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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

2014: A Year in Review | Part Eight: Leadership

leadership

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding leadership. It's a great way to end 2014. See you next year!

Burn Your Ships: A History Lesson About How to Be a Great Leader

Those who know how to be a great leader understand what it means to burn their ships.

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Seven: Sales Process

sales-process

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding the sales process. 

Sales and Business Clichés We Should All Stop Using

When trying to uncover really important client needs, shouldn’t we at least spend a few minutes writing more creative, specific, meaningful questions that have not been used a ka-billion times?

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Six: Salespeople

salespeople

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding salespeople. 

What Keeps Media Salespeople and Their Managers Awake at Night?

We fielded questionnaires in mid-2013 to approximately 2,600 salespeople and over 900 sales managers asking them "What Keeps Media Salespeople and Their Managers Awake at Night?". Download the report.

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Five: Needs Analysis

needs-analysis

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding needs analysis. 

A Silver Bullet Needs Analysis Question

Having a solid needs analysis that uncovers your clients needs is important. Don't forget to ask the question - What else should we be talking about?

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Four: Inbound Marketing

inbound-marketing

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding inbound marketing. 

Disappointed in the Results of Your First Year of Inbound Marketing?

Your first year of inbound marketing is strange. How can you know what to expect?

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Three: Sales Talent and Communications

sales-talent

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding talent and working with colleagues. 

What Kind of Salesperson Are You?

Ask yourself these five questions to determine the kind of salesperson you are.

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part Two: Interviewing and Hiring

interviewing-and-hiring

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding the interview process. How to find prospects, how to interview them, and how to structure their compensation so they’ll stick around.

Topics: Wrap-up

2014: A Year in Review | Part One: Online Communications

online-communication-and-branding

As 2014 comes to a close, we like to take a minute and reflect on the posts that resonated the most this year. Here's a year in review of our most popular posts regarding emails, social media, and personal branding:

Email Marketing for Businesses: How Not to Write a Follow-Up Email

Following up with the people who give you their email addresses is key in the marketing process. But there's a good way to do it, and a bad way. Read one of the worst follow-up emails we've ever received.

Topics: Wrap-up

Weekly Wrap Up: What We Wrote, and What We Read: Dec 15-18

What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

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Topics: Wrap-up

Are you Pitching Solutions to the Wrong Client Needs?

richter-scaleSales is about selling someone a solution. You make the sale when you identify needs your client is motivated to solve, and rally your company to apply their resources and capabilites to solve that problem. As eager salespeople, we may try to solve the first problems we identify. But let's look at why that may often be the wrong problem to solve.

Topics: Sales

Can Your Facebook Profile Cost You a Job?

could-your-facebook-profile-cost-you-a-jobMy friend Nancy mentioned recently that she was finding it difficult to source good candidates for a particular position she had open in her company. So she decided to ask her social network if they knew anyone who might be a good fit. (Here at The Center for Sales Strategy, we think asking your social network is a smart idea in most cases.)

Topics: Digital Brand and Connect

10 Traits of Highly Successful Salespeople

Hiring_Salespeople_-_Mess_it_up_or_Do_it_rightI have immense respect for nurses, miracle workers who can ease the pain and brighten the day for the patients on their floor. I don't have that kind of magic in me. Not everyone is cut out to be a good nurse. Not everyone has the temperament to be a good cop. Not everyone has the detail orientation to be a good database analyst. The same is true for B2B sales. Not everyone has what it takes to become highly successful in a sales role. Which do? Those who have these ten traits...
Topics: Sales

Weekly Wrap Up: What We Wrote, and What We Read: Dec 8-11

What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

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Topics: Digital Sales

Keep Your Competitive Salesperson in a Healthy Competition

competitive-salespersonWe were at a sales conference a few years back. I remember so vividly seeing Chuck ask three different people if they’d race him to the top of the hotel escalator. When none of them showed interest in taking him on, Chuck wilted. At that moment, he just had this enormous need to take someone on (and beat them to the top), but no one would bite.

What I Learned from French Class about Personal Branding

french-classBuilding your personal brand often begins with describing yourself. Yet this is often the hardest part for people. To say “I am this” or “I am that” can be a struggle. We can describe most everyone else, but many of us fall mute when it comes time to talk about ourselves.

Topics: Digital Brand and Connect

The Most Important Planning Meeting You can Hold for 2015

important-planning-meetingIs it just me, or did anyone else notice that Movember seemed to really become a “thing” this year? In case you live in a cave, Movember is the movement that draws attention to men’s health issues by encouraging the growth of facial hair. We seemed to have reached a tipping point in 2014 and I believe this is likely to get even bigger in the years to come. 

Slump Medicine: How to Pull Salespeople Out of a Slump

slump-medicineSales slumps, while inevitable, are really frustrating for sales managers (not to mention their salespeople!). But you can help your salespeople if they hit a slump. In fact, we have a prescription. Follow it, and help your salespeople find a cure for what ails them:

Weekly Wrap Up: What We Wrote, and What We Read: Dec 1-4

What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!

The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up

  • Monday, Steve Marx gave us a list of tough questions sales leaders would really rather not be asked.

 Dec4

Topics: Digital Sales

How to Find Your True Talents

evidence-of-talentIf you've been reading awhile, you know we discuss talent at The Center for Sales Strategy a lot. In fact, it's one of the foundations of our company. We believe that everyone has their own unique talents, that talent is innate, that we can advance our careers (and our lives) by focusing on building our strengths instead of trying (albeit fruitlessly) to fix our weaknesses, and that contrary to what I told my son, we cannot be whatever we want to be when we grow up.

Top 3 Mobile Trends for 2015

mobile-trendsMobile has evolved tremendously over the last five years. And the technological advances of 2014 alone have catapulted mobile to the top—as the desired media consumption platform for many. Affordable choices in devices as well as data-friendly carrier plans have given consumers the means, so marketers can now provide the motive. 

Topics: Digital

The Sales Funnel Gut Check You Need

sales-funnelIf you’re a sales manager, you need to know where your salespeople are with their accounts. If you’re a salesperson, you need to know even more. Taking a critical look at where you really are in the sales funnel process with your accounts is time well spent.

Topics: Sales

Tough Questions Sales Leaders Would Rather Not Be Asked

question_mark_and_figure_(1)For leaders of sales organizations and sales managers, there are questions that are easy to answer, questions that are a little more difficult, and then there are these. Questions that are tough. Cruxy. Important. Even though you'd rather not be asked the following questions, they're important to ask, even if you don't yet know the answer. Think about these as we head into the final month of the year, and allow this introspection to help you plan for a successful 2015: