It''s hard to believe that it''s December already. It seems like only yesterday that I made my annual reposting of one of my most popular articles of all time - a terrific holiday article that is worth a read even if you read it each of the previous 4 Decembers. Top 3 Lessons from Tchaikovsky''s The Nutcracker.

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Questions We Are Afraid To Ask

Partners in Excellence

'Often, in talking about deals with sales people, there are things that just don’t make sense. The customer is doing things that don’t make sense–they are very far off our normal experience in similar sales situations. They may be responding in a very unusual manner. They may be asking things that are really wrong–perhaps missing critical issues they should be looking at, demonstrating real misunderstanding of the issues they should be considering for a solution, or foc

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Top Predictions for Sales Leaders 2015

Score More Sales

'How are B2B sales leaders planning for their teams in 2015? Top 20 sales experts weigh in on this, including me. I was pleased to be a part of this e-book (download here) created by Velocify which addresses a number of issues that are on the minds of sales leaders everywhere. (note: there is a form to fill out on the Velocify website.). In addition to my prediction (below), you can read predictions from my colleagues: Jill Konrath , Bestselling author of Agile Selling , SNAP Selling & Sel

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8 Reasons Selling on Price Never Works

The Sales Hunter

'So you say you’re a good salesperson because you’ve got pricing that is hot and you have the flexibility to make it hotter when necessary. What it comes down to is you’re selling on price. Here are 8 reasons why selling on price never works: 1. Your current price (which you think is so […].

Price 99
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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