Sat.Aug 04, 2018 - Fri.Aug 10, 2018

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Making Marketing Training Work: Closing Skills Gaps, Proving Value

ConversionXL

Does investing in employees marketing skills pay off? Or is it just a waste? Businesses spent nearly $94 billion on corporate training in 2017—a 33% increase over 2016. Per employee, expenditures ranged from $399 at large companies to $1,886 at smaller organizations, according to the same report from Training magazine. Within marketing departments, an estimated 4.2% of the total marketing budget now goes to training programs, up from 2.7% in 2014.

Closing 106
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The Evolution of CRM (And Where it’s Going) in the Future

Sales Hacker

A sales CRM is a foundational tool for modern sales organizations. Here’s a closer a look at the evolution of customer relationship management and where it’s headed. Let’s face it—most B2B tech brands are unsexy. It’s not a bad thing, but you won’t see hundreds of customers lining up outside at 4:00 am to wait for the next big product release from some IT cloud storage company.

CRM 102
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The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Jobs

Hubspot

If someone were to ask you, “Do you know what marketing is?” you’d probably say yes, right? But when asked to define marketing, you might struggle. That’s okay — I would, too. Marketing is a seemingly simple concept on the surface, but it becomes more complex as you break it down. What do marketers do every day? How has technology expanded the marketing field?

Promote 101
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3 Common Sales Mistakes That Impact a Customer’s Mindset

Jeff Shore

By Jeff Shore. All too often, the sale is lost before it ever really gets started. Too many sales professionals practice bad habits right out of the gate, seriously jeopardizing their chances of success. Here are three common sales mistakes that get made in the first half-minute of far too many sales conversations. 1. Lack of a Clear Outcome. This isn’t so much a technique problem as it is a mindset problem.

Sales 91
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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

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.

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Fix The 5 Reasons Sales Hiring Is So Hard to Get Right

Women Sales Pros

We work with companies, small and large, suffering the same issues when it comes to hiring. They all have difficulty attracting, selecting and on boarding the right salesperson. Hiring the wrong salesperson not only wastes countless hours, it will likely cost the company three to five times the hire’s annual compensation when they don’t work out. Sales is the most difficult hire.

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Increase Sales with the Best Live Chat Tools out There [Top 10 List]

Sales Hacker

Finding the best live chat software in a crowded marketplace can be tricky. Fortunately, this just means there’s bound to be an option that fits perfectly with your business model. If you owned a store, you could directly interact with the customers who come in each day. The same principle doesn’t traditionally work with websites. Sure, you can see the visitors who pop in, thanks to tools that gather data on where they’re coming from.

More Trending

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“Consistency Selling” by Weldon Long [Book Review]

Adaptive Business Services

Powerful Sales Results. Every Lead. Every Time”. Do you remember that scene in “Jerry Maguire” when Renee Zellweger says to Tom Cruise … “You had me at hello” ? The author of this book, Weldon Long, had me at his dedication page …. “This book is dedicated to the passionate and hard-working men and women who eat what they kill in the sales profession.

Sell 89
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9 Time Management Tactics to Increase Productivity

Heinz Marketing

Guest post By: Mike Schultz, President, RAIN Group. With the nonstop interruptions and distractions, too many people have lost complete control of their work days. They get sucked into other people’s meetings and priorities, they take on the work of their staff, or they’re at the mercy of what their boss tells them to do and when. If you want to be as productive as possible at work, you need to take back control of your time.

Product 84
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Quit Preaching — 6 Ways To Actually Be Human In Sales

Sales Hacker

If there’s one thing I hate as much as you do, it’s fluffy sales advice with no teeth. But I’ve got to be honest – sell like a human or be human is the one piece of sales advice I really struggle with. I love it because it’s actually true. And it’s a huge problem today with the advent of technology and the internet where everyone wants to automate the sales process and make it robotic.

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The Ultimate Guide to Internet Marketing

Hubspot

Internet use is increasing worldwide every day -- in fact, over four billion people around the world use the internet, as of 2018. Marketing is, and always has been, about reaching customers where they are. TV commercials, print advertisements, and billboards all attempt to do just that. The internet offers unique benefits other marketing mediums can’t offer -- scope of reach, the option to personalize content, and the opportunity to build far-reaching relationships with customers, being just a

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The Intersection of AI and Sales: Personalization Without Compromise

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.

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Listening IS NOT The Most Important Sales Skill

A Sales Guy

I often hear people say; God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. This fun little phrase is used to argue the point that salespeople need to listen more and talk less. I get the point, but it’s not accurate from my perspective. What it really should suggest is that people should tell less, not talk less. Telling is very different than talking.

Sales 80
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5 Ways a Data-Driven Approach Improves Sales Coaching

SalesLoft

Sales managers have limited opportunity to observe sales reps in real-time. We don’t mean creeping looking over their shoulder, but rather observing reps to identify coaching opportunities. Managers have a busy schedule. Between running a sales team, reviewing metrics, and other daily tasks it’s not uncommon for coaching to take a backseat. That’s why taking a data-driven approach to sales coaching is vital.

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13 Tips for Email Prospecting Success

RAIN Group

Email is an essential part of the prospecting process. In fact: 77% of buyers have responded favorably to an email from a new provider in the last 12 months. 31% of sellers say sending 1-to-1 emails manually after doing research and customizing the message is very/extremely effective (this ranks in the top 5 most effective prospecting tactics). 80% of buyers prefer to be contacted by sellers via email.

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Mass Email Is Dead, Try This Modern Strategy Instead [SlideShare]

Hubspot

M y name is John Sherer. And I spam my prospects. At least, I used to. You're likely thinking one of two things: " What a monster. I can't believe he did that. " or " How the heck did he ever stop? ". Unfortunately, I didn't stop mass email marketing until it stopped working. And, at that point, it's too late and you're left with no money. So, today I'd like to share the evolution of my. email prospecting. strategy and how it went from old school robotic to modern and strategic, with a series of

B2C 95
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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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Does Being a Strong Qualifier Correlate to Having a Strong Pipeline?

Understanding the Sales Force

My latest data mining project reveals that the answer to this question is a partial correlation. Check out the two tables below and you'll see just what I mean.

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What Type of Sales Closer Are You?

Jeff Shore

By Amy O’Connor. Closing is about making it easy for people to do what is in their best interest to do. Closing in its purest form is actually all about influencing and persuading others to do things that will improve their lives, and, in that vein, closing becomes something sales people do for buyers not to buyers. Think about a time when you properly influenced someone to do what was in their best interest to do even if they were reluctant.

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On Differentiation

Membrain

Differentiation is critical in helping customers select our solution over the alternatives. As important as it is, most sales people do a terrible job at differentiation.

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The 13 Best Real Estate Websites for Selling a Home in 2018

Hubspot

A 2017 survey by the National Association of Realtors® reported 51% of buyers found their homes on the internet, 30% found homes through an agent, and a dwindling 7% discovered their eventual home through a yard sign or open house. This should tell you one thing: if you’re selling a house in 2018, you don’t just need to be on the internet, you need to be on the right real estate websites.

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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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How to Own it, Crush it, and Stay Motivated in Sales [9 Tips for AEs]

Sales Hacker

In this article, I’ll break down how to stay motivated in sales as an AE, especially if you’re in it for the long haul. Sales Is a Grind. To say that sales is a grind, would be an unfair understatement. I have been in sales for almost 5 years now, and there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t realize it. In this role as an Account Executive, you could either choose to be “A Yes Man (Appointment Setter)” or someone that can handle objections (A Professional).

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Wait 30 Minutes to Follow Up with Inbound Leads – and Other New Findings

Score More Sales

I love good data. Good data in professional sales means that there is a big enough sample group (thousands, not hundreds) and from diverse industries (not just SaaS which is much more tech savvy). I also love innovation and updating what used to work with what works better.

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What if your sales analytics are missing the point?

Membrain

Sales analytics are supposed to make everything about your sales system more effective. Companies that market sales analytics technologies love to tout its benefits, from providing greater “insights” to promoting “optimization” of the pipeline.

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How to Add a Text Box in Google Docs [FAQ]

Hubspot

A text box is an effective way to draw attention to important information on a page, or organize your thoughts visually. Adding a text box to a Google Doc can also make your document look more formal and professional -- which is particularly important if you're sharing the Doc with colleagues. If you need to differentiate a set of text for your next marketing meeting notes or brainstorming session, you'll need to know how to add a text box in Google Docs.

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The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

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!

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Banish Busywork: 6 Moves That Clear the Path to Closing Deals

Sales Hacker

The post Banish Busywork: 6 Moves That Clear the Path to Closing Deals appeared first on Sales Hacker.

Closing 75
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Introducing Texting in Outreach

Outreach

Take your customer relationships and conversations to the next level. When it comes down to it, sales is really about two things: building relationships and delivering value. A key element of doing both of these things well depends on how you’re communicating with your buyers. It’s more important than ever to have uninterrupted conversations with customers and buyers across multiple different channels.

Launch 64
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3 Technology Systems You MUST Have If You Have a Remote Sales Team

criteria for success

If you’re managing a remote sales team, utilizing technology is a given. But are you using the right technology systems? Today I’d like to address the most important technology systems for sales teams and why they’re so key. 3 Key Technology Systems “You cannot effectively manage a remote team without using and leveraging technology.” – [ ] The post 3 Technology Systems You MUST Have If You Have a Remote Sales Team appeared first on Criteria for Success.

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The Beginner’s Guide to Usability Testing

Hubspot

My favorite part of the writing process is when my editor reviews my work. By the time I’ve submitted the first draft of most of my blog posts, I’ve invested so much time and effort into my piece that I’m too emotionally attached to it. I need to distance myself from it. My editor also has fresh editing eyes, so she can discover any overlooked errors and new creative opportunities to sharpen my piece.

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AI in Marketing & Sales: Today’s Tools, Tomorrow’s Potential

Speaker: Kevin Burke

AI is reshaping marketing and sales, empowering professionals to work smarter, faster, and more effectively. This webinar will provide a practical introduction to AI, focusing on its current applications, transformative potential, and strategies for successful implementation in your organization. Using real-world examples and actionable insights, we’ll examine how businesses are leveraging AI to increase efficiency, enhance personalization, and drive measurable results.

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Deconstructing the Myth of the Challenger Sale

Miller Heiman Group

In 2011, the Challenger Sale burst onto the scene, telling sales organizations to completely rethink their approach to complex sales opportunities. Instead of providing solutions to buyers’ needs, the Challenger Sale model advises sales reps to aggressively take control of the conversation and embrace friction as a strategy to win sales. But is the Challenger Sale model really the best way to convert buyers into valued, long-term customers?

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July Product Round-Up

Outreach

The last month has been pretty exciting here at Outreach. Not only did we grow the Outreach family by acquiring Sales Hacker (our first acquisition!), but we’ve been hard at work delivering awesome new capabilities to make Outreach work even harder for your team. Here’s what we’ve released over the last month: Opportunities in Outreach. Last month, we brought Salesforce Opportunity data directly into Outreach.

Product 58
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3 Key Components to Build an Innovation Culture

criteria for success

What would it mean to you to have an innovation culture? Are you picturing something already? Maybe it’s constant improvement, developing solutions even before clients know they need them. Or maybe it’s driving your industry or even changing the world. Whatever an innovation culture means to you, there are three key components. 1. Empower your [ ] The post 3 Key Components to Build an Innovation Culture appeared first on Criteria for Success.

Clients 60
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Common Work From Home Jobs and The 10 Best Companies Who Offer Them

Hubspot

Every year on HubSpot’s content team, our whole team works remotely for a week. By working from home full-time and conducting all our meetings through video conference software, remote week helps us develop empathy for our remote colleagues and teaches us how to more effectively collaborate with our co-workers who live halfway across the world. Today marks the last day of remote week, and, to be frank, I’m kind of sad.

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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