The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Which skill do you think your manager needs to improve most?

When Robert Half Management Resources asked this question to more than 1,000 U.S workers, one skill clearly surpassed the rest — communication skills. Adapting your communication style based on individual and situational needs is critical to improving sales performance.

You can have the greatest business strategy and sales plan, but those plans will never get implemented if you can’t communicate effectively. Communication is key, and below are four focus areas where every leader can start improving today.

- MOTIVATION -

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."

-Vince Lombardi

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

72% of Americans believe whoever is elected in the White House will directly impact their finances — and 32% are putting off a big financial decision until Election Day.

Every four years, there’s a whirlwind of uncertainty about who will win the presidential and congressional elections. This year, our economic future tops the poll of concern. The unknowns are causing leadership to take fewer risks, hold off on making necessary business decisions, and hesitant to have conversations regarding annual contracts.

While we can’t predict the future and outcome, we can take control by being proactive. When it comes to business, time is money. And every business decision you delay is costing you valuable time and money.

Your IFM's should be the most productive and most important time spent with your sales reps every week.

For those unfamiliar with the acronym IFM, it stands for Individual Focus Meeting. What is an IFM? It's what our team at The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) calls your weekly one-on-one meetings with your salespeople (CSS loves to create an acronym for more common sales terms to keep you on your toes.)

Numerous studies support the fact that one-on-one meetings have a large impact on your team’s performance. So, if you’re struggling with IFM’s, it’s time to prioritize and improve with these three tips.

Salespeople in different industries encounter different questions and objections, right? Wrong. Your products and services may affect the minor details of objections, but Google the phrase ‘most common sales objections’ and you’ll find most sellers face the same objections from their leads.

Whether it’s price objections, the prospect isn’t interested, or “now isn’t a good time,” sellers often encounter the same types of questions and objections during the sales process. Sales enablement resources help them anticipate and overcome these objections.

Creating talk tracks and related sales collateral material helps enable sellers to respond quickly — allowing them to move the sales process forward and close business sooner.

When you think about the sales meetings you attend, are you delighted or disappointed? Are you engaged or enraged? Is your time spent in the meetings worthwhile or wasted?

Sales meetings are a staple in most every sales department. Time is money to every salesperson and sales leader. It’s up to the sales leader to make sure each meeting is positive, motivating, and worthwhile. Treat your sales team like customers who want to feel like their needs have been met and that they leave the meeting enlightened and energized.

- MOTIVATION -

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

-Peter Drucker

- AROUND THE WEB -

<< If you only read one thing >>

Marketing content isn’t just for branding and lead generation anymore. Today’s buyers aren’t interested in being sold. Instead, they want to be educated and informed.

Consequently, it’s more important than ever that sales teams have access to content relevant to their prospect’s business problems and positions the seller and the organization as thought leaders and subject matter experts. The content that Marketing creates to support the go-to-market objectives (blog articles, eBooks, whitepapers, case studies, etc.) is often repurposed to support the buying journey  and sales process as well.

To better support the sales team, marketers are not only creating and repurposing content, they’re also building specific sales plays (that include items like customizable email templates, voice mail scripts, and corresponding cadence schedule) that prescribe how and when the content should be leveraged to support the sales process.

Interviewing salespeople is tough!

Screening, uncovering, and selecting top talent takes a lot of practice and a reliable process. In order to better take advantage of every golden interview opportunity that comes your way, you need to know the common pitfalls — and then avoid them.