Field sales reps have a reputation for being early adopters of technology that will make them more productive. They know that the more efficient they can be in communicating with prospects, the more productive they will be at advancing the sales cycle. This desire to be connected, and the availability of powerful Smartphones connected over… Read More
Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today’s Ever-Changing Sales World
Sales expert Jill Konrath offers powerful strategies for sales proficiency in ever-changing situations. When sales people are promoted, change jobs, or face new business environments, they inevitably need to learn new skills quickly. This rapid change is often overwhelming, and sellers face an intense pressure from their bosses to deliver immediate results. Their livelihoods are… Read More
AI for Sales Insights: Are Sellers and Buyers Really Ready for This?
Recently, after doing a keynote on AI for Sales at a conference in Utah, I was approached by one of the attendees. Her first comment was that seeing the case study examples I had presented on what AI for Sales can already do blew her mind. But she then followed that up with the observation… Read More
All You Have to Sell Is Value – Here’s How – Michael Nick Interview
Michael Nick is Founder and President of ROI4Sales. The idea to start his company came serendipitously. Early in his sales career during a consulting project, Michael uncovered that his customer’s field engineers were placing orders for parts 14 to 15 times each day and that the supplier shipped 14 to 15 boxes each day. After… Read More
An Open Letter to Sellers Everywhere
I write to you today, seller, because I want you to succeed. Dear Seller, Sorry it didn’t work out this time, but I had to say “no.” I tried to buy from you, but too many things got in the way. You made too many mistakes that turned me away. This has happened to me more times… Read More
Are B2B Salespeople Really Getting Worse?
Jonathan Farrington interviews Phil Kreindler, CEO of Infoteam Sales Process Consulting JF: Your latest B2B market research suggests that customer satisfaction with vendor salespeople has decreased significantly? PK: Infoteam, most recently in cooperation with the Harvard Business Manager, carries out recurring international research projects with customer executives who regularly buy products or services for €75K+…. Read More
Are we ready for AI in the workplace?
Jonathan Farrington in conversation with Martin Moran Martin Moran brings more than 25 years of experience in managing and growing business operations across a variety of industries in Europe and globally, with a proven track record for building high-performance sales organizations. At InsideSales.com, Martin is responsible for leading the company’s regional growth in Europe, the… Read More
Are We Reinforcing Our Organization’s Customer Disloyalty Program?
Customer disloyalty happens. When we fail to meet customer requirements after we initially attract and win their business. When customers become disenchanted, their loyalty is jeopardized. The next step is customer defection. Far too often, businesses of all sizes leave the customer’s loyalty in the hands of front-line employees. These gallant individuals deal with disgruntled… Read More
Are You Managing Your Pipeline, Or Is It Managing You?
The sales pipeline is one of the most important concepts in sales – but it’s also one of the most slippery and deceptively simple. Don’t believe me? Here’s an experiment: Close your eyes and picture your pipeline. Got it? Good. I bet you were visualizing your pipeline in one of two ways – either in… Read More
Are You Mining Your Acres of Diamonds?
I first learned of Russell Conwell years ago when listening to a self-development tape from Nightingale-Conant. Conwell became famous for a speech he would go on to deliver more than six thousand times around the world. In his speech, he recounts the story of Al Hafed, a moderately successful man who, after hearing about diamonds… Read More
B2B Sales: Navigating the Meteors of Change
A day of reckoning is fast approaching for nearly 1 million B2B sales representatives who could be displaced because of the consumerization of B2B sales. At least, that’s what Forrester[i] is predicting will happen if B2B sales organizations don’t broaden their conventional approach to selling and adopt a digital strategy that assists the sales professional… Read More
Baseline Selling: How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball
Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know About the Game of Baseball, will dramatically change the way we approach the sales process, replacing the gratuitous complexity advocated by today’s sales “experts” with an elegant and very effective simplicity. Studies have shown that the selling techniques of the… Read More
Be an Optimized Sales Leader
In every business cycle new ideas are built and strategies-tactics attempted to create a positive impact on the organization. For example, the role of quality control, Lean and Kaizen Management have been implemented in many areas of business to improve performance. In most cases each of these “re-engineering” type programs have had positive impacts; from… Read More
Beware the Monkey’s Paw
Along the docks in major ports you see massive ropes, mooring lines securely connecting huge vessels to land. Docking these ships is complicated and getting those ropes down to the piers is a problem that creative seafarers solved long ago. They wrapped the roping around itself at the ends, creating what appeared to be clenched… Read More
Beyond “Ok Boomer” — Five Ways To Maximize The Sales Productivity Of Millennials And Generation Z
There are five critical steps we should be focusing in on as leaders in order to increase the productivity of the Millennial (born 1981-1996) and Generation Z (born 1997 to present) salespeople who work for us. These five steps are important to for anyone who leads a sales team, but they are particularly essential deliverables… Read More
Beyond the Classroom: Matching Skills Training to the Selling Moment
Jonathan’s guest this week is Tim Riesterer, co-author of “The Three Value Conversations and Conversations That Win the Complex Sale“, and is Chief Strategy and Research Officer for Corporate Visions. Their conversation focuses on the apparent reticence of sales managers to pull their sales teams out of the field so that they can benefit from… Read More
Blitzing to Kick-Start Growth
Many companies struggle to grow revenue despite having multiple areas where modest improvements in commercial activities could make a significant difference. Oddly, this abundance of opportunities often stymies action. Not knowing the best place to start, many management teams do nothing. A powerful tool for overcoming this paralysis is the “blitz” initiative—an intense effort, sustained… Read More
Bringing Value-added Data to Your Sales Enablement Program
The goal of most sales enablement initiatives is to ensure sales teams achieve quota in a scalable, predictable, and repeatable way. Although it sounds straightforward, a recent study by CSO Insights found only 30% of companies that implemented sales enablement initiatives in the past two years met all the objectives of their program. Without clear… Read More
Build Your Career In Sales: How to Find and Excel in Your Next Sales Role
You may be starting out or far into your career, but there always comes a time to find a new role. Starting new can be scary and intimidating. You want to love where you work and what you are doing. Finding that perfect match is difficult, but possible. No two sales roles are the same…. Read More
Building a “Customer Centric” Inside Nurture Team
Inside Sales teams often struggle due to incompatible goals. If they’re judged on sales they focus on closing sales and look for prospects that are ready to buy right now, which is around 2%-3% of all prospects. If they’re judged on leads they focus on leads. The natural temptation is to stretch the boundaries and… Read More
Building Buyer Trust in an Age of Skepticism, Mistrust and Unprecedented Knowledge
Today, power is in the hands of the buyer. More and more information is available at the click of a mouse, pricing transparency is offered through sites like CarMax and Parkers, and online peer reviews of anything you could possibly purchase can be viewed anytime. Buyers – in consumer and business markets alike – are… Read More
Business Without the Bullsh*t
In BUSINESS WITHOUT THE BULLSH*T, James explains how to clear the clutter from your work life so you can achieve real and lasting success. Full of the bluntest secrets from the most successful workers, BUSINESS WITHOUT THE BULLSH*T gives you the essence of what you need to know to achieve a successful and meaningful career… Read More
Buyer Behavior Has Changed. Your Business Needs To Adapt To Survive
When your prospects engage, are you providing them with a great buyer experience, or are you scaring them away? Is the content you provide relevant enough to motivate them to return, or do they go somewhere else? Do you have a strategy for staying top of mind, or are your prospects forever lost as soon… Read More
Buyer Networks – Navigating the Behaviors
Team selling. The collaborative strategy of multiple team members from a selling organization pulling the oars in the same direction to win deals. In the enterprise world, it’s well known and widely implemented. But what about the other side of major account deals? What about the other collaborative strategy? That’s right – team buying. And… Read More