Today’s modern buying trend puts little stock in the B2B seller. However, with a reframed strategy of “Seek to Serve, Not to Sell™,” B2B sellers can provide solutions that deliver true value, build relationships — and land long-term sales. Though a B2B buyer’s tools, resources, control and journey have drastically changed in our modern world,… Read More
Frictionless Selling in 2020 Translates to Frictionless Buying
Our modern selling environment has buyers in more control than ever. In fact, CSO Insights uncovered that 70.2% of B2B buyers wait to engage a salesperson until after they have fully defined their needs, and 44.2% have already identified solutions before engaging sales. In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, this reality is likely to worsen. This… Read More
How One Company’s Disciplined, Targeted Approach to Demand Generation Delivered Big Results
All leadership says the same thing to their salespeople: “We want you to be successful.” Because when salespeople are successful, a company realizes that success through predictable revenue streams and increased profits. Leaders want to help their salespeople achieve goals but many leaders either don’t invest enough time up front or they don’t know how… Read More
How to Hold Effective Buyer & Referral Panels
Gaining the attention of buyers in a noisy marketplace can seem impossible. Sure, it may be easy to fill the pipeline, but are you having a hard time converting those leads to wins? As discussed in one of our previous posts, the old strategy of filling the pipeline just isn’t the smartest method anymore. Investing in… Read More
How to Make Your Customer Meetings Count
When your customer takes a meeting with you or your sales team, your team has to deliver — with value, relevance and consistency. You need to bring your A-game, because every communication touch point you have with your customer or prospect impacts your long-term relationship, including the value you can ultimately deliver to them. Many… Read More
How to Put an End to Status Quo Wins
Do you ever feel like your deals are heading down the track toward success, but then somehow end up not closing? What is happening between point A and point B that is causing your deals to fall apart? In this article, we are going to look at the most common issue causing deals to miss… Read More
How to Reshape the Sales Funnel and Increase Wins
How many times have you seen the iconic sales funnel used in a demonstration or sales training? I’m sure more than you can count. If you are like most, this age-old diagram, and the sales psychology it stands for, has molded your understanding of the sales process — it certainly has impacted mine. In its… Read More
How to Solve the 5 Issues Derailing Your Deals
Do you ever find your deals heading down the track toward success, but then somehow end up not closing and falling apart? What is happening between point A and point B? What is derailing your deals? In this eBook we uncover the five common, yet interdependent issues that cause deals to miss the mark: Wrong Buyer Profile Unqualified… Read More
King Arthur and Status Quo: A Tale Too Often Played Out in Sales
Do you know what movie this picture is from? It’s from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A classic parody movie packed with humor and one-liners. In this specific scene, King Arthur had just witnessed the Black Knight defeat the Green Knight in a duel. King Arthur then approaches the Black Knight to congratulate him and offer… Read More
Putting the Power of Sales Enablement to the Test
The upfront challenges of shifting from a product-based to a subscription-based provider — in a formalized, cross-organizational, and profitably sustainable manner — was a catalyst for sweeping change at Axway. Axway, a €300.0 million publicly-traded information technology organization with dual headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, and Paris, France, embraced transformation before the company switched to a… Read More
Revenue Performance Growth Index, 2015 Findings
Our 2nd annual Revenue Performance Growth Index Annual Report (2015) once again shows what can only be viewed as disappointing revenue results for both large and mid-size US public corporations, as well as the largest international firms. A quick snapshot of the report reveals some disturbing results and trends: 29% of Fortune 500 companies had negative revenue growth… Read More
Revenue Rebound: Plan Now to Sell Later
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the business climate has been disrupted in an unprecedented manner. There have been a number of reactions to the disruptions. Some of the more common in B2B I am witnessing are that leadership and employees alike are taking a reduction in pay and hours, with others turning to… Read More
Sales Kickoff Planning: Common Sense, but Not Common Practice
We are almost past the first week of November, with sales kickoffs around the corner. If your sales kickoff planning and content creation is well underway, bully for you. These are large events that involve a large number of people in your organization and, more importantly, have potential to drive your revenue growth into the… Read More
Seek to Serve Spotlight: How HireBetter Remained Relevant During a Worldwide Talent Upheaval
Once COVID-19 hit in early 2020, companies around the world pushed pause on hiring. In fact, for many the situation demanded downsizing, dismissals and layoffs. For HireBetter, a leading talent management firm in Austin, Texas, this meant a sales pipeline drying up and a bleak prospect for the unknown in the months ahead. In the face… Read More
Sun Tzu’s Differentiated Messaging Test
Success in the early stages of a sales cycle with your prospect has led them to answer “yes” to these core buying journey questions: Do we need to do anything at all? Do we need to do anything now? Congratulations! Your buyer is no longer giving “status quo” any credence as an option, and you have… Read More
The Most-Realistic Way Sales Can Create Content That Connects With Buyers
You may read that headline and want to correct it immediately. Sellers across all industries have heard this sage advice for a couple years now: Sales and marketing need to work better together to create sales-ready assets that speak to a target buyer. Typically, on a broad level, this advice translates to sales providing marketing… Read More
The Power of Proof: Client Value Stories
When asked what the #1 sales ready asset is that marketing needs to provide to their sales channels in a B2B sales cycle, I do not hesitate one second in my response: a solid client value story. And I’m not the only one – the proof is in numbers: Holger Schulze, group owner of the 50,000-member B2B… Read More