December, 2020

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Identifying and Hiring Top Sales Talent

Anthony Cole Training

Finding and hiring great sales talent is difficult. There are many characteristics you must ensure a candidate has in order to be successful with your organization. However, there are a few key attributes you need to look for during the interview process to increase you likelihood of hiring success.

Sales 286
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2020: The Great Teacher

Force Management

Through podcasts, conversations and LinkedIn activity, you’ve probably heard me call 2020 the “great teacher.”. No matter who you are or where you are in this world, we all have learned something about ourselves this year. I like to compare the 2020 business landscape to boats in the harbor. The water level lowered and ALL of our boats went down at the same time, but not all of our boats rose at the same time.

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Trending Sources

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3 Smart, Sustainable Ways to Monitor Your Organic Search Rankings

ConversionXL

“Why don’t we rank first for [keyword]”? Every SEO analyst gets this question. And every business investing in SEO uses keyword rankings to judge performance. Despite the flood of “organic rankings are dead” articles in recent years, I have yet to see a single business or agency that has given up on tracking keywords. So are all those articles wrong?

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Critical to B2B sales success - stakeholder assessments

Membrain

One of the most common reasons why apparently promising B2B sales opportunities get derailed - often at a late stage in our sales cycle - is that we have failed to identify all the key stakeholders or to understand how to get them all to support our approach.

B2B 169
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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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It Really Is Only About Me!

Partners in Excellence

Every day, three times a day, I go through my inbox—both email and social channels. Every day, particularly in the social channels like LinkedIn, I am inundated with invitations or requests much like the following: I would like to see if there is a possibility for you to join a free demo to show my and incredible service to help B2B marketing departments with data driven marketing campaigns.

Technique 159
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How a Mug of Dunkin Donuts Can Help You More Effectively Sell Value

Understanding the Sales Force

I won't suggest that a cup of coffee will make you more alert and more effective. It's much more helpful than that. This is another Bob story. Bob was on a sales call and the prospect told him that they were looking for the lowest price. I hope you hate it when that happens. It's a bad thing because while Bob was supposed to be selling value, a price-based conversation is transactional yet he's supposed to be taking a consultative approach to support the value he provides.

Sell 145

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Top 10 Topics That Resonated With Sales Leaders in 2020

Force Management

2020 was a year unlike any other. Many of us are still working through unexpected and unique challenges. The Force Management content team worked to publish content that was relevant and helpful to a sales community that was navigating unprecedented times. Taking a look back, we put together a list of the content that resonated most with our network of revenue leaders.

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The Should-How Fallacy (Or Why “Correct” Isn’t “Useful”)

ConversionXL

Get a chicken. Cook it until it’s perfectly done. Reduce the jus to a nice pan sauce. Then finish it with some butter until it has the right balance of flavors. Enjoy. This is a useless recipe, but it’s not wrong. It assumes, however, that accurate advice on what you should do is as valuable as advice on how to do it—the “Should-How Fallacy.” But being right doesn’t create value; empowering others to succeed does.

Niche 161
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What is a sales pipeline and why should you care?

Membrain

Almost every sales professional uses the phrase “sales pipeline” at least several times a week. But if you ask a room full of professionals to define “sales pipeline,” you’re likely to get a roomful of different answers.

Pipeline 167
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Sales Role Specialization

Partners in Excellence

A couple of people I deeply respect have written outstanding pieces arguing that we have take sales role specialization too far. Amy Volas wrote, “Is Sales Over-segmented,” Bob Apollo wrote, “Has role specialisation in B2B selling gone too far?” (There Bob goes with his “English” spelling.) Both articles are outstanding.

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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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If You’re Going to Do a SaaS Start-Up … You Have to Give it 24 Months

SaaStr

It took us 2 years just to figure out our ultimate business model. What you think you do on day 1 may look very different by day 365. [link]. — Aaron Levie (@levie) September 11, 2020. It seems like everyone wants to be a SaaS founder these days. I meet with great VPs of Sales and Product in particular who are Ready. It’s time. To go out on their own.

Start-ups 145
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2020 in Retrospective

Heinz Marketing

By Payal Parikh , Director of Client Engagement at Heinz Marketing. This year has brought a lot of challenges across the globe due to the spreading virus. Many businesses have had to shut down, and a lot more folks have lost their jobs. My heart reaches out to families who are not able to make ends meet due to lockdowns in various places around the world.

Territory 141
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Gap Selling Training Certification is Here!

A Sales Guy

It’s here!! We’ve just launched the Gap Selling Certification program and I couldn’t be any more excited. Now anyone with the Gap Selling acumen and charisma can build their own Gap Selling Training Business. As readers of this blog and of Gap Selling, you know how powerful the Gap Selling methodology is. The industry has been ripe for a progressive, forward-thinking selling methodology for years.

Sell 126
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New Infographic: 4 Ways to Take the Lead in Virtual Selling

RAIN Group

As we near the end of the year, we’re left wondering what the world will look like in the next stages of pandemic recovery. One thing that’s for certain? Virtual selling is here to stay. In fact, 89% of B2B decision makers say they’re likely to sustain the new sales model beyond the next year, according to McKinsey & Company. If you want to succeed in 2021, you must master this new medium of sales.

Sell 135
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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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Your Customers Aren’t Buying Your Product, So Why Do You Keep Selling It?

Membrain

I’ve been sitting in a lot of deal reviews recently. The clients are in varied businesses, ranging from software technologies, medical devices, capital equipment, electronic components, financial services, and so forth.

Product 157
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Right-Level Selling

Partners in Excellence

We’ve always been taught to “call high.” We are supposed to reach “The Decision-maker,” perhaps leveraging our influencers. But complex B2B buying has changed profoundly, “The Decision-maker” has become a buying/decision-making group. The number of people, directly and indirectly, involved in the buying process has grown.

Sell 142
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Big Companies Don’t Churn. They Quit You.

SaaStr

“Churn” is a term we all use in SaaS as a core metric, but its roots, as near as I remember and can tell, come from our B2C colleagues. Folks churn out of their Verizon plan, their Netflix subscription, etc. In a low-end subscription model for a tool, not a solution (e.g., semi-commodity storage, semi-commodity hosting, etc. etc.), the dynamics are similar.

B2C 145
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What Is Inbound Marketing and Why Is It Important?

Heinz Marketing

By Stephanie Carrillo , Senior Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing. The inbound methodology is creating and distributing content utilizing marketing channels like organic search, social media, blogging, lead nurturing, and live chat, to name a few. Inbound marketing focuses on providing content to the buying committee responsible for making a purchase decision for your services or product.

Campaign 140
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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 Nutcracker in 2020 and 3 Critical Year-End Lessons for Salespeople and Their Managers

Understanding the Sales Force

Two Holiday traditions in one. In mid-December each year, my family spends the weekend in Boston and we enjoy the Boston Ballet's production of the Nutcracker. At the same time each year I repost a seasonal favorite, an article I first wrote in 2010 with 3 great sales lessons from the Nutcracker. Please read my original post because it's one of my best analogy articles ever!

Product 131
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Sales Team Building Games – 5 x That Are Effective

The 5% Institute

Sales team building games can be a great way to break up your usual sales team meetings , because it allows your Sales Professionals to enhance their personal development in a lighter way. Team meetings can sometimes feel a bit stale and repetitive. Although this is completely normal, it’s still very important to have regular sessions with your team, as it keeps communication healthy, and creates an opportunity to up skill their training and abilities.

Gaming 134
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How to maximize selling in a virtual environment

Membrain

If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s that almost anything can be done remotely if it has to be. But is complex b2b sales an outlier? Can you really do everything in a virtual selling environment that you can in-person? And can you do it well?

Sell 153
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We Don’t Create Value By Discounting It!

Partners in Excellence

I was doing a deal review. We were in the final stages of closing a big deal. The team had worked really hard. It’s the end of the month/quarter/year. They not only wanted the deal, but they needed the deal. Then it happened. The customer says, “We are almost there, but we’ve hit a roadblock…… ” I won’t go into the details, but the customer presented a fascinating discussion.

Price 135
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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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Turns Out, 85% of the World Likes “Contact Me”. Even Though You Don’t.

SaaStr

I know you are probably like me. You go to a web service. What do you do? Free trial. Sign Up Now. The very, very last thing I am going to click is “Contact Me.” The last thing I want, as a web-centric small customer/user, is some sales rep selling me on some product I just want to try for 20 minutes and see if it works for me. You and I are like that.

Contact 143
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Capture Attention with Interactive B2B Content

Heinz Marketing

By Lauren Dichter , Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing. The Case for Interactive B2B Content. As humans, our attention spans are at their shortest ever, thanks to technology. If you don’t believe it, just watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix! Or simply think about how long it takes you to write a decent blog post without removing typical device and app distractions from your environment.

B2B 139
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Ready for 2021? First, Ask Yourself These Questions

SalesProInsider

It’s that time of year – thinking about next year! You’ll hear or be asked: “ It’s time to set goals!” or “ What are your goals for next year?” and that is important of course. But too often the goals for next year are set without important information to identify realistic and achievable goals, the information gleaned by pausing to review THIS year!

Clients 127
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How to create a virtual SKO your team will LOVE

Gong.io

Your annual sales kickoff (SKO) is ALMOST HERE. . (Groans from the planning committee. Excitement from sales reps!) . SKOs have long held significant value for sales organizations. They’re a superb way to boost morale; build a sense of community, networking, and culture; celebrate big wins; and recognize individuals. They get everyone on board and fired up with new goals, products, and services. .

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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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Hedgehog Your Sales Organization

Membrain

Years ago, while I was working for a company in the sales trenches, a fellow salesperson was always struggling to make his number. He would fight and claw to get approval on small opportunities that were not really in our sweet spot.

Sales 153
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Making A Difference, Pursuing Your Passions

Partners in Excellence

As we come to the end of 2020, I want to reflect a moment. Yes, I know we are all supposed to write about New Year’s Resolutions—99% of which will be abandoned before the end of January. But given this year, I want to focus on something else. When I started this blog, about 13 years ago, I chose to call it “Making A Difference.” My hope has been to make a difference in the lives of people reading these posts.

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How to Handle, and Share, Bad News

SaaStr

The past 7 years I’ve had a chance to observe a lot of SaaS founders, as an investor, as an advisor and more … and the vast majority I’ve worked with have in the end just killed it. Gone on to bigger and better things. Three have become unicorns. A few have sold at solid valuations. Many are just getting going. But … it’s never all roses.

Start-ups 142
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10 Things You May Not Know About Marketo

Heinz Marketing

By Lisa Heay , Marketing Planning Manager at Heinz Marketing. It’s hard to know what you don’t know. Marketing Automation is complex and changing all the time, and even after over a decade using tools like this, I’m still learning new things and new ways to get the job done better, faster, and more efficiently. Here’s a list of 10 simple things that you may not know about Marketo. #1 – Batch Campaigns and Wait Step Priority.

CRM 136
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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