Sat.Nov 21, 2020 - Fri.Nov 27, 2020

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A brief history of sales opportunity qualification

Membrain

The quality and accuracy of opportunity qualification is widely acknowledged to be a key predictor of future sales success - and a critical differentiator between the best salespeople and the rest.

Sales 169
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“This Is Not A New Concept….”

Partners in Excellence

On a recent post, someone commented, “This is not a new concept… ” He was absolutely right, I had traced an origin of an idea back to the 1950-60’s, so it is an idea that is at least 60-70 years old. I suspect if one read some philosophers or scientists, the idea might be traced back centuries (to satisfy your curiosity, it was my post on the 5 Why’s.).

Technique 152
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Trending Sources

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The 5 x Key Areas Of Sales Professionalism

The 5% Institute

Sales can be won or lost based on how you present and carry yourself – which is why sales professionalism is key to your success. But what exactly is sales professionalism? And what ingredients are needed to carry and present yourself as a true sales professional? In this article, we’ll explore what sales professionalism is, as well as the five key factors you need to position yourself as the easy choice for your potential clients.

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How to Succeed as a First-Time VP of Sales. Or Just a First-Time VP in General.

SaaStr

We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about how to hire a Great VP of Sales. And we’ll keep talking about it — so long as 70% of first-time VPs of Sales don’t make it 1 year. I wanted to take a moment to explore the flip-side … a guide to why first-time VPs of Sales that finally get their shot — fail. I’ve seen so many fail, and almost always, for avoidable reasons.

Quota 143
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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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How to supercharge your account growth - 10 articles to read

Membrain

If you’ve been following me this year, you may have noticed how much I have been talking about account planning–or, rather, account GROWTH.

Growth 151
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Action Plans, The Well Structured “To-Do”

Partners in Excellence

My life seems to be spent in one meeting after another. Reviews of all types, planning sessions, problem solving sessions, training—you name it, I go from meeting to meeting. In most of those meetings, we are trying to address some issue–how to win a deal, how to address performance issues, how to address organizational/structural issues, how to address new opportunities or problems.

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All Your VPs Really Need to Do is Tilt the Curve

SaaStr

We’ve written a lot on SaaStr on how to increase the odds your first management team is a success. How to hire a great VP of Sales (tons on that here ). What a great VP of sales really does. What a great VP of marketing really does (tons on that here ). When to hire her (more here ). How to manage customer success. How to hire a great VP of product.

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Lisa’s App of the Week: 6sense

Heinz Marketing

By Lisa Heay , Marketing Planning Manager at Heinz Marketing. If you’re running an account-based marketing initiative in your organization but not using an account engagement tool, you’re missing out. 6sense is one of the best in the biz—their Account Engagement platform has the power to elevate any sales team, showing them exactly which companies are in the consideration and decision phases of their buying cycle. .

Follow-up 139
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5 Ways to Influence Virtual Relationships with Buyers

RAIN Group

The in-person buying and selling experience usually goes something like this: You show up to your buyer's office, where they greet you and offer you coffee. You accept, and walk together to the kitchen, discussing your trip in and how the day's going. You chat around the coffee pot for a few minutes about the local restaurant you visited last night.

Sports 137
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How To Use The Alternate Choice Close

The 5% Institute

The alternate choice close is a popular sales closing technique , because put simply – when used correctly it works! It doesn’t matter if you’re working in retail selling low to medium priced products or selling high ticket consulting services ; the alternate choice close when learnt correctly can do you and your sales wonders. In this article, we’ll break down what the alternate choice close is, as well as share some examples of how to use it.

Closing 140
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Prepare Now: 2025s Must-Know Trends For Product And Data Leaders

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.

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When Should You Add a Second Product?

SaaStr

A few years back at SaaStr Annual, we put back-to-back a seemingly very different set of speakers, Jeff Lawson CEO of Twilio (transcript here ) and Peter Gassner of Veeva (transcript here ). Both are two of the most impressive and inspiring public SaaS CEOs — but their products and companies couldn’t be more different. Veeva sells eight figure deals to a very small number of very sophisticated customers, while Twilio has a huge long tail and starts at $0.0085 a minute.

Product 142
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Gratitude and Thankfulness

Heinz Marketing

By Brenna Lofquist , Senior Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing. We’re going to taking a break from our regularly scheduled sales and marketing content…. It’s the day before Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays! If you’re working this week like me, I hope you’re signing off early today to spend time with loved ones or just taking some time for yourself!

Education 134
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YouTube Strategy Lessons from a Channel with 1.6 Million Subscribers

ConversionXL

YouTube continues to be one of the best places to see organic growth, and the barrier to entry can be an advantage for companies and brands willing to put in the work. Whereas a blog post needs just a computer to type, a video requires an understanding of lighting, audio, storytelling, editing, and community building. So, if you’re willing to fight through the learning curve and are patient enough to suffer through low viewership, you can generate significant exposure.

CTR 129
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Reliable Sales Hacks To Close More Deals In Less Time

Salesmate

Another quarter ends with the same disappointing sales results. It is undoubtedly disheartening when you fail to achieve your sales quota at the end of the month or quarter, isn’t it? To break out of this vicious cycle of failure, you’ll have to change your approach and try different things. When basketball players or soccer players fail, they do not give up.

Closing 128
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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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Why You Might Not Actually Enjoy Being a VC

SaaStr

Why would you not work in a VC fund? There may be times, maybe even many times, in the earlier days when you look at VCs and Venture Capital and think — that’s the easy way. They drop into a few board meetings, and take 10%, 15%, 20% or more of the start-up for seemingly relatively little work. They get to make multiple bets each year, and in each fund.

Teamwork 141
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B2B Reads: Groupthink, Pandemic Productivity, and Spam Trigger Words

Heinz Marketing

In addition to our Sunday App of the Week feature, we also summarize some of our favorite B2B sales & marketing posts from around the Web each week. We’ll miss a ton of great stuff, so if you found something you think is worth sharing please add it to the comments below. Your brand is probably missing out on the true value of influencers. Social media continues to be a powerful medium and has only grown over the years, but are you getting the best value out of your influencers?

B2B 130
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4 Deal Review Tips to Close More Deals & End an Unprecedented Year Strong

Sales Hacker

It’s easy to get complacent at the end of the year. Teams are tired. Deadlines loom. Customers are distracted trying to close out their own year. And It can be tempting not to be quite as thorough in these final few months. How do you keep teams engaged and provide the support they need? Finish strong with deal reviews. Holding effective deal reviews is one way you can play an active role in helping your team achieve a strong finish to the year.

Closing 128
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What’s Next? How Are You Moving This Forward?

Partners in Excellence

I have to apologize to Dave (not me). Dave’s a good sales person, we were doing a deal review on a hugely important opportunity for his company. He’s been working the deal pretty well, it’s very complex with several people from his company supporting him, a partner and at least the 11.7 buyers we are told are involved in complex B2B buying.

B2B 128
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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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What’s a Good Net Retention Rate in SaaS?

SaaStr

At least 100% net negative churn (i.e., upsell/account growth + renewals – churn) for very small businesses. 130%+ in the enterprise, and for top B2D products. Let’s look at some of the top public SaaS companies: Shopify — very SMB: 100%. Hubspot — mostly SMB: 100%. Surverymonkey — fairly SMB, but going more enterprise: 100%. Zendesk — 116%, mix of SMB and enterprise.

Growth 139
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Client Gift Giving Ideas

Engage Selling

We’re approaching that time of year. And while this year will likely look much different than any year in recent memory, here are some client gift giving ideas to keep in touch with your customer base.

Clients 125
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How to Land a Successful Virtual Sales Kickoff in 2021

Highspot

??Not only are they key to landing your go-to-market strategy for the upcoming year, but one of the few times your entire sales team will be together, making them valuable opportunities for camaraderie and connection. Though an in-person SKOs may no longer be possible, that doesn’t mean you can’t deliver a show-stopping virtual event. The key is to focus on educating and inspiring your team at three critical points – pre-, during-, and post-SKO – so they have the training and motivat

Education 122
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5 Sales Attributes We’re Thankful For

Force Management

The team at Force Management loves sales. We love salespeople. We know good salespeople when we see them. We are thankful for the ones who get it. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are sharing a little gratitude on The Command Center blog.

Sales 119
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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

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How to Ensure Your First 2 Sales Reps Actually Work Out

SaaStr

A long-time reader wrote in to ask a question that pretty much everyone asks some variant of: If you had to force rank these items in terms of what we should primarily be looking for in these first sales reps, how would you rank them? – has sold SaaS before (as opposed to selling media/ads, or some other product). – has sold something of a similar size ticket/ACV (ours is high.$150k-350k ACV). – has sold something to the same kinds of companies we are going after. – has w

Quota 138
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6 Effective B2B Sales Approaches You Must Incorporate Today

Salesmate

What do you do when a manager provides negative feedback about your sales performance? Do you give excuses, stay mum, and ignore their feedback or promise to work harder? Well, if you decide to work harder, how do you do it. Do you try to change your approach or just work a little extra? If you continue using your old sales approaches, you’ll keep getting the same disappointing results.

B2B 111
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Do You Know How to Generate MQLs Like a Pro?

G2

Are your leads sales-ready? Or are your conversion rates lacking?

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Chaos, Complexity, Predictable Revenue, Making “Big Moves”

Partners in Excellence

For the past decade, so many have sought to mechanize selling, creating predictable revenue. We developed methods and approaches, we’ve transactionalized the selling process, in spite of too many customers finding increased difficulty in navigating their buying processes. Even before the pandemic and collapse of the economy, how we sold became increasingly unpredictable.

Sell 107
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Business Intelligence 101: How To Make The Best Solution Decision For Your Organization

Speaker: Evelyn Chou

Choosing the right business intelligence (BI) platform can feel like navigating a maze of features, promises, and technical jargon. With so many options available, how can you ensure you’re making the right decision for your organization’s unique needs? 🤔 This webinar brings together expert insights to break down the complexities of BI solution vetting.

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Four Steps to Scaling to $250M from Stack Overflow

SaaStr

Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO @ Stack Overflow recently shared with our community the four key pillars he feels are necessary to propel a company to scale upward. The four key pillars he lays out are: Product market fit & expansion. Go to market approach & expansion. Competitive differentiation. Building a stage-specific team. #1 Product-Market Fit and Expansion.

Territory 130
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6 Ways to Support Black-Owned Businesses During the Holidays

Hubspot

2020 has presented unprecedented challenges for businesses. COVID-19 has forced most to pivot their strategies online and adapt to a growing digital landscape. While some have been able to stay afloat, others haven't been as successful and many have had to close their doors permanently as a result. Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the global pandemic.

Referrals 101
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4 Sales Time Wasters

criteria for success

Being a remote salesperson can be tricky (during a pandemic, no less!) You want to get to know your prospects and be sensitive to their needs, but also don't want to take up too much of their time. Sales time wasters could be the kink in your selling process. Below are 4 sales time wasters that we often hear about from colleagues of CFS. In dissecting why people experience them, you may be able to set better time management expectations moving forward. 4 Sales Time Wasters: 1.

Sales 98
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On Thanks-Giving

Partners in Excellence

2020 has been a year that none of us have ever experienced. We have found our lives and those around us turned upside down. The pandemic, the economic downturn, social and political unrest–worldwide. No one has escaped these. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know someone impacted by Covid 19, or known someone who has been hospitalized or died.

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Beyond the Basics: How to Develop and Retain a Top-Performing Sales Team

Speaker: Brendan Sweeney, VP of Sales at Allego

Maximizing sales rep performance is no easy task. 📈 Traditional sales training methods focus heavily on the first few weeks in the sales role. Companies dedicate time, resources, and budget to onboarding new hires, only for them to forget what was learned in those first few weeks, lose motivation, and struggle to come to grips with their role.