Sat.Jan 23, 2021 - Fri.Jan 29, 2021

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How Atlanta’s Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3B startup

Openview

The post How Atlanta’s Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3B startup appeared first on OpenView.

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Meeting Complexity With Complexity

Partners in Excellence

We are surrounded by complexity–in our business, in our communities, in our lives. Complexity can be, by it’s nature, overwhelming. Ironically, too often our approach to dealing with complex situations is to make them more complex. We do this, because we don’t understand what we face or what we may be trying to do. We do this, because we’ve never experienced the situation before.

Meeting 159
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Trending Sources

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The 3 Things Keeping You From Connecting With Your Prospects

Anthony Cole Training

In today's world of selling, it is increasingly more difficult to get the attention of a prospective buyer after only a few outreach attempts. We know that they're busy but let's face it, we're all busy. So, how do you stay consistent (and persistent) in your outreach with a prospect while remaining sensitive to their daily lives and the distractions they face?

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5 x Selling Basics To Close More Sales

The 5% Institute

In this article, we’ll uncover the five selling basics you need to consistently close more sales. Whether you’re a Sales Professional, Business Owner or Entrepreneur; these details will help you win more sales in a consultative way. Read on to learn our recommended selling basics, and how and why you should implement this into your sales strategy. 5 x Selling Basics to Close More Sales.

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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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Advance or disqualify!

Membrain

In his best-selling sales guidebook “SPIN® Selling”, Neil Rackham identified four potential outcomes from every significant conversation with a prospective customer in a complex B2B sales environment: a win, an advance, a continuation or a clear “no sale”. I’ll define these outcomes in a moment.

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Sales Is A Human Process

Partners in Excellence

In the past 10 years, we’ve done everything we can to take the “human” out of complex B2B selling. We’ve mechanized the process, focusing on our efficiency and less the customer buying experience. We inflict mass, meaningless outreaches across increasing numbers of channels and increasing volumes of suspects. Sales growth has become a “predictable” math equation. “If it takes so many emails/dials to produce a conversation, to double the conversations, we

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More Trending

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Two Selling Strategies That are More Effective Than Facts and Figures

Understanding the Sales Force

I hope this is one of my more entertaining articles, although most of the enjoyment will come from the links within. Each year around this time I start thinking about Baseball because I miss it so much. Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron just passed away becoming the 9th baseball HOFer to pass in the last 12 months. Today there were multiple videos showing wild triple plays in my Twitter feed.

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How to get clients to actually take your advice

Membrain

Many of the greatest ideas and advances in history occur when someone takes an idea from one area of expertise, and applies it in another. For this reason, I spend a lot of time listening to, reading about, and speaking with experts in a wide variety of disciplines outside of sales.

Clients 140
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How Understanding Perceptual Sets Can Make You a Better Marketer

ConversionXL

Why do some ads perform better than expected? Why does an ‘ugly’ CTA sometimes convert better than one that is professionally designed? Understanding perceptual sets and how they affect our behavior and decisions can give you better insight into improving and optimizing your marketing strategy. . ( Image source ). How many legs does the elephant have?

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Why Now Is the Biggest Change in SaaS Sales in 15+ Years

SaaStr

2021 will be the year SaaS sales evolves the most since the Appexchange ecosystem started to take off ~15 years ago, which spawned the entire notion of a true sales app stack. What’s the change? The permanent move to distributed sales teams. Almost every SaaS VP of Sales and CRO I’ve talked to in the past few months isn’t going back. At first, they missed the “pit”, the floors of sales reps in San Francisco, in Atlanta, in Phoenix, in Portland, etc.

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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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Data - Top Salespeople are 631% More Effective at This Than Weak Salespeople (The Bob Chronicles - Part 3)

Understanding the Sales Force

Just before dark each day a Fox visits our property and drives our dog, Dinger, crazy. If you don't know Dinger, you can learn about his listening skills in this article. Last week, the Fox stole Dinger's green ball, brought it home to his own family, and that really pissed off Dinger! My wife and I have both scared the Fox away but he's a creature of habit and he continues to appear at the same time each day.

Up-sell 139
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7 Marketing Principles for ABM Success

Heinz Marketing

By Winfield Salyards , Marketing Coordinator at Heinz Marketing. A few days ago, I read Jill Konrath’s short piece 7 Paradoxical Sales Principles. It got me thinking about the marketer’s equivalent to the 7 principles and what that would look like. So, here’s my take on 7 marketing principles for ABM success: To drive more leads, lead with content.

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A Guide on Lead Nurturing

Salesmate

“Strong customer relationships drive sales, sustainability, and growth.” – Tom Cates. From generating more leads to shifting the focus on nurturing leads, marketing tactics have evolved over the years. The rise in social media usage has shrunk the distance between a consumer and a company. Now, they’re not just making a purchase; customers are interacting with sales executives and following their updates on various social media platforms.

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What Your First 100 Hires Will Look Like

SaaStr

There’s an exercise I’ve been through with many founders that are just getting to Initial Traction, say $1m-$2m in ARR or so, sometimes less, where I map out their future hiring. They are often a bit shocked at how many people they are going to need to hire as they cross $10m ARR. Because SaaS requires so many functions beyond engineering, especially if it’s sales-driven … outbound, SDRs, inbound, field sales, marketing, customer success, support, more complex product ma

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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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6 Phrases to Purge From Your Sales Pitch (and 5 to Use Instead)

Sales Hacker

Words matter. According to a Salesforce study , a UK-based company saw a 139% increase in its conversion rate by simply changing their landing page’s headline from “Request a demo” to “Watch a demo now.”. The right words can give you the boost you need to make a winning sales pitch every time. But similarly, some words may break your flow, weaken your pitch, or put your prospects off.

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Mastering Self-Motivation

Heinz Marketing

By Michelle Voznyuk , Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing. Every month, our team gets together to discuss a different LinkedIn Learning course. We rotate as a group, and January is my month! Because we’re starting off a brand new year, I wanted to find something that would inspire us and set us up for success. In flipping through different courses, I stumbled upon the class called “ Mastering Self-Motivation ” by Selena Rezvani.

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Getting What We Want

Partners in Excellence

Sales people are singularly focused on making sales—getting the PO. In some sense, that’s great. We want sales people to be driven to win deals, to get new orders, to grow our revenue. Sadly, though, this singular focus on orders actually doesn’t serve us well. We miss the key issue that drives our ability to get an order. We focus on getting what we want–the PO.

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Don’t Make Anyone “Head of Sales/Marketing/Engineering/Whatever” in SaaS. At Least, Not For Too Long.

SaaStr

A little while back, I gave a great SaaS Founder CEO a Gift. A real gift. This founder CEO was at about $1m in ARR, doing well, but with only a smidge of angel funding and limited resources. And I gave him an insanely great VP of Sales candidate. An amazing fit for his company, his target ACV, his lead velocity and structure. And let’s be clear: the CEO was incredibly lucky to get this candidate.

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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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10+ LinkedIn Profile Tips to Stand Out in 2021

Sales Hacker

Would you slide into a prospect’s DMs to land a product demo? That idea might sound crazy, but it’s actually part of a new trend sales organizations are using to hit their revenue targets. With the shift to remote work and more new products hitting the market every day, it’s no surprise that social selling has risen in popularity. Social selling is a way for sales professionals to use social media platforms to connect with prospects and start building relationships.

Pitch 128
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B2B Reads: Salestech, Sensory Language, and Meetings That Don’t Suck

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. Four Ways to Tackle Your Sales Enablement Strategy During and After the Pandemic.

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Every Seller Has to Own the Story | Sales Strategies

Engage Selling

I want to highlight an important coaching technique that you should be practicing with every single one in your sales team: owning the story. What do I mean by that? I want every single manager and seller on the call … Read More » The post Every Seller Has to Own the Story | Sales Strategies first appeared on The Sales Leader.

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The Top 10 Worst Pieces of SaaS Advice

SaaStr

Advice is very context sensitive, so take this post with a grain of salt. But I thought I’d take a stab at the Top 10 Pieces of Classic SaaS Advice … that, in my experience at least, are usually Just Plain Wrong. Not always, but usually. The advice and thinking that leads you to make important mistakes there really is no need to make: “Ask VCs for Advice When You Want Money, Money When You Want Advice” I don’t know who started this, but they must be smarter and mo

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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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The Three Most Effective (Dis)Qualifying Questions You Can Ask

Sales Hacker

In today’s difficult business environment, you don’t have the time or the resources to waste time on a prospect that’s not a sure thing. That’s why qualifying your prospects is even more important now than when the economy was roaring. The good news is that your prospects are probably more than happy to help qualify (or rather, dis -qualify) themselves.

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Inside sales guide: challenges, strategies, tips, and tools

Salesmate

Technology has changed a lot of things in the past two decades. It has changed the way we see things, it has changed our expectations about the future. And it certainly has changed the way our business works. Businesses have taken their tents and found a new place called the internet. Just like every important element of our lives, technology has changed the face of sales.

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What Makes a Boss Great?

Predictable Revenue

Are you new in leadership and wondering how to be a good boss? Or did you ever think about leaving your company because you had a bad one? Jaimie Buss is here to help! The post What Makes a Boss Great? appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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To Really Scale, You Need $1M on Your Balance Sheet for Every $2M in ARR

SaaStr

“My CEO Told Me To Stop Selling So Much” Recently, I met with a sales leader I’ve known for years, and he told me The Most Curious Story. His SaaS CEO asked him to stop selling so much. Slow down. You are doing too good of a job, the CEO said. We can’t afford it. Now … how could this be? Well, it does make sense, when you understand the scenario, a combination of two things: First, this SaaS company has a mix of freemium customers and sales-driven customers (wit

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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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20 Critical Sales Qualification Questions to Identify the RIGHT Leads

Sales Hacker

Sales qualification questions help compare the prospect to the ICP to determine if they are a great fit. With an ideal customer profile, sales teams can focus on optimizing the sales qualification process. What Is Sales Qualification? Sales qualification is a vital process that helps sales teams determine which leads to prioritize first and which ones to shelf and pursue later.

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Selling Is A Human Process, Part 2

Partners in Excellence

A few days ago, I wrote, Selling Is A Human Process. It generated a lot of discussion, much of it revolving around the theme of, “What keeps us from doing this? What keeps us from engaging customers in a human way?” I don’t know that I have the answers to those questions, but I have some thoughts. We know that selling is about relationships.

Process 102
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The 5 Key Steps for a Successful Transition into a Marketing Role

Hubspot

Nowadays, significant career shifts are as prevalent as they've ever been. Some people want to assume a different degree of responsibility. Some want to pursue a passion they've put on hold for too long. And some flat-out need a change of pace. It's a popular course that comes with a host of challenges, several potential pitfalls, plenty of barriers of entry, and a lot of requisite hard work — especially when it comes to transitioning to a role in marketing.

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The #1 Best Hack to Making Sure a VP of Sales or Top AE Will Work Out

SaaStr

We’ve talked a ton on SaaStr over the years on how to make sure your VP of Sales and top hires really work out. That they are the right ones. We can pretty much summarize a lot of it into the following: Your VP of Sales should have lots of experience selling at your average ACV. A great VP of Sales that has mainly sold $100k deals just isn’t going to make it at a $5k ACV start-up … no matter how strong they otherwise are.

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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.